Craps Machine Vs Table

• Craps -The Intimidating Table Game? Who hasn’t walked past a craps table the first time feeling intimidation and excitement at the same time? Everybody that’s who! Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop the curious from learning the game as quickly as possible. Novice player or not - it is for the real gambler, wanting real money action.
• THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CRAPS AND VIDEO CRAPS. It’s interesting how the once tidy division between ‘video games (poker, slots, keno)’ and ‘table games’ are rapidly converging in the gambling industry. In many casinos and jurisdictions ‘table games’ as we once knew them are a complete anachronism.
• Interblock’s Organic Craps machine can generate between 60 and 80 results per hour compared to a live table with 11 or 12 players that generally has an average of about 100 rolls per hour. We don’t know the rate of play for the Shoot to Win Craps machine, but we suspect that it’s similar to Interblock’s machine.
• I cannot prove the bubble is the same outcomes, but Ive played the bubble 10 times more than live tables the past 5 years, and Im convinced, and that's all that matters to me. The good thing is noone is forcing anyone to go near a craps bubble.

A craps table in a casino is always run by several employees. Unlike other table games, which usually have a single dealer who runs every aspect of the game, craps has multiple employees at each table. And each of those employees has a different function.

A craps table in a casino is always run by several employees. Unlike other table games, which usually have a single dealer who runs every aspect of the game, craps has multiple employees at each table.

And each of those employees has a different function.

One of the nice things about craps is that most of the employees running the craps game are rooting for you to win. After all, they rely on tips for a high percentage of their income. Also, most craps players make tips in the form of bets for the staff, which means they have a vested interest in each roll of the dice.

This doesn’t mean they do anything to change the odds in your favor. It’s just good for morale, so to speak.

If you’re wanting to play a game of craps, you should know who’s who at the craps table. Once you’ve read this post, you’ll know just that.

The Craps Dealers

Every craps dealer in the casino has four dealers, but you’ll never see more than three of them at the table at a time. One of them is always on break. These dealers move around the table and take on different positions based on what’s going on.

One of the craps dealers will be “on the stick,” and the other two dealers will be standing on opposite sides of the craps table. These two craps dealers are said to be “on base.”

The rest of this post looks at what each dealer does during the game, starting with the “stickman.”

The Stickman

This is the craps dealer that’s “on the stick.” You’ll know which one he is because he’s literally holding a stick. He uses that stick to gather the dice after someone shoots.

The stickman is in charge of the proposition bets at the table.

So, what do I mean when I say he’s “in charge” of this?

It means that he takes the losing proposition bets off the table.

He also instructs the standing dealers about paying you off when, and if, you win a proposition bet.

The ceremonies surrounding the dice are important, too, and the stickman plays an important role here.

Usually, there’s a tray with six or eight dice in it. The stickman’s in charge of this tray. When it’s time for a shooter to roll the dice, the stickman shoves the tray toward the shooter so he can pick his dice. Once the dice are chosen, the stickman uses his stick to pull the tray back to him.

Finally, it’s the stickman’s job to announce the results.

At any reputable land based casino, the stickman does a good job of stimulating the action with his ongoing patter.

The Standing Dealers

The other two dealers are called “the standing dealers.” They handle the players by exchanging chips for the players’ cash. The boxman is involved in this process, too. He’s the only seated casino employee at the craps table.

The boxman always counts the money and gives the chips to the standing dealers to give to the players.

Casino chips usually come in the following denominations at the craps table:

• $1
• $5
• $25
• $100
• $500

If you want to make a bet for less than a dollar, or if your payout includes an amount lower than a dollar, the casino just uses a normal coin or multiple coins for that amount.

You will NEVER put anything in a dealer’s hand, and the dealer will NEVER put anything in your hand. This is a measure that’s meant to prevent collusion between the dealers and the players. (I almost hate using that word; thanks politics.)

Craps Machine Vs Table Saw

You’ll put your cash on the table. When you get chips, they’re put on the table, too.

Betting and Getting Paid Off

The most important thing going on at the table, besides the shooting of the dice, is the placing and paying off of the bets. The dealers have a lot to do with both aspects of the game. In some cases, you can just place your own bets, but some craps bets must be placed for you by one of the dealers.

When a resolution of a dice roll happens, the payouts are made by the dealer – just as the dealer picks up any losing bets. Losing bets are normally picked up before winning bets get paid off, as a matter of procedure.

The two standing dealers are on opposite ends of the table for a simple reason: One handles the players at one end of the table, and the other handles the players at the other end of the table.

You’ll usually see between a dozen to 20 players at a craps table, which means each dealer is handling between six to 12 players at a time.

Pay attention to what’s going on, though, because even experienced craps dealers are human and sometimes make mistakes. These mistakes aren’t always in your favor, either.

Different people have different opinions about correcting the dealer if he makes a mistake in your favor. I agree with Frank Scoblete on this point, even though I disagree with him on many other points.

If the casino makes a mistake in your favor, it’s better to let it slide and keep the money. You’re not obligated to look out for the casino. Your job is to look out for yourself.

The Buck

The dealer is also supposed to place the buck in the appropriate spot.

What’s the buck?

It’s a round disk with two distinct sides of two different colors.

One side of the buck indicates that the point hasn’t been set yet. The casino turns it over once it has. They turn it back over once the shooter makes the point or sevens out.

The Boxman and the Floorman

The boxman isn’t really a craps dealer. He’s more like the banker in Monopoly. He doesn’t even wear the same uniform. He keeps an eye on the chips belonging to the casino, and he oversees the dealers’ payouts to make sure they’re correct. His role is to stay quiet and keep an eye on business.

The floorman is the supervisor for the entire craps pit.

A craps pit is made up of four craps tables, and the area inside those four tables is called the pit.

The floorman reports to the pit boss, who’s another supervisor working in the pit.

The Proposition Bets and the Mouthy Stickman

The stickman is basically in charge of the rhythm of the game, and his main job is to get players to consider the prop bets on the table.

The problem with all these prop bets is that they heavily favor the casino.

It might be that these bets are cheap to make. You might only need to bet $1.

But when the casino house edge is so high on such a bet, it becomes easy to lose a lot of money fast.

The difference between the odds of winning a bet and the payout odds is where the house gets its edge.

Your best move at the craps table is to stick with the most basic of bets – pass, don’t pass, come, don’t come, and the free odds bets.

Conclusion

That’s basically everything you need to know about who’s who at the craps table.

This post assumes that you already know a few things about the game, but if you don’t, check out some of the other posts about craps on our site.

Playing a 'Hopping 7Â’s' Progression

By Jerry 'Stickman'

Periodically people ask me about craps betting systems. Almost all of them rely on the premise that certain numbers are due because they havenÂ’t appeared for a while. I normally tell them that in a random you cannot beat the math of the game. The house edge is the house edge. In the long term you will lose the amount of money played times the house edge.

For many that is enough, but every so often someone says they have won a lot of money on a particular system and want me to look further into it. So periodically I will devote an article to exploring some of these systems.

This article will look at a 'Hopping 7Â’s' progression.

Here is the system as it was stated to me.

1. Start over with each new shooter.
2. Wait seven rolls before starting the progression
3. When the bet hits, take the bet down along with the win.
4. Start with a $3 bet. Starting with the first bet, the progression is: 3, 3, 6, 9, 15, 24, 39, etc. always adding the previous two bets together to determine the next bet in the progression.

Here is a table that shows the bet, amount invested, win amount (taking the bet down), and profit.

What we have here is a Fibonacci progression. This and the Martingale progression are well known in betting systems. In 'up as you lose' progressions, the thought is that when your number hits you will recoup your losses and garner a little profit. The Fibonacci progression is the less aggressive of the two.

Either of these progressions works as long as two things are true. The first is you must have adequate bankroll to make it through the inevitable losing streaks you will encounter. The amount you require can be very substantial. The last row in the above table represents the 17^th roll without a 7. While 17 rolls without a 7 appearing may be somewhat unusual, it is not that uncommon.

If the shooter goes 20 rolls without a 7 appearing, the bankroll required is almost $2,000.

If the shooter rolls just five more numbers without throwing a 7, the total invested is over $20,000.

And what is the shooter is extremely lucky and throws just 5 more numbers without a 7? Our hapless system player will have just over $225,000 invested.

If he should win on the 30^th roll, he will win $233,000+, so maybe he thinks it is worth it.

If our lucky shooter goes five more rolls without a 7, however, the investment skyrockets to almost $2.5 million. I donÂ’t know about you, but if I had that kind of money, I wouldnÂ’t risk it on a craps game.

The second consideration before using this system is something called table maximum. Virtually every craps game has a maximum bet ranging from $2,000 and up. Most of them are $10,000 or less. That means in the unusual but very possible case of someone going 25 rolls without a 7, this player is out his entire investment of over $20,000 and he cannot continue.

The math of the hop bet says that a player will lose 11.11 percent of all money wagered on a random shooter. That is what the math says. LetÂ’s see what some simulations say. I ran several simulations specifying a random shooter through an excellent software program called Smart Craps from DeepNet Technologies.

The first simulation did not put any limits on the maximum bet. It assumed an unlimited bankroll and no maximum bet limit at the craps table. It was very interesting watching the running edge percentage as the simulation progressed. For the first several seconds the expectation was a little over 103%. This means that if someone were playing this system and had the same results as the simulation, they would more than double their bets!

This came to an abrupt halt after about 96,000 rounds. At this point the simulation terminated because it couldn’t handle the size of the bet being placed – over 2.2 billion dollars. It may have taken a while, but the long term hit at about 96,000 player rounds.

Next I put some limits on maximum bet size. I started with 1.1 billion dollars. If the simulation hit the limit, it would restart the progression; that is, wait for seven rolls without a 7, then begin betting the progression. After 10 million rounds, the expectation was 59 percent for the house! During the 10 million rounds the $1.1 billion limit was reached 7 times. This was much worse than what the math would indicate, but with such a large limit, the long term had most likely not yet been reached.

Three more simulations were run with limits of $10,000, $3,000 and $2,000. The results more closely matched the mathematical expectations.

As you can see, all of these fell much closer to the calculated expectations.

So what does this show? You may be lucky and win for a period of time. You may even win for a long period of time. You could also be very unlucky and lose very big for a while. Eventually, however the math will catch up with you.

Craps Machine Vs Table Saws

In the long run, you cannot beat the math of the game with random shooters. You will lose the house edge of your bets times the amount bet. Accept the fact and bet the low house edge bets. Your bankroll will thank you.

Craps Machine Vs Table Runner

May all your wins be swift and large and all your losses slow and tiny.

Jerry 'Stickman' is an expert in craps, blackjack and video poker and advantage slot machine play. He is a regular contributor to top gaming magazines. The 'Stickman' is also a certified instructor for Golden Touch Craps and Golden Touch Blackjack. For more information visit www.goldentouchcraps.com or www.goldentouchblackjack.com or call 1-886-738-3423. You can contact Jerry 'Stickman' at stickmanGTC@aol.com