Take The Game Seriously by Frank Scoblete

I was sitting at the end of the craps table next to the Goddess, a wonderful controlled shooter and the first woman to have a verified 50-roll hand and five straight hands of 30+ rolls in a row. We were protecting the landing zone for Skinny and the Raging Baritone who were shooting at Stick Right 1 (SR1) and Stick Right 2 (SR2).

Protecting the landing zone just means you do not make Pass Line bets when one of your controlled shooters has the dice. You want those bones to bounce free and clear of any obstructions.

There was an old guy at their side of the table in the hook next to the dealer. As you know sometimes dogs look like their owners but in this case this man and his vacant-looking wife had grown the same rather large nose – a “nostriler” as my young son used to call those with the misfortune of making Pinocchio look like a little-nose. I swear you could have switched their large noses and you wouldn’t notice a difference in their faces. Their nostrils looked like hairy caves.

Now, this player kept throwing in late bets, which got to be a real annoyance to the shooters. It was as if he waited purposely to throw in his late bets just at the split moment when the shooter was about to release the dice. Skinny almost took care of him by waiting for him to throw in a bet and then explaining to him that he preferred to make sure all the old guy’s bets were in before he shot the dice.

It didn’t work for more than a couple of throws when the old guy went back to his method of attempting to ruin the game for the rest of us. That was the first strike against this old guy’s method of play. I didn’t care about his nose or his wife’s nose, but late bets at the game of craps exhibit a snottiness I can’t stand.

The second strike – to me even more thematically important – concerned how the old guy shot the dice, if “shot” is the right word.

He would pick up the dice and just fling them nonchalantly down the table as if he didn’t care what came up. Now he was obviously a random roller and it wouldn’t have mattered if he stuck the dice into his large nose and power-snotted them to the back wall. But I don’t like the pretense that he cared not the least for what was happening with his roll.

Yes, true, his attitude irritated me no end (I am getting more and more irritation-prone as I get older). I wanted to tell him to shove the dice up his … nose!

You see I agree with the late, legendary Captain who told me many, many years ago that how a person approaches a game, even if it is a random game for that person, will tell you something about his character. A man or woman must take what is happening seriously; he or she must show this seriousness because money is on the line. Money is serious business, even in a random game.
Winging the dice in such a way told me something about the old guy’s character – he didn’t want it to appear as if he took responsibility for his throws. He didn’t want anyone to blame him for a seven-out. If he simply winged them down the table, barely looking at where they landed or what numbers came up, he figured he could give the impression that it all didn’t matter; that he was cool and aloof and that the rest of the players should ignore what he was doing. How can you ignore what he was doing when your money was on the line? In point of fact, he was a coward.

I believe even random rollers should take their shooting seriously. It doesn’t matter that they have no chance to win in the long run; but if they take their shooting seriously they show some class. They make the rest of the players at the table feel as if they want to win – for themselves and for you. To take a cavalier attitude toward one’s throw is far worse than not throwing at all. It says to the other players, “I don’t care about you.”

I don’t care if the game is random for them and therefore for us; they should show they want to win. They should shoulder the burden all shooters shoulder that their rolls matter, each and every one of them.

I want to see class in how seriously a shooter takes his turn with the dice. If he makes his point I want to cheer for him.

There are two ingredients to any casino game – the math and the emotions. Both count. This old guy with his late bets and his disregard for his throws gave me negative emotions. I didn’t even 5-Count him. I just wouldn’t bet on him even if he got to the hundred count. I didn’t like his attitude.

I wish he would have taken himself, his awesome nose and his awful, vacant-looking wife to another table!

— Frank Scoblete’s newest books are Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines! featuring advantage-play slots; Casino Craps: Shoot to Win! which comes with DVD; Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players! and Beat Blackjack Now! Available from Amazon.com, at your favorite bookstore, or mail-order by calling 1-800-944-0406.