A while back I mentioned that there are a couple of women who play craps professionally. One is from the Scottsdale/Phoenix area, and the other is my girlfriend. There may be others, but they are the only two whom I personally know about.
That being said, please don’t call them “pro’s”. The Clarke County/Las Vegas Telephone Yellow Pages contain over 200 pages of professional ladies, and I can tell you, they’re not talking about craps.
I taught my girlfriend how to shoot craps back in 1996. Her philosophy at the tables is much different than mine. She’ll only give herself one shooting opportunity, and if that isn’t profitable, she’ll walk away. Sometimes it takes me one hand just to get the feel of the table, and to settle into a groove. With her, it’s either “Now” or “Later”. In fact, even it she has a good hand, she will still usually color-up and just walk away.
Let me list her progress over the last couple of years:
- I first taught her on the low-rent tables of Gaughan’s Plaza in Downtown Vegas when it was still a 25-cent game. She liked the action, and quickly understood the math of the game.
- Several sessions at Golden Nugget, Four Queens, Fitzgeralds and the Freemont Hotel over a period of three weeks honed her skills from a rank beginner to where she was pretty consistent in throwing about 10 times before sevening out.
- A month later, in Biloxi, Mississippi, she continued to improve her skills, and started to notice her own ability to throw all of the Field numbers, but not the 5, 6 & 8. I showed her the simplest of methods to take full advantage of that.
- She didn’t accompany me on all my excursions, but by the time I took her to Lake Tahoe several months later, her shooting skills weren’t as rusty as I thought they would be. Her roll-count average increased to 14 by the end of that trip, but she was a little intimidated by the higher than usual table limits.
- In 1997, a short trip to Atlantic City was disastrous for her ego. She didn’t like the East Coast/New York/Philli crowd at all. She felt that the large amount of men leering and salivating all over her was enough, but the come-on’s and endless lewd invitations were too much for her. That trip turned her off of craps for the better part of a year.
- When I convinced her to return to Las Vegas with me in early 1998, she obliged. This particular trip marked a turning point for her. Once she got back into a shooting-groove, her confidence returned. She’s no “shrinking-violet” by any means. Her force of personality is more than up to the task of keeping mine in check. She would join me at the tables, and produce some truly remarkable rolls. Satisfied with the profit from one great hand, she would cash-out and spend leisurely time in the pool, at the spa, shopping or spending time with friends. That first trip of ’98 saw her roll-average increase to 15 in very short order. The fact that she could just walk up to the table, unleash a string of back-to-back-to-back Place numbers in succession was amazing. The fact that she didn’t want to stick around to do it again and again was even MORE amazing.
- Through the rest of 1998 and all of 1999, we spent a lot more time traveling to various casino destinations around the world. She would play one or possibly two micro-sessions each day, and was satisfied with the profits. Her roll average increased to 18 by the end of that year. However, I was unable to convince her to stay at the tables for any length of time. One of her sessions at Barbary Coast in LV lasted for over 100 minutes. Roll after roll, she hit nothing but Place numbers. Two days later at the Stardust, she did the same thing, only this time the 5, 6 & 8 went on vacation again, and all of her Field numbers just kept crashing into the middle of the “meadow.” A GOOD time was had by all!
- In 2000, her roll-average stayed the same, but by this time she had gained the confidence to increase the base amounts of her bets. They are still “very” low by almost any standard, yet they please and satisfy her. Her craps income for the year exceeded $80,000 for the first time, and that meant a whole lot of shopping going on around here!
- So far this year, she has generated some astounding rolls. Her best-to-date since January is 78 tosses without the 7. A couple of other 70+ hands have happened, yet she still will only pick up the dice once or sometimes twice each day. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but on a roll-by-roll basis, her shooting is much more profitable than mine are. She still doesn’t land the 6’s and 8’s like I do, but who cares when the 4, 9, & 10 are paying huge Place and Come premiums. The Field profit has also been exceptional, although she refuses to bet on any of the center-of-the-table Propositions. I do it instead, and enjoy the profits.
So if you ever see her throw, you can admire her shooting, but please, just don’t call her a PRO!
Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables…and in Life.
By: The Mad Professor
