A book on craps

[Buck 65]

I want to learn more about craps.
And I'm looking for some suggestions.
I want to read about dice setting also, but I don't want this to be my main focus. I just want to be able to decide for myself about that idea.
Just give me a solid book on craps first.

Thax
65

[mottom]

I recommend two books by Frank Scoblete: "Beat the Craps out of the Casinos" which just came out in an expanded edition, and "Forever Craps" which gets into dice setting, among other things.

[benfranklin]

Several comments on craps:

1. All craps bets have a house advantage ranging from small to huge. Odds bets pay true odds, but you must first make a -EV bet before you can make an odds bet, so the combination, while the best bet at the table, is still -EV. Essentially, any other bet at the table is a sucker bet.

2. I can't remember any good books, but would recommend avoiding any that promise to teach you how to make big money at the tables. John Patrick and Frank Scoblete in particular are get-rich-quick artists. The only one who gets rich off of their books are the authors.

If you know nothing about craps, you could start with this one:

"Fundamentals of Craps by Mason Malmuth and Lynne Loomis discusses this uniquely American casino game. It covers everything from getting started, right bets, wrong bets, taking the odds, other low house percentage bets, other ways to cover the numbers, one roll bets, and some other topics including a discussion of systems. This text will simplify the complicated looking craps layout and help you to avoid to those bets which are suicide to your casino bankroll."


3. Dice setting (controlling the throw) is a new and controversial subject. The previous poster recommends Scoblete, particularly in regards to setting. I have not read Scoblete's craps books, but his other stuff I have read is of little value. A review of his craps book on Amazon says:

[ QUOTE ]
The "5-count" presented in the book is a way of "screening" the shooters to see if they are "worthy" of betting with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Other reviews there confirm that his method is to find shooters who may be setting the dice. Sounds like the old "get on a hot shooter" advice to me, with some pseudo-science thrown in. I'll stick to poker for money, craps for a little drinking fun.

4. There is some genuine research being done on dice setting. I haven't followed it, but I believe that Stanford Wong is working on it. If I would trust anyone on this, it would be Wong. Check his site at www.bj21.com

If King Yao is listening in, he might have something to add about what Stanford is doing.

[King Yao]

[ QUOTE ]
4. There is some genuine research being done on dice setting. I haven't followed it, but I believe that Stanford Wong is working on it. If I would trust anyone on this, it would be Wong. Check his site at www.bj21.com

If King Yao is listening in, he might have something to add about what Stanford is doing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Craps is controversial. Some smart guys think controlling the dice to a small extent is possible. Other smart guys don't think it is possible. There is also the possibility that some smart guys bashing it are bashing it for ulterior reasons. I suspect it is possible, but only with so much work and practice, that it is not feasible for most people.

The two books to get if you are interested in that topic is:
Wong on Dice by Stanford Wong (he looks at the math stuff better than anyone else. it seems like other dice books and dice authors are allergic to math and logical reasoning.)

Get the edge at craps by Sharpshooter: shows how to set dice and other issues with physically throwing the dice. But I still think you need to be careful about what you take out of the book - just take out the physcal dice throwing part, and you may want to ignore the rest.

[Daliman]

[ QUOTE ]
John Patrick and Frank Scoblete in particular are get-rich-quick artists. The only one who gets rich off of their books are the authors.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank god, at least part of this is completely true. While I think Scoblete merely skims and repackages inforamtion that is already readily available for the most part, Patrick is a full-on scam artist/tonic seller. Thank Jeebus the last 4 times I have gone into a bookstore, I have not seen a single one of his books in ANY of them, where they used to be somewhat prominent. Looks like people finally got fed up with the idiocy.

Course, I didn't look in the humor section....

Either way, Wong on dice; seriously.

[slavic]

Fundamentals of Craps by Mason Malmuth and Lynne Loomis

I know this is plugging one of the sites books, but it really does give a nice brief summary of the math and how you can play to have fun but not take a bath. Your going to lose in the long run but it's not a horrid gamble if you want to get a lot of money out there i na party atmosphere.

[Rob-L]

I found this book to be very useful: http://tinyurl.com/bgxf8

And just in case I misunderstood your post, this one may also help: http://tinyurl.com/c8hwd

[dirty moose]

anyone have any general "quick" tips of craps, ive played b4, i understand the rules, but i usually make the odds bet and bet the 8 or 9. im going to vegas this week and want to play, can someone throw a few tips my way.

[maurile]

The FAQ from rec.gambling.craps doesn't address dice-setting, but it seems to cover everything else.