Back in the early 2000s, I recall learning about rhythm rolling – a technique used in games of craps. The legendary gambler and author Frank Scoblete introduced me to rhythm rolling during our times together in Las Vegas. Frank and I were buddies, and we routinely engaged in card counting at blackjack in Sin City. On one such Vegas jaunt, Scoblete excused himself from the blackjack table and told me he would play craps.
I thought it peculiar that Frank would leave the strategy-based realm of blackjack card counting to go and play a chance-based game such as craps. Indeed, his card counting prowess allowed him to pay all his son's college tuition from his blackjack winnings. But, on another Vegas trip, Frank Scoblete spent much more time playing craps than blackjack. So, I plucked up the courage to ask him why on earth he was playing craps instead of blackjack.
Frank let me in on a secret. He told me that he was using a brand-new technique that he'd recently learned, known as rhythm rolling, and he was winning at craps. Naturally, my reaction was disbelief. Had Frank lost his marbles? Regardless, I listened intently to what he had to say. Frank explained that he'd met up with a gentleman who went by the name of the “Captain” in Atlantic City. He attended numerous meetings and engaged in multiple playing sessions with this mentor figure.
Feel free to read about The Captain and his team of merry craps players in any of Frank's many craps books. I am a math-based, logical gambler. I use probability analysis and strategy in my card counting and gambling games. I was skeptical about any notion of dice control – how on earth can anyone control dice that rolled from their hands across a craps table and against the back wall? Once they hit the back wall, the dice bounce around and roll all over the place. I had a tough time believing that anyone, including Frank Scoblete, could control the dice.
Frank stuck to his guns. He invited me to a dice control seminar at the Best Western Motel, Paradise Road, Las Vegas, Nevada. A guy by the name of Jerry Patterson was the guest speaker. Another guy was there too – Sharpshooter – that was his name. He went into great detail about the art and science of dice control. Among others, he included the following topics in his presentation:
- Degrees of freedom as they pertain to throwing a pair of dice
- Techniques for setting and gripping the dice
- Rules for throwing the dice across the table
While the seminar provided plenty of didactic instruction, I still felt uneasy with the concept of dice control. I wasn't convinced. But, the main speaker, Patterson, was teaching dice control classes to several players. Frank Scoblete partnered with The Dominator, a.k.a. Dom LoRiggio. The Duo established a company known as Golden Touch. They also added a selection of talented dice controllers to the group. Then, they started playing as a team while offering comprehensive two-day, hands-on rhythm control craps classes for teaching players all the skills needed to master the art of craps rolls. You may recall the GTC classes, the eponymous Golden Touch Craps.
Timeout – we need to address the elephant in the room – dice control. At this point, the general public started learning about dice control, and plenty of casino players from across the board approached me. With my curiosity piqued, I attended one training session and watched Frank and Dom play craps. I wanted to see precisely what they were doing and how they were doing it. So, over two years, I headed to Atlantic City to various casinos on the boardwalk. We also frequented casinos in Canada, Mexico, and of course, Las Vegas, Nevada. What I learned stunned me, and that's why I wrote this article.
Casinos routinely win at craps for one reason: the number seven statistically appears once every six throws. Provided the crapshooter isn't cheating with loaded dice or other funny stuff, and he or she is flinging the dice across the table and against the back wall, the result of the crapshoot is random. Statistically speaking, the number seven appears once every six throws. What's the conclusion? Provided the dice throws are randomly performed, casinos win, and players lose. That's it.
Let's get back to my story. While I was watching the Golden Touch team members throwing the dice, it was completely different. On many other occasions, I saw a phenomenon: the dice were tossed 20 times without a seven coming up. I was privy to several monster rolls of at least 30 throws before the appearance of a seven. One time, I witnessed an epic 40-hand craps roll before seven appeared. The Golden Touch team pocketed mountains of cash with their rhythm-rolling technique. I decided to get in on the action by betting on the crapshooters (these guys knew what they were doing).
Around the same time, during the Golden Touch team plays, Frank Scoblete approached me about attending one of the company's weekend classes. It wasn't until November 2005 that I consented. We headed out to the class held in Tunica, MS. I was so impressed with the level of skill that the instructors possessed. They were adept at mentoring the students and getting them ready to take on the casinos with rhythm rolling. All in all, the class had 50 students. We practiced dice control techniques at various throwing stations on standard-issue craps tables.
As expected, the weekend training camp was intensive. We practiced throwing dice hundreds of times under the expert tutelage of instructors. Their watchful eyes scanned and scrutinized our every action, from gripping the die to flipping the die to tossing die. They stressed the importance of setting the dice correctly. Every step in the process is critical with rhythm control. It takes time and effort to succeed at dice control, which means hundreds of hours of practice. Regardless, I won the No-Sevens contest at the end of two days of intensive training. It was a fun contest where students tossed the dice to see who could roll the most times without a seven appearing. My most successful craps roll was 49 hands. I still have the award hanging above the desk in my office.
Remember, I'm a mathematics guy, and I like crunching numbers to see what's happening. So, for me, it was imperative that the correct technique for rolling dice, a.k.a. dice control, was, in fact, the reason for determining the outcome of craps rolls. So, I asked my partner from Blackjack Insider Newsletter, Dan Pronovost, to examine exactly what these guys were doing. You guessed it – he was another mathematics guy with plenty of programming experience behind him. So Dan decided to fly out to Las Vegas and later on to Atlantic City. He watched these guys playing and even attended the weekend GTC class. He was equally impressed with what they were doing and wanted to figure out how you could statistically analyze their craps rolls.
To do this, he wrote a software program called Smart Craps. He used a system known as Pro Test© Dice control test. This is a 100% accurate stats test for dice control, and any player can figure out from several hundred throws whether or not they are influencing the craps dice enough to gain a statistical edge at the table. Dan Pronovost analyzed the GTC shooters and concluded they controlled the dice significantly to get a statistical edge over the casino at the craps tables. Fancy that!
So here's the difference between blackjack card counting and craps dice control: the former is a mental skill that you need to master, and the latter is a physical skill that you need to master. Lots of practice is required to fine-tune the art of dice control. It takes hundreds of hours at home, in simulated settings, or at the casino. I decided to buy a practice throwing station to do precisely that. I set it up in my garage at home. Unfortunately, I wasn't consistent enough in my efforts and became an irregular player to my detriment. Some say there is an analogy to good golfers – if you play regularly, you can improve to a specific skill level. But if you quit for an extended period and then return, you rarely achieve that level of proficiency from before.
Maybe one day, I will return to my craps practice setup in my garage. I may give it a go again and try to become proficient at it. But therein lies a caveat: you must put in the time (lots and lots of time) daily to become a successful crapshooter.
Before we wrap up for the day, I'd like to draw your attention to another story, if I may. It deals with dice control and involves none other than Stanford Wong. He is an internationally celebrated blackjack card counter, Blackjack Hall of Famer, and reputable author. I shared my experiences regarding dice control with him, and he, too, was skeptical. So, I convinced him to attend a GTC class. He tried dice control – you can read all about it on BJ21.com – along with the world-famous dice control challenge in 2004. In later years, Stanford Wong wrote a book about dice control. He titled it 'Wong on Dice.' If you know anything about this legendary figure, the fact that he wrote a book about dice control is an implicit endorsement of the techniques he learned in the GTC class!
Before Wong on Dice came out, my wife and I published a craps book on dice control by Frank and Dom – Golden Touch Craps Revolution. The book goes into great detail, with audio-visual elements, about the techniques proposed by GTC. They explain in great detail how to become successful dice controllers in craps. I'd like to close today's post with a Craps tip. You're welcome to read about dice control in The Ultimate Craps Strategy Guide by the legendary John Grochowski. Let's roll out!
