2.THE EQUIPMENT
The Table Craps is played on a large table surrounded by a railing that serves to keep the dice from rolling off the table when they are thrown. The railing also helps keep the game honest. When rolling the dice, you will be expected to throw them hard enough so that they bounce off the rail at the opposite end of the table. This rail is lined with ribbed rubber. Bouncing the dice off the rail helps ensure that the roll will completely random, beyond the control of the shooter. If you fail to bounce the dice, you will be warned by a dealer or the box man to throw harder. If you repeatedly fail to hit the rail, you may lose your turn to shoot. The top of the rail contains two grooves for you to keep your chips in. Keep your hands up there also when not betting. If you have your hand down on the table when the dice are rolled and one of the dice hits your hand, it can upset the shooter. If he didn't get the number he was hoping for, he may blame you for affecting the outcome. The crap-table crew may also get upset, fearing that you ay have been trying to "past post" (make an illegal bet after the deadline).
The Dice The dice used at casino craps are quite different from the ones you use at home to play Monopoly. Each one has the casino logo and a serial number imprinted on it, to make it more difficult for a cheat to counterfeit. It is transparent, to make it more difficult for a cheat to load, and larger, to make it more difficult for a cheat to palm. The standard sizes used in casino games are ¾ inch and 5/8 inch. And I mean exactly; these dice have been measured by caliper to ensure that there is no more than a one-ten-thousand-of-an-inch difference between any of the sides.
The spots on these dice have been filled, so they are flush with the surface of the die. The material that the spots are made of has the same specific gravity as the material that the dice themselves are made of, so each die is perfectly balanced even though it has more spots on some sides than on others. Those dice you use at home are slightly imbalanced by the fact that they have six little holes on one side and only one hole on the opposite side. Finally, casino dice have sharp edges and corners, which are more precise than the rounded ones found on cheap dice. This means that the dice must be changed frequently to avoid imbalances caused by chipped corners and edges. In other words, the casinos spare no expense to ensure that their dice are the perfect instruments for arriving at a random number from 2 to 12.
Although only two dice are used in the game, the stickman has a set of from five to eight dice. When it is you turn to shoot the dice, he will push all of these dice over to you with his stick. Pick out any two you want to use. You will use these two dice as long as it is your turn to roll. The stickman will then drop the other dice into a small semicircular wooden bowl called a dice boat that he keeps in front of him. The Stick The stickman's wooden stick serves tow purposes. It allows him to retrieve the dice from any part of the table without undue stretching. It also helps protect the players form cheating. The most common method used by crooked gambling houses to cheat the patrons at craps involves the stickman periodically switching the dice for various kinds of crooked dice by sleight of hand. To do that, he must pick up the dice with his hand. Use of the stick keeps the dealer's hand form coming into contact with the dice. You won't have to worry about this kind of cheating in any major casino in places like Las Vegas, Reno, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City, or Puerto Rico. However, if you should ever find yourself in a casino crap game where the stickman follows the practice of picking the dice up with his hand to toss them back to the shooter, pick up your money with your hand and leave immediately.
The Buck The last piece of equipment you will find on the crap table is the dice buck. This is a round piece of black and white plastic that looks a little like an Eskimo Pie. On one side it bears the word ON and on the other side it bears the word OFF. There are two of these, one on each side of the layout. The two dealers use the buck to help the players keep track of what is happening in the game at any given moment. This is done by placing it with the proper word up and positioning it on the correct spot on the layout.
The Layout The surface of the crap table is usually green, although sometimes it is blue or even red. On it is an elaborate pattern of boxes, words, numbers, and drawings of dice that is called the layout. The crap layout acts as a roadmap to the game. Initially, this layout may appear confusing. Actually, the crap layout is only half as complicated as it appears to be, since the right side of the layout is duplicate of the left side. Each player only has to concern himself with the half nearest him. The central portion of the layout consists entirely of sucker bets carrying prohibitive house percentage.
If you completely ignore this central portion, it will not only simplify matters for you, but it will also save you money. The exact position of each wager the bet, and what the status of the bet is at that point in the game. Some of these bets are placed on the layout by the dealers, some are placed by the player, and some are placed by the player and later moved to different part of the layout by a dealer when the status of the bet changes. see more > > >
