CJ 053 | Floating Craps Game at Halloween Party 2017

by CJ | Nov 4, 2017 | General, Podcast

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Forgive me box man, for I have sinned. It’s been over 5 weeks since my last craps session at the casino. 😉

I only get such a small window of opportunity and when work and family get in the way then my hobby takes a back seat. I must admit I’m missing it.

I haven’t been idle though. I built a better practice rig including some rubber diamonds for the back wall and with a small add on piece, it can take a proper 8ft single dealer layout. I will add some pics of it soon.

This was very much needed to finally graduate from my cardboard box receiving station which I’ve been using for over a year.

I was going to build a full table with the help from Big Jeff who builds custom craps tables in the USA. He does make truly beautiful craps tables. He sent me 4 diamond rubber back pieces, and some routed chip rails to get me started.

Unfortunately even though I’m capable of the task. I don’t have…

A) space to build
B) the tools needed
C) a trailer or Ute or truck to get the materials back to my place
D) the time

So that left me with no choice but to order a cheap custom table from overseas (China) and get it shipped to me in Australia. That was 3 months ago and I still don’t have the table. That’s a whole topic for another day, which I won’t go into today.

My new practice receiving station which is 1.2m wide sits on a portable table and I still use my throwing station to get the right distance away from the back wall. I can then practice stick left or right or straight out.

The best part of the design is that I can add an extension onto it and use it as a half table with 8ft layout and use it with others to play some craps socially.

I have yet to introduce my friends to craps and was waiting for the full table to do so. However I could wait no more. We have a standing calendar booking for a Halloween Party each year where we invite neighbours and family friends. So I took advantage of that, and I got the half table setup on the deck and after dinner and a couple of drinks I opened my first ever floating craps game.

See a few photos below.

I explained the game quickly and gave each player $300. It was total chaos, but after 10 mins they were getting the hang of it. I struggled to keep track of everyone’s bets. And they were all farming the field and hitting the prop area. Of course just my luck as first time dealer and it was a horn dream run for 30 mins. So I was stumbling over horn and hardways payouts.

I explained the dark side being opposite of the right side. And the probability of 7s showing more than any other.

And you wouldn’t believe it, but I had 2 out of 6 players playing dark side. I was humbled by that, and I never even pushed them one way or another. They just worked it out on their own.

I even let the players place their own place bets and I was just making sure the bets were correct amounts and put them in the right position in the boxes so I could track players bets correctly.

It was a huge success and everyone was calling out numbers to hit and having a great time. The other neighbours around must have wondered what was going on.

Initially I didn’t bother getting out the $100 and $500 chips since I just figured everyone would crash and burn and that would be that.

But they were all doing great. And I had to break out the $100 and $500 chip stacks to keep the bank afloat.

The game would have kept going for hours. But after 1 1/2 hours I had to call it, since I needed a break.

I got them to colour up and was pleasantly surprised that 5 out of 6 had profit. Some had a lot. One had $25 left. He was not happy. The winner was around $1200 with second $1100. So it was a close race.

The winner was one of the dark side players. Which I was the most proud of. Who was also the only one really betting the place bets and using it like a cash register.

One thing I noticed being a dealer is not easy by a long shot. Especially a green solo dealer with no backup.

I can’t wait to get my full table. Then we’ll really get some social craps play happening.

This little gathering and the way they approached the table for the first time, and how each set their game plan, once they knew the basic rules, could easily make for a study in human behaviour. Being that I knew the players, watching them interact with each other and play gave me great insight into how parallel their play was with their personalities. I don’t see that sort of thing happening with other games at the casino. Just underlines what a great game craps is.

CJ 052 | How did you get hooked on playing Craps?

by CJ | Oct 16, 2017 | General, Podcast

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This question was asked over at Heavy’s Power Axis Craps forum recently. So I thought I would participate with my own. Feel free to share your story with me, and post a comment below.

My story is not as elaborate as how others found their way to become craps fans.

It was 1992 in Brisbane Australia and I’d just finished high school and turned 18. My family had no history or interest in gambling at all. They never went Casino or played pokies. Just lotto occasionally. However I was always keen to give it a go. I was a geek and a nerd, so enjoyed the maths of gambling.

At that time, we only had one casino available to me which was 1 hour drive away at Gold Coast called Jupiters Casino.

In Australia, 18 is the legal age to go to night clubs, pubs, etc and I remember driving down to Jupiters casino with 3 of my friends to try out the casino and night clubs on the Gold Coast strip.

We were all very green and it was an eye opening experience. There was also a night club that we enjoyed going to at the top level of the casino so we would gamble a bit and then hit the club for drinks and attempts to get with the ladies. I look back on those days fondly and can laugh at it now.

Over many Saturday night trips we played most games in the casino. None of them grabbed me at all, except for Craps.

In fact I liked it so much I can remember spending hours playing with just $50, no other game allowed me to do that.

Until recently I hadn’t played another casino game, that’s how much I enjoyed it.

After I grew out of the night club scene, I would visit the casino every couple of years and always come away even or with a small profit just from dark side don’t pass (DP) line bets. Never would I bet anything else.

In all those years not one other type of bet. How’s that for discipline (or stupidity)? 20 years of the same bet. I didn’t know it at the time but I was a dark side player. I just knew it was better to back the 7 based on the math and my limited in-game experience.

Finally one night in 2015, my wife and I took our close friends to the Brisbane Treasury Casino for a night out. My friend had never played craps before and after a short intro from me, was betting all over the prop bets and winning like crazy. I stuck with my base bet DP. End of the night he’s up over $500 and I’m up $20.

I was pissed off. After 20 years playing the game, and I get my ass whipped by my friend who’s never played before.

So after that fateful night, that’s when I started looking online for how to properly play and understand craps.

I am amazed and thankful that there is such a niche of knowledge around just this one game of dice.

Of course in no time, I found dicesetter.com and read through every article on there. What an awesome resource.

Which of course lead me to the various names in the Craps scene, including Heavy and all the others.

Since I’m in the web business I thought I’d track my progress with my new found hobby and I created a website/blog and podcast and my craps journey began.

I’m pleased to say this is the first hobby in my life that pays me to do it. And so far just 2 years in, and I’m only still just getting started with so much more to accomplish.