In the world of casino gambling in land-based establishments, there is nothing quite like table games. Many of them come and go. Some go on and on. It is this columnist’s hope that the good old-fashioned craps table will always be one of them.
Whenever my advice is sought about the best casino table game to play, it is difficult not to put blackjack at the top of the list. However, when the question is: “Which is the best AND the most fun?” my vote always goes to the classic game of craps as the hands-down winner.
Craps was the first community gaming experience and the ultimate interactive gambling opportunity. The players themselves have the power to create synergy that comes with a “hot roll”, oftentimes making a craps table the sensory focal point of the casino floor.
The dealers may very well run a craps game, but it is the players who are in control. Each wagering decision rests in the palm of the shooter’s hand. In fact, it is only the fleeting seconds between when the dice are sent flying to when they come to rest on the layout that the players are not in charge.
Craps cannot be compared to blackjack on a skill level as it applies to playing decisions, however the game more than makes up for its deficiencies in that department with its assortment of wagering options and the knowledge required to take best advantage of the freedom and flexibility of play.
One of the biggest advantages of the game is the fact you can play at your own pace. You can feel comfortable not having money at risk on every roll, unlike blackjack where if you sit out a hand you always draw attention from the other players.
The rules of the game permit you to increase or decrease your wagers at any time, even take them down entirely if you so desire. There is even the option of calling your bets off for a roll or two. It is strictly up to the player.
While we are on the topic, I must confess I have never made a “Don’t” wager during all my years of playing craps.
One of the freedoms of the game is that players may wager from two standpoints at the craps table, the “right side” and the “wrong side”. When you bet right, you are betting that the point will be rolled before the dread “big red”. When you bet wrong, you are betting that seven will be rolled before the point is made.
Most players are right players. They are always rooting for the point, cheering when the number hits, high fiving one another as the roll gets hotter, and heaping praise on the shooter the longer he holds the dice. It is basic human nature to want to play the game that way. There is really nothing quite like a craps table when the dice are hot. The camaraderie of warding off the dreaded number seven and the stickman’s call of “seven out” is contagious.
Wrong or “Don’t” bettors are despised by right bettors. They usually stand at one of the corners of the table, silent and inconspicuous.
I have always taken delight in watching them lose. Nothing makes me happier than to witness a shooter making his point when there is a stack of chips sitting in the “Don’t Pass” section of the layout.
Don’t bettors wait patiently and silently on the hook for seven to be rolled. When and if it is, they must celebrate in silence and collect their “ill-gotten gains” without fanfare.
Right betting is a team sport. Wrong betting is for loners. Yet the true beauty of the game of craps lies in the fact that players may capitalize on both hot and cold playing situations. Is there another game in the casino that affords you that luxury?
When the blackjack dealer is beating the table hand after hand, the only escape is to quit playing or move on. Can you bet that the dealer’s hand will beat yours? In some ways the insurance bet allows you to do this, but only when the dealer is showing an ace.
In craps, cold tables are regarded as ones where the seven is popping up with regularity. They are the kind of tables where shooter after shooter rolls a point, pops a number or two, and then sevens out.
Right bettors are getting killed, but if there’s a maverick Don’t bettor in the corner, he’s having a field day and fattening up his rack of chips while those of his fellow players are evaporating faster than a drop of water on the sidewalk on a scorching day.
I have often wondered why craps players are categorically labeled right bettors or wrong bettors. Why can’t you play the game from both sides? Why can’t you be a “right-wrong” bettor or a “do-don’t” bettor? If you can play from both sides, you are taking complete advantage of the freedom of the game and the opportunity it gives you to win even when the dice are cold.
Instead of quitting or going broke, suffering through seven out after seven out, you have the option to jump to the other side and try to win when the dice are ice cubes.
Both Pass and Don’t Pass are two of the best bets in the casino. The only thing a Don’t bettor must overcome is the stigma of silently rooting against the shooter that he will not make his point. It means subjecting yourself to being an outsider, the “bad guy”, the casino version of a mercenary.
It has been my empirical observation that there are certain situations in which you can “smell” a seven. For example, after a hot roll is completed, the next shooter always seems to seven-out, or that the person who has no method to his dice rolling technique and just flips the cubes down the table, giving them little chance to tumble and bounce, never seems to last very long as a shooter.
Perhaps Don’t bettors are not such bad guys after all.
