Craps Forum
Inspired by getting back into discussing Craps after the death of rec.gambling.craps and registering here, yesterday evening I drove out to Cache Creek Casino in Yolo County, CA, to play a bit. The last time I was there, on a Saturday night, they had the minimum at $10. I prefer to play $5 and put more on the odds bets. That night I bought in for $200, played for about an hour and left down about $80, including about $5 in hardway bets for the dealers (two-way), none of which won. Last night (Tuesday) I was hoping the table would be at $5, and it was, although it was fairly crowded. I went to the bar and bought a Heineken to take to the table, as they do not serve alcohol at the tables.
I am retired now, and my income is just Social Security and a small annuity, so I really am reluctant to lose very much. I didn’t visit the ATM, and had only $55 and a few singles in my wallet; I bought in for the $55, $5 in singles (for $6 bets on 5/9 odds or place 6/8), after waiting for the seven-out. That’s only eleven bets at the minimum, even fewer if I would take odds, which I did.
I got ahead early, based on my own fairly good hand, and made a couple of two-way hardways, neither of which won. But the dealers appreciate it, anyway. One thing I have noticed out there is that very few people toke the dealers. After I sevened out, I lost back most of what I had won. I made a couple of horn-high-12 bets for $5, chasing that quick $57 win, but “no dice”, so to speak. Yes, I know it’s a 12.8% HA, but the standard deviation is over twice the bet amount. Actually, I should probably bet on the 12 or 2 if I’m going to do any prop betting, as that’s a SD of over five times the bet amount.
In any case, I was about even when the dice came back to me. I hit a couple of points with single odds, then got a point of six. I placed the 8 for $6, took double odds on the six and another two-way hardway (on the six). To my surprise, and the delight of the dealers, the hard six showed, so the dealers got $10. In my craps-dealer manuals, it says something about them saying, “...and you’re still up to win” when a prop bet hits, meaning they pay you the winnings and leave your bet up. Nobody said that, and I completely forgot about my own hard six (the dealer bet has to go down). I kept making points, and lo and behold my hard six hit again; then it hit again. In the meantime, I finally pressed my place bets to $12 and kept taking double odds. A rather rough-looking woman at the other end of the table was racking up wins on place bets and hardways. At some point, I put 20 $5 cheques in the back row and played with the rest. Before I sevened out, I put another four in the back row. When I sevened out, I gave the dealers a nickel cheque.
During my hand, young guy and his girlfriend came to the table and squeezed in to my left. There was already a point, so he made a $5 come bet. A six rolled, and he asked the box about odds, which are 3, 4 5X; he put $15. He seemed to know what he was doing at craps, but he was not familiar with the way they play at Cache Creek, with the dice “pointing” to one of two cards dealt. After his girlfriend shot the dice (point-seven) the dice passed to this guy. The box told him to set the dice to the hard six. I immediately saw what he was up to, and said “Good luck with that!”. He set the blue die to 3, then started turning the red one over, trying to find the 3. There is no 3! The blue die has 3s and 2s, the red die 4s and 1s, so there cannot be a “tie”. Whichever die shows the higher number, the card in that colored box is turned over, giving the result. A good-natured joke. Most of the dealers and supervisors out there, at least at the craps table, which is the only game I play, are quite friendly. Of the four dealers rotating last night, one was a rather dour guy who said almost nothing.
While I was laughing at this guy’s attempts to find a 3 on the red die, he rolled and I missed the comeout. I had been there almost two hours, and my front rail was down to two nickels and ten singles. I bet $5 on the come, and it went to the 10. I put the last nickel behind the come 10, so I would either walk or take my $25 and keep playing. The seven showed, so I gave the singles to the dealers and cashed out. I had $120 and I put out about $20 in tokes, so I won about $85, or ~155% of my starting bankroll.
Let me anticipate someone posting that I “should” have won a lot more than that. Yes, I know that I could have won a lot more had I progressed my bets more and faster. But I am a pretty conservative player, and you can never know when you’re going to be lucky; sometimes, as soon as you press, the seven shows and there go your previous winnings. On my way out, I ran into the “rough-looking” woman, and she told me that she had been $300 down, but my hand got her back to even.
All in all, a fun evening. On my way home, I stopped at a bar in Esparto and had another beer. Tuesday night seems to be a good night to go out there - little traffic, not too crowded and $5 craps. They also had one roulette table open, with a $1 minimum; it’s also played with cards, red and black “pointed to” by the ball falling in a red or black slot.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
