Review of "Get The Edge At Craps"

I get sent every new book Bonus books publish in the hope of a review, or maybe just to keep me sweet with the lateness of the royalty cheques they owe me.

I was a bit nervous about opening "Get The Edge At Craps" because I expected the usual pseudo-scientific crap that follows the game about. Since I also have a book in the "Get the Edge" series I feared it might be tainted by association, (as with my "Baccarat for the clueless", where a lot of people assumed I was some kind of hack/nutter simply because John Patrick published "Craps for the clueless" in the same series). In addition, the author Sharpshooter's previous association with Jerry Patterson did not augur well.

However "Get The Edge At Craps" is the best book I've read on the game, and in the GTE series, which is not just damning with faint praise. The first point that strikes you is that the book contains no voodoo at all, no progression or trending systems, and the author clearly states the futility of trying to beat the game via bet manipulation or any mathematically-based method. The second point is that Sharpshooter is clearly very intelligent, conversant in mathematics and physics.

The third point is that there are absolutely no holes in the dice control programme outlined, dice control being the main focus of the book since this is a series on advantage play. Sharpshooter takes you through from where to order a regulation craps table, to grip styles to analyzing the % advantage from dice control. This is refreshing, Christopher Pawlicki's roulette book in the same series presented some interesting teasers about roulette prediction but ultimately fell short of providing a working system, where Sharpshooter's book does not.

For a supposedly populist book on craps an unusual amount of data is presented. The math, if you accept the proposition that dice control actually works, is correct. You cannot actually lose any money at the craps tables if you follow Sharpshooter's advice since he recommends not betting at all at the tables until you have established that you have a statistically significant measure of control over thousands of rolls.

The one error I can find in Sharpshooter's approach is that he does not seem to understand kelly or optimal betting theory, which would make a colossal difference to the win rate of a bona fide dice controller.

I am still something of a Doubting Thomas when it comes to the dice control concept. I want to see the video footage Sharpshooter claims to have (perhaps a webcast could be arranged) proving his skill, or better still, watch him & his crew in action at the tables. And, I am very unlikely to ever attempt dice control at the tables myself even if it did work because it would be a poor investment of my talents, requiring a hell of a lot of profitless down-time.

Nonetheless I found the book very interesting and I will keep it around should I come across any favourable craps promotion. I am also >50% convinced that dice control actually works as a practical matter, whereas previously, while it seemed an intriguing possibility, I was <50% convinced.

Thanks for the review.

I just wanted to comment on your idea of seeing video "proof." There really is not going to be any such thing. I can prove that I can toss a die thirty yards, and make it come up six, every time! See, I have this video where I do it 100 times in a row. Never mind that little flicker in the video, that occurs between each of my tosses... (where I cut out the 500 tosses I don't want you to see).

Furthermore, presuming they don't have a huge effect on the dice, the number of required rolls to prove significance would be enormous.

Lefty

I haven't read the book, but I can tell you this for a fact, A friend of mine can control the dice well enough that he has been barred from shooting dice at 2 places in Tunica, and not because he was cheating, He doesn't win every time, but he has made some big scores.

lets review:you have a friend that can control the dice and he decides, after all that practice at home, to go to Tunica,Misatippy!!a guy with that kind of scary talent should be playing in a place called las vegas where 100 dollar pass line bets make pit boss's yawn.first of all,if he has that talent,why not play for 20 minutes and move on to the next table and then the next casino and then the next shift so he would never get caught.im sure your joking...

One main problem with dice "scooters" (which is what casinos call those who "set" one die, then throw the dice in such a way that the set die does not hit the backboard), is that it is illegal. In Nevada, it is considered cheating, and is a felony.

It is rarely prosecuted because the house can simply call "no roll."

There was a successful prosecution and conviction of a dice scooting team in NV about ten years ago. I suspect it is illegal in most states, as so many have copied NV�s cheating statutes.

It is probably easier, and more profitable, to just switch in loaded dice, but would your friend want to risk ten years in prison?

is not being discussed here. We're talking about throws that barely meet the rules.

Well, it must not be to amusing to the places who barred him. As for going to Vegas, this ole boy has a business to run and why go to Vegas when he can drive 2 hours to Tunica.

This guy sets the dice and throws them up in the air and sometimes, oneor both of them don't hit the board. Now I've been gambling for better than 30 years and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn' seen him in action. If I owned a casino, he would just have to beat me. I'll be darned if I would bar a crapshooter throwing the dice straight up in the air!

throw the dice in a legal way-not sliding-then he has a cash cow.the fact that you would ask why go to vegas with that kind of talent means you dont know what your talking about.

Well, gee Pat, I don't know why he doesn't go to Vegas. Maybe it's because he's got plenty of money, a wife, children and a multi-million dollar business to run. I'll ask him next time I see him and report back to you.

because of 10x, 20x, and 100x odds...that's why. If you are able to actually get an edge through controlled throws, big odds allow a bigger possible edge. Vegas is mostly 3-4-5x odds and Reno is mostly double or triple odds.

He plays small on the line, takes big odds and buys some numbers.

Crews in Vegas will not let you get away with as much as crews in Tunica and other markets. My favorite place to shoot dice is in the midwest. In Tunica and farther south the humidity makes the dice stick to my fingers slightly.

Sometimes when you start out your arm is not calibrated with how hard you have to throw the dice. Once in a great while I'll toss the dice and both will stay on my side of the far "4". But bigplayer once had the weakest roll I have seen in my life. We had the table to ourselves in half-way decent conditions in Vegas. The point was nine. BP through the dice and they didn't even get past the hard ways. But they were 6-3. The boxman gave him a 2-minute lecture on how if he ever did that again he would disallow the throw. But we got paid for making that point!

Do we have an edge? I have no idea. But I do know that between us we are up 5-figures for the year playing craps. And I have triggered 4-figures in comps and coupons heat free at places I would never play BJ.

Math Boy

I just wanted to comment on your idea of seeing video "proof." There really is not going to be any such thing. I can prove that I can toss a die thirty yards, and make it come up six, every time! See, I have this video where I do it 100 times in a row. Never mind that little flicker in the video, that occurs between each of my tosses... (where I cut out the 500 tosses I don't want you to see).

I guess you know that I know you know that I know this-though the point is worth making anyway. Yes, it is easy to fake video footage. That is one reason I suggested a webcast ie in real-time. Ways still exist to fake it, but personally I trust my judgement as an advantage player to discriminate between genuine ability and some kind of trickery.

Furthermore, presuming they don't have a huge effect on the dice, the number of required rolls to prove significance would be enormous.

That is true, but Sharpshooter gives all the figures for the various levels of confidence. It could easily take you months. But I think there are more than enough people who are prepared to put in that effort given the (almost limitless) rewards. I know martial artists who have trained for ten years and consider themselves beginners, this is a piece of cake by comparison.

did Sharpshooter net in 2001 from craps, and how much did he net from book sales, comparatively?

My brother has competed in darts for years, makings some good coin at times. But the board he throws at is not an irregular surface and the darts he throws are designed to stick in the surface, not bound off and land on a specified side.

Even if dice control is total bullshit I expect Sharpshooter made more from craps last year than book sales. No one makes money off writing about advantage play.
Some, like Wong and Snyder, make money by controlling the means of production, ie printing and selling as well as writing, and keeping all the profit. Some, like Scoblete and Tamburin, make money by writing numerous populist readable texts and heavily pushing them with a sophisticated promotional apparatus. But books on advantage are going to net you royalties at the very best of a few thousand dollars a year.