My very first Craps adventure was at Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast back in 1992. If only my friends and I looked like those folks huddled around the Craps table in the image above. What a different life I would have led.
Anyway I have spent a bit of time at Jupiters Casino over the years and it all started when I was 18 and by Australian law an adult and legally be able to gamble and drink (and other things). There was more than one time that I can’t remember how I got home, or even more to the point how I got home in one piece. The feeling of youth and invincibility. Those days are far behind me now.
I can remember going into the casino for the first time with my two good friends and having the door guards look me up and down. How young we must have looked. I shudder to think of it now.
My friends had more of a grasp of card games than I did and we settled down at a Black Jack table. I can remember feeling uncomfortable but my friends were into it so I persisted. I can’t remember much else except the feeling of unease. We also tried Roulette and I also felt uneasy. Thinking on it now, I can distill that feeling of unease into a feeling of not being in control.
My thoughts have always been why would I gamble on something that I don’t have an edge or control over. I know now that I’m a very risk averse type of personality so these feelings of unease with those other table games now makes perfect sense.
I can recall that when we worked our way around to the Craps table and I leaned in over the padded edge something was different with this game to the others. You got to choose the dice and throw the dice and get involved, both on your roles and those around you, it was exciting and had a high contact and interaction factor.
Since we were all quite savvy in the maths department the probability of the games was not lost on us. Once the rules were explained to us by the helpful people betting around us, we got involved. Initially I was betting with the others at the table on the Pass Line, and I remember switching over to the Don’t Pass line (what I know now to be Dark Side behaviour) since I saw lots of sevens coming up and thought it made sense to do so.
I fairly quickly deduced that 7 was the best number probability wise to roll. And being that I have a very thick skin, and don’t care what other people think of me, I haven’t wavered from that Dark Side since. Even betting against my friends. They fortunately understood and tolerated me.
I can recall spending lots of hours at the craps table with $50 buy in, just sticking with Dark Side Don’t Pass line bets, no odds, no other bets.
My friends were more liberal with their bets, and would do place bets on the inside numbers, and center table betting on the hard ways and horn bets.
They would either walk away with heaps of chips or none. I would always walk away with the same amount or a small profit.
I was happy, they were happy, and we all enjoyed the game of Craps.
Unfortunately I don’t see much if any of those friends any more, just over time you drift apart, with work and family, however I know that if I was to put the word out and mention that we should have a casino night, we would all be back at the Craps table again and enjoying many hands, good or bad. The only difference this time, will be that I have started my Craps education. I now know the basic betting strategies and will definitely be playing my Dark Side with more authority and conviction.
