Should You BUY What the Casino is Selling at Craps?

By Jerry "Stickman"

Prefer to purchase the software on CD, mailed to your doorstep? Click here to order the Smart Craps Professional on CD (only $5 shipping added).

Smart Craps is a fundamentally new way for dice controllers to win at the casino game of craps. With Smart Craps, you will learn:

• how to prove, with statistical certainty, that you are influencing the dice outcomes, using our powerful and new Pro Test© method.
• the optimal dice sets and bets given your unique dice control skill.
• your edge over the casino: how much money you can make playing craps.

The end result is that we've developed the most powerful and sophisticated software tool to help dice control experts refine their game. It lets them test their skill using our new 'Pro Test' metric, the most accurate statistical assessment method for dice control. Dice controllers can optimize their dice sets, test different betting systems, and learn what edge (if any), they have.

Of course... Smart Craps is shareware, like all of our software products. The unregistered shareware version of Smart Craps will let you fully explore the program and features. But, it will only allow limited rounds during simulation runs, and will prompt you from time to time to purchase a registration ('nag' screens). After you buy the program, you will receive a registration code by e-mail to enter into the program, which will disable ALL shareware 'nags' forever. Here is the download link:

Bad Beat Jackpots

By Bill Burton

A bad beat in poker is when you have a good hand that is a favorite to win beaten by another hand. Most of the time it is a hand that caught a miracle draw on the river and the player should not have been playing it to begin with. A true bad beat is when two strong hands go head to head. Some poker rooms offer a jackpot bonus for this type of bad beat. Some players love to play in poker rooms that offer bad beat jackpots because the jackpot can grow to thousands of dollars before it is hit. I read that the largest bad beat jackpot was around $165,000 although many poker rooms will set a top amount for the jackpot such as $50,000. Any money collected over this amount will be applied to a secondary back up jackpot which will be the amount of the new jackpot when the present one hits.

Bad beat jackpots are made from additional money raked out of each pot that goes toward the jackpot bonus. In most cardrooms these go into a separate drop box from the regular rake. Usually the jackpot rake is one dollar but it is not taken out of small pots or hands that do not see the flop.

Some poker rooms just combine the money in a single box with the rake and then take a percentage out at the end of the day. There are other card rooms that fully fund that jackpot without taking extra out of each hand. In these instances there are usually other rules such as the jackpot can only be hit during the week and not on weekends.

At first thought playing in a poker room that offer a bad beat jackpot may be exciting but you have to realize that the chances of hitting one are very slim. Since they are taking money out of each pot the rake is much higher than in rooms that do not have a bad beat jackpot. Many low limit players find it hard to overcome the rake and the tip in order to make a profit and the extra taken out for the jackpot will decrease the profit of each hand you win.

When the jackpot is hit the money is divided between the winning and losing player and the other players at the table. Each poker room may distribute the jack pot money differently but an example would be: 50% to the losing hand, 25% to the winning hand and 25% to the remaining players at the table that were dealt in that hand.

In some poker rooms a portion of the jackpot will be paid to everyone who is playing that game in the card room who is playing the game. If the jackpot is hit during a Texas Holdem game, all of the players playing Holdem would share in the jack pot.

Bad Beat Qualifications
Each poker room has their own specifications as to which hands qualify as a "bad beat." Many rooms will not only specify the minimum strength of the beaten hand, but also the minimum strength of the winning hand.

In many instance the lowest hand is a full house of Aces full of tens beaten by four of a kind or better. This can vary and another poker room might have set the jack pot hand as Aces full of Jacks must be beaten by four eights or higher. Many of the online poker rooms set the minimum hand as quad eights beaten by a higher hand.

In all instances to qualify for the bad beat jackpot both the winning and losing players MUST use both of their hole cards in making their qualifying hand.

For example if the board was A-A-A-T-7

Player one had: Ace-9

Player two had: K-K

Player one had quad aces and beat player two's Aces full of kings. This does not qualify because player one did not use both of his hold cards to make his winning hand.

Before You Play
The rules for bad beat jackpots are not standard and vary greatly from poker room to poker room. Always check with your local floorman if you have any questions. Before you play make sure you know the rules for a qualifying for the jackpot and how much extra rake is being taken out of every pot.

*****************************************************

About the writer.

Bill Burton is the Casino Gambling Guide and columnist for the Internet portal About.com located at: www.casinogambling.about.com He is the author of "1000 Best Casino Gambling Secrets" and "Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold'em" available online at www.billburton.com. He an instructor for Golden Touch Craps: www.thecrapsclub.com

by Henry Tamburin

The casinos have a unique way of upgrading the size of player bets, which sometimes results in large losses to unsuspecting players.

A beginner at blackjack often seeks out the lowest minimum bet games. The player starts betting at the table minimum, for example $5 a hand. Suppose the player wins a hand and lets the $5 winning chip ride. The player now has a $10 bet and is dealt a hand that requires a double down bet. A win at this point would require a payoff of four red chips; other times the dealer may give the player a green chip ($25) and take away a red ($5) chip as change. This latter transaction is known as coloring up and it effectively reduces the supply of the players lower denomination chips and replaces them with chips of a higher denomination.

So far there is no damage done. But suppose the player runs out of red chips and has only green chips left? What the player should do is ask the dealer for "check change" and convert the green chips into lower denomination red chips. However a lot of novice players do not ask for check change and make the mistake of betting the green chip.

Sometimes the player will get lucky and win the $25 bet. Other times the bet is lost. And conceivably the player could lose a lot more than $25. How? Suppose the player were dealt a hand that required a split. The player would have to add another green chip to the original bet. And in the extreme case, the player may be dealt cards to each split hand that would suggest the best play is to double down. The novice player in the heat of the battle could conceivably bet 4 green chips (that's a total of $100) on the table. Grant it this is the same player that started his play at the table minimum of $5 a hand. And in this extreme example if the dealer got lucky and drew a 20 or 21 the player could conceivably lose $100 on one hand.

You are probably saying nobody in their right mind would be betting green chips with a limited bankroll and limited knowledge about the game of blackjack. Then I'd like for you to join me some time as we watch players play blackjack (I'll even let you pick the casino!). Most of the time it's desperate players betting green chips trying to recoup their losses in one hand. It's the double or nothing mentality. Other times you will spot a timid novice player betting green chips because at some time the dealer colored them up and he/she didn't know any better. Don't let this happen to you!

To prevent yourself from over betting in a casino, always ask the dealer for "check change" to convert higher denomination chips to lower ones. Casino dealers always ask players who are leaving the table to "color up" and that's OK because it's more convenient to carry a few higher denomination chips than a lot of smaller ones. However, if you decide to play at another table, remember to ask the dealer for "check change" so you can bet at a level you are comfortable with.

Over betting is a cardinal sin in a casino. No matter how skillful a player you may be, blackjack by it's nature will result in a your bankroll fluctuating. Mathematician can predict with great accuracy how much of a swing in your bankroll you can expect based on your playing habits. That's why you need to have a cushion or spread between your average bet size and bankroll to weather the storms. And it's just not the novice players who tend to over bet. This is the number one reason why most fledgling card counters never make any money in this game.

Scoblete keeps pumping out the wisdom...

Stop Minding My Business

by Frank Scoblete

I am not a busybody. My wife, the beautiful A.P., has to remind me all the time of our neighbors' names. "That's Mrs. Kyle, next door." "That's the retired NYC police detective Mr. Grimes across the street." "Mrs. Millicent had her fifth daughter last month."

I just don't connect to them and while I remember their faces, what the heck are their names? Forget about knowing what they do or did to make a living, or how many children they have. Except for my own grandchildren (adorable little kids), all other kids look more or less alike to me. Truthfully, I don't have much of a fondness for "other" kids either.

On our early morning walks through our beautiful village on Long Island in New York, my wife knows just about everyone and gives them cheerful greetings, while I nod hello, pretending to know them too.

"Who was that?" I'll ask when the person passes.

"That's so and so," she'll say. "She lives on Wright Avenue in that big blue house."

"Oh," I'll say and then totally forget that person and his or her big blue house after my next eye blink

I do not pry into anyone's life, including that of my family or friends or business partners. You want to tell me something, I'll listen; ask me for advice, I'll give it. The only time I push my ideas is when I write about gambling, which is part of my career after all. So, as you can clearly see, I am not one to jam my advice down anyone else's throat.

At the gaming tables or slot machines, I never interfere with the way people play. It's their money to bet as they wish - whether those bets are advantage-play bets, smart bets, not so smart bets, or absolutely stupid bets. I write therefore I am is true, but I don't mind other people's business, which is just as true.

So why am I subjected to that which I don't subject other people to? In my real life I always have people prying into my business. "How much money do you make writing all those books?" "Are you a degenerate gambler?" "Is A.P. as pretty as you say she is?"

At the blackjack and craps tables, though, is where busy-body-ness becomes so offensive that I have, at times (and I am not proud of this), lost my normal calm composure and told people to go f...uh, to go fly a kite, so to speak.

At craps I use the 5-Count; a method developed by the Captain of Craps, my mentor and the greatest craps player who ever lived, to reduce the number of random rolls one faces and put one in a position to take advantage of controlled shooters and/or big rolls. Indeed, the 5-Count cuts down the number of random rolls you face by a whopping 57 percent! (Go here: www.goldentouchcraps.com/proof.shtml) Yet, I will have players turn to me and say, "How come you aren't betting on every shooter right off the bat? What's your system?"

Of course, I tell them (politely) that I have no system, I just bet when my instincts tell me to bet. That's a lie but it usually shuts them up.

Some others will know I am using the 5-Count and they will loudly proclaim to the entire planet Earth, "You know that 5-Count garbage just doesn't work!" Some will take into their confidence in their overbearing, loud voices the box person and the floor person. "Hey, you people, do you think that 5-Count stuff really works?" The box and the floor person invariably snicker. How stupid can anyone be to use these tools?

At times such as these I feel like taking the stick from the stick person and doing something obscene to the loud mouth.

Unfortunately, blackjack is the game that brings out every false expert who has ever lived! For some peculiar reason, blackjack players, even the worst ones who have no idea of basic strategy, think of themselves as truly gifted strategists who must tell everyone else at the table how to play their hands. Worse, they must tell you just as you make your decision why that decision is good or bad. Worse still, they must tell you in such a loud voice that everyone on this side of the Atlantic Ocean is now fully aware that you don't know how to play the game.

"How can you hit that 12 of yours against the dealer's two?" they shout.

"You are doubling an eleven against a dealer's ten? That ten is a power card!"

"Whoever told you to split eights against a ten? That is a dumb move!"

To these loudmouths I would like to grab a handful of chips and...well, you can finish that thought.

For those of you who wish to take my advice, it is simply this: Mind your own business when you play; don't give advice; and try to ignore those whose loud voices are attempting to change your smart casino play.

Click here for upcoming courses...

As a preferred client of Golden Touch Craps, we are offering a VERY SPECIAL BLACK CHIP DISCOUNT for our 2009 seminars in blackjack and craps. You must call and give us a deposit to reserve your seat by December 31^st 2008 to get these special discounts. You won't get a lower price than these for our 2009 courses. Note: multiple offers cannot be combined.

If you have been thinking about enrolling in our seminars, now is the time! Learn the most comprehensive way to control the dice and beat the game of craps. At our Speed Count seminar you will learn the easiest way to beat the game of blackjack consistently. Check out our websites www.GoldenTouchCraps.com and www.GoldenTouchBlackjack.com for a complete description on the course structure. All you have to do is give us a call and either pay for the seminar in full or give us a 50% deposit to reserve your seat.

To sign up, Call TOLL FREE: 1-866-SET-DICE or 1-886-738-3423