Controlled Shooting is Bullshit!

by Dale S. Yeazel

In the last few years, there have been dozens of books written about, websites created for and seminars instructing the art of controlled shooting. “Controlled shooting” goes by other names, such as: “rhythmic rolling” (presumably for Catholics) or “precision shooting.” I believe that gaming authors finally realized the book buying public is smart enough not to believe in betting systems that are alleged to overcome a fixed percentage game, like craps, have created the interest in the subject.

This pseudo science was created years ago: a writer that believed that shooters that took their time to pick up and shoot the dice and did this in a consistent fashion were less likely to seven-out. These prodigious few were deemed to be “rhythmic rollers’ and the method used to discover who these were, was to let them shoot for five rolls after coming-out on a point, to demonstrate they were one of the chosen ones. This theory was eventually combined with another writer’s theory of setting the dice with specific numbers facing skyward and with the dice turned in a predetermined direction.

It was only after rational minds scoffed at the idea of either of these techniques influencing the outcome of the roll or reducing the house percentage was the technique elaborated on by suggesting that following this process and attempting to keep the dice on axis, would minimize the appearance of the numbers of the horizontal ends of the dice.

The “proof’ of the validity of this method that is usually offered, is to compute how many less sevens need to be thrown than the six of them that would be expected in the thirty-six dice combinations, in order to make a certain bet on the table a positive expectation bet. Well no shit, if you can roll less than the expected number of sevens, you can turn a crap game into an ATM machine. The question is: is there anyone out there that can accomplish this? Why some usually intelligent gamblers are persuaded by this technique is because they are just educated enough to be suckers. Anyone that has done any amount of reading on the subject of dice control knows there is such a thing as a “blanket roll” that was used during WWII.

If the dice are rolled on blanket that is the top layer of a bed, the blanket will act as a cushion and it isn’t difficult to keep the dice on axis. Another technique is to place one end of an Army blanket under a footlocker and weigh down the other end, so the blanket would hang loosely in front of it. This gave the shooter a backboard to shoot against and gave everyone but the hustlers a false sense of security. This backboard merely gave the shooter a cushion that could help keep the dice on axis after impact. It wasn’t unusual for the dice to stay on axis, even as they slid or rolled down the blanket. The method of setting the dice for less sevens or more point numbers had been discovered years earlier by dice hustlers that would only shoot craps on dirt, where they could keep the dice on axis or even perform a “helicopter shot” where they would throw the dice with the desired number facing skyward. By putting just enough spin on the dice to keep the desired number up, they could count on the dirt acting as a cushion and “killing” the shot.

Of course it is helpful to be “one with the gods” when trying to control three-dimensional objects that are flying through space. Amphetamine and cocaine based products are probably the drugs of choice for today’s dice wizards, as users feel as they have more hand-eye coordination when taking them. Hallucinogens can also be helpful, although it doesn’t matter how many winners the shooter throws on his personal astral plane. His payoffs are based on how many winners he throws on the casino’s plane of existence. I remember overhearing a conversation between a dice wizard and his friend. His friend asked; “Did you see how consistent your trajectory was on that throw?” Dr. Leary replied; “Hell yes, I can still see the tracer!” The truly delusional can even believe they are Darth Vader and can use the force to not only control the dice but also have enough telekinesis left over to choke the boxman.

The only question that really needs to be addressed is whether or not a modern casino crap table has the type of surface and other conditions that will permit a controlled shot. I don’t know about you but I have no intention of believing anyone other than an expert in the field of casino game protection. Two of the brightest stars in this profession are Steve Forte, author of “Casino Game Protection – A Comprehensive Guide” and Bill Zender, author of “Advantage Play for the Casino Executive.” I had the pleasure of watching Mr. Forte demonstrate his slide shot, which the only reliable method of throwing a controlled shot on a crap table. Mr. Forte conducted a test where he set the dice and dropped them straight down to a craps layout, from a height of ten inches. He recorded six thousand rolls and found no significant deviation from the expected results. And as he points out in his book, on a live crap game, the shooter is required to throw the dice higher, harder, farther and around obstacles that weren’t present in his test. In his book Mr. Zender illustrates the ideal throw for the dice setter (I added Tinkerbell).

But he also references a study by a consulting group that concluded the force of the throw is 222 times greater than necessary to take the dice off axis and this is without hitting the rubber pyramids.

But as a crap dealer and supervisor, my biggest gripe with dice setting is the type of behavior it encourages. All this talk of dice setting has some morons taking an ungodly length of time to set the dice and throw. And when the stickman or boxman ask them to set the dice a little faster, they go into a tirade about how the suits are afraid of their ability to shoot winners!

© 2006 Dale S. Yeazel

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