As the game begins the idea of placing the 5 and 9 is off the wall since you have to buck a four percent house edge. Not too many new and mediocre controlled shooters can really overcome the four percent house edge because they would need a five percent edge to give them a one percent edge: 5 percent edge minus 4 percent = 1 percent.

Do you really want a one percent edge when placing the 6 and 8 gives you a 3.5 percent edge? Remember we are talking long term here – not just a given session.

Now if you can buy the 4 or 10 for $25 or $30 paying a one dollar commission on wins only, buying the 4 or 10 is a slightly better bet than placing the 6 and 8. The edge hovers around 1.3 percent. (Can someone do the math on this on another thread?) So buying these numbers is a good bet.

I’ll answer for you on the 5 and 9 placement right now and keep in mind this is with novice and mediocre shooters. No, don’t place them at the beginning of a roll.

However as a blistering roll is on and the 5s and 9s are being hit and you have made three times your initial betting spread adding the Pass Line flat bet and your placement of the 6 and 8, moving out is not a bad idea – yes, even moving out with a small bet on the 5 and 9. So if you are betting $150 on the 6 and 8, going to $25 on the 5 or 9 is not going to kill you. If the roll continues, you will make some money on those numbers. If the roll ends and neither has hit then you can say, "Scoblete doesn’t know anything about craps." That should satisfy you.

Now remember you have made a profit already: say you are placing the 6 and 8 for $150 each ($300 action and a pass line for $15, your total action is $315. If you wish to add the odds in, then do so.) Now you win $1245 dollars. You can place the 5 and 9.

The above is on new and mediocre shooters. A big win, a little bet on the 5 and 9 as you spread out.

If you are playing at a 5X or higher odds game, the better bet is to go with a Come bet and full odds. The 3X, 4X, 5X is still slightly better with the place bets.

Now what if you get a shooter such as No Field Five who, unlike his nickname, can sometimes go on 5 streaks, and he is not hitting the 6 or 8 with any regularity? No Field Five has an edge that is over 10 percent – well over in fact.

Now, on this table, with this excellent shooter, at this time, the 5 and 9 become good bets because you have a shooter who can overcome these numbers’ edge easily and is in a "signature mode" during this short period. Just this short period. This hand.

Obviously, you don’t start off on the 5 and 9 but once you see No Field Five bang out a few of them, you would not be doing something crazy to go with those two numbers at a lower rate than your bets on the 6 and 8. If you are betting $150 on the 6 and 8, then going to $75 on the 5 and 9 makes sense.

On excellent shooters on a given table, you can see a kind of "signature" number during one hand with the dice.

However, do not expect the shooter to necessarily continue this "signature" on the next hand he has. His throw might be different or Dominator might have let some ashes fall off his eternal cigarette on the table and this suddenly causes No Field Five’s shot to start hitting those 6s and 8s with ferocious consistency. Then you would ignore the 5 and 9 and just go with the 6 and 8.

Signature numbers, even with great shooters, can be ephemeral things.

I might have more to say about this in later posting but right now I have some intense family matters to attend to.

Frank Scoblete

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