For a while now, I have employed a pretty successful come betting strategy where I will put up a passline bet with full odds. If I hit the point within the five count or if I complete the 5 count, I’ll add another come bet. Once I’ve got a given profit in the rack, I’ll add a 3d come bet and begin spreading out after that. The progression isn’t the issue. This morning in practice I discovered something quite interesting about the 4 and 10. I am experimenting with placing the second bet rather than making a come bet to get the second number. On the standard 3, 4 and 5x odds tables, the pay-offs are identical for the same amount of money in play…except, oddly, for the 4 and 10. For example, if 5 is my point and I have $25 flat and $100 odds (4x), I have $125 in play. If I hit the 5, the total pay out is $175. If I were to also place the 9 for $125, the payoff would also be $175. Of course with a place bet, you don’t get to ‘dance around’ on the Come line and pick up assorted numbers, but as we all know, you can move them around as you like. The same payoff rules exist with the 6 and 8. A $25 passline bet with $125 odds pays you a total of $175 if you hit it. A place bet of $150 pays you the same $175. But… let’s say you have the 4 as your point…$25 on the passline and $75 behind the line (3x). A hit pays you $175. However, if you place $100 on big brother 10, you get paid back at 9/5 or $180. So, isn’t a place or buy bet on the 4 or 10 a better bet on a 3x table, assuming the total amount in play is going to be $100? Of course, if you get the 4 or 10 as the comeout point, your 3x odds is about the best you can do, keeping the total in play to $100. My thought is, if you hit the 4 as the point, for example, doesn’t it make more sense to buy the 10 ( assuming you are placing the sister number of your point). On a $100 buy, your commission is $5, paid on the hit. So your payoff on a hit is $200 minus $5 or $195…much better than if you hit the 10 on the come and took the 3x odds. And, even a place bet of $100 will pay $180 on the hit, also better than the sister number made with a come bet. With 3x,4x and 5x tables, it seems the power of the come bet really has been reduced a bit, since the same gross amount of money pays the same on every number, at least on the inside numbers. My thought would be that every time you make a point, you place the sister. That way, you are moving the bets around and not parking on just a couple of numbers all the time. And, if your point is 4 or 10, definitely buy the sister for $100. Seems to be a no brainer, but I’m still kind of curious about how the casinos managed to leave the 4 and 10 out of the ‘Place and Come pay the same’ formula that applies to the inside numbers. Very strange. And, BTW, I do understand that my advantage is probably greater over the 6 and 8 than over the outside numbers, but that is not the debate I’m having here. (And, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten killed sticking just to a 6/8 strategy, letting them work on every point….sometimes you just don’t hit 6s and 8s that day!)

And, here’s something else strange…a different topic…just got back from a trip to Vegas doing team play with a number of fellow GTC people, which I really enjoyed. I"m an all out convert to team play now for both fun and profit. But here’s the ‘strange’ topic: I never bet the ‘Fire Bet’ but I’m going to start putting a buck or two on it from now on. Justification? I put that much on the dealers, per roll and, at some point it doesn’t come back to me either! I also give similar amounts to the cocktail waitresses for my ‘free’ beverages. In the process of rolling a 36 at my favorite casino, I got about 20 rolls into it, and the crew started kidding me, saying things like "Well, you’ve hit three of them, too bad you don’t have a fire bet" They were putting the Fire Bet pucks up on the numbers, I guess to show me what I was missing (nobody else on the layout had it) Needless to say, it was very difficult to keep my focus on my throw after they pointed this out to me, but I finally got back into the zone after a few throws and then made the 4th point. The kidding continued and was good natured. We were having a great time, because I was making mucho dinero on the numbers I had, anyway. Then, Griz shows up and I said something like "Hey bud, I"m about to make the 40 roll club!" Should have kept my mouth shut. Then I hit the 5th point to a chorus of jokes like "Don’t worry about it, you won’t be the first guy to make the Fire Bet without a bet on it! Ha ha ha!" What’s worse is that the final point was an 8. I had the rest of them and would have locked in 500 to 1 anyway ( if I had had the bet on the layout!). I threw the devil on roll 37, to make a long story short. I’ll get in the club one of these days, don’t you worry, but…I am going to put a $1 or $2 Fire Bet down next time. It’s as well spent there as it is on a bottled water, that I could get without a tip if I so chose. So…I know it’s a bad bet, but its also kind of like the $10 or $20 I put into the Megabucks machine everytime I’m there. BTW, that sucker paid me a $240 jackpot on a $12 investment this time and on the final pull with 3 units in play. And, yes, I walked and played no more slots this trip! Maybe that was the gambling Gods compensating me for having missed the Fire Bet!

So, with the long digression, what say ye about the 4 and the 10 and placing the sister as a strategy? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had one of the box numbers as the point and have repeatedly hit the sister but not the point. Yes, Frank, I know that is not scientific, and…hanging out even with GTC players, I can’t tell you how much jibberish and superstition I heard…no names will be mentioned. Heck, I might have even contributed some of that stuff…such as, perhaps, place the sister number because you’ll always, often, sometimes, frequently, etc., hit it without hitting it’s corresponding point.

Thanks, folks.

Alamo

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