Dice Setter Precision Shooter’s Newsletter: March 2014

Significant Information – Sunflowers Up

When it comes to the mechanics of a dice toss, one of the more frequent questions I am asked is what dice sets do I personally use during a craps game. While I may not quite be the expert in the art of set selection as the Dice Coach, I do have specific selections of dice sets which I use with complete confidence. I humbly add that for over 10 years these sets have translated into consistent financial results. In particular, I rely on one set that may cause some eyebrows to narrow. So, what’s my signature set? Most of the time I utilize what dice influencers refer to as the Hardway set.

I believe a lot of players are surprised when I tell them I use the Hardway set as my go to set. In workshops, I often demonstrate the Hardway set as it provides a good visual example with my results. What’s surprising to my clients is that I also rely on this set during live sessions. I use the Hardway set for about 70 percent of my tosses.

While many students of dice influencing will argue that this particular set is intended for beginning to intermediate players, I like to start my sessions with this particular set because it compliments my game plan. Rather than calling this a beginner’s safe set, I like to think of the Hardway set as a reconnaissance set to help me gather information. If you were to play a craps session with me, you’d quickly understand why I depend on the Hardway set.

With the sunflowers, hard ten facing up, and hard eight facing the shooter, I can obtain vital information from my come out roll. Once I have tossed the dice, astute players can also gather information about what my dice are doing without me having to verbally share whether my dice are rotating on axis, double pitching or if one die is off axis. All anyone needs to do is look at the outcome of my roll to know whether I am on target or not. By observing subsequent numbers, players will also observe that I am able to diagnose and correct a mechanical problem when the next toss is thrown.

Here is an example of what generally happens when I am the shooter. On my come out toss, utilizing the Hardway set, I roll a seven, 5-2. Hooray for the pass line bettors but no hooray for me. The outcome tells me I have to make a grip adjustment due to double pitch. Okay, the next roll I toss is an eleven, 6-5. Hooray for the pass line bettor who has parlayed the initial payout. As the non dice influencing players are celebrating the fact that they have been paid twice on the come out roll, I have to contemplate yet another adjustment due to one die being off axis. My next roll turns out to be a hard ten. Now, I am a bit more confident about my toss and can proceed through the hand. This set provides me with “significant information.” Like radar, beep, beep, beep, I send out the Hardway set, and after my roll, the Hardway set sends back “significant information.”

I play for longevity. By that I mean that I employ a betting strategy that capitalizes on lengthening the number of rolls beyond random before our uninvited friend rolls around. So, “significant information” gained from a Hardway set allows me to make the necessary adjustments with my grip and toss.

It was around 1999, when I was first introduced to this Hardway set by Chris Pawlicki. Chris is an author, lead instructor and engineer for a group of like minded dice control, advantage players known as PARR, with Jerry Patterson as its founder. While there may be players debating who started the dice control revolution, I learned about it while attending one of Chris’ workshops. He introduced me to the concept of dice influencing and the Hardway set. Chris provided me with logical explanations and the theory as to why the Hardway set was the safest set I could utilize at the craps table.

While I know that many experienced players rely mostly on the 3-V dice set, or a variation there of, I have always subscribed to Chris’ theory about degrees of freedom with regards to range of motion with this particular set. He introduced me to observing how the dice behaved in flight. With this set, I have a lot of protection if my dice are one face off in any rotational direction. With this set, I get a lot of paying numbers. For 3-V set users, if the dice roll or yaw just one face off, there is a greater probability that the shooter is facing the end of their turn from a seven out. Again, with a Hardway set, I have to be two faces off before I see a seven. Get a pair of dice to demonstrate this for yourself.

I encourage all players who practice the art of mechanically influencing the dice to analyze their throw during every session. With an ideal playing session, with the dice on axis, hitting the table surface square, and maintaining the axis after coming to rest, then by all means, consider the 3-V or 2-V set. However, if you are a shooter that has any movement with the dice beyond staying on axis such as roll or yaw with your toss, then perhaps consider a Hardway set. Switching to Sunflowers up may offer you greater longevity at the table.

I should add it is important to recognize that most of craps sessions are not played under ideal circumstances. Sometimes the uglier the toss the greater potential for a monster hand to break out. Crazy huh? Perfection sometimes does not always turn into profit. Isn’t it ironic? There are a number of factors and variables to experiencing a successful session.

The mechanics of a dice toss plays a very small part in making sure a player leaves a session on the positive side. It is therefore so important to know yourself. Be properly bankrolled, have a betting plan and toss with confidence for your desired outcome. What works great for me may not work great for the next player. We all play with different intentions. I always encourage the player to explore safe sets that offer protection and work for them during live play.

There are other dice sets I utilize successfully as well. Those are what I refer to as the “Kissing Aces” “Straight Sixes” and “All Sevens” to name a few. They have a specific purpose within a session and are used in particular situations during my turn with the dice during an extended roll.

I just thought I would share my justification for using the Hardway set. My years of experience and success rate provide the credentials. I am not a beginner. The Hardway set is my foundational set for all around bankroll protection while playing “my game” because I recognize that my toss is not always perfect 100 percent of the time. The Hardway set may have the reputation of being very basic, yet basic works very well for me. Next time you are out playing craps, try picking sunflowers… up.

Soft Touch