Congratulation on good practice habits. over time hese will naturally become a part of your throw as you move into the casinos. Yes, Alligator Rose and I have changed a few things over the years. Here are some suggestions.

1. We have a warm up routine such as using Timmer’s suggestion of "How to win without setting the dice." Grab several sets of dice—we use 5 sets ( 10 dice) of dice most of the time–5 green and 5 red. When you don’t set you don’t worry about what number result of each throw, but you look at the dice in the air, how they bounce, where they hit the table and how they react after they hit the back wall. You don’t want them to spit or go sideways, one be higher in the air than the other, one stop short and the other go long—you get the idea.

2. We place a 2 foot by 3 foot mirror against the back wall or our craps table (back wall of a practice rig will certainly do) and when you throw watch your hand and arm at rest before the throw, during the back swing, the forward swing, and the release. Remember you are looking in the mirror so you can see all aspects of your throw during the whole throwing motion. You will see all sorts of areas that can be improved.

3. Take 20 or 30 dice and throw them into a bowl—we like to pad the bottom so they will not bounce out. The ones that go into the bowl you set aside. The ones that missed you throw again. Repeat this several times and try to get all in the bowl in 3 or 4 tries. We use 40 dice and give our self 5 tries to get all 40 dice in the bowl. Remember the number of dice is going down. By the last try we usually only have 4 to 6 dice left ( for 2 or 3 tries) so it becomes a little tense. Great fun. We make a game out of it and it is fun. My best is 3 tries but I usually have 1 to 3 dice left at the end of 5 tries.

4 Try the Dice Pilot technique if you see you are flipping your fingers at release–a common problem we have all had from time to time. Set the dice in your fingers as you normally would and with the other hand place 2 short piece of a flat tooth pick–or piece of paper–between your knuckles and hold them there and don’t let them fall out. The tooth picks will fall out if you flick your fingers. Learn how it feels to keep your fingers together. After a few throws, throw the dice without the toothpicks and you will see they fly and rotate together better.

There are many others that I am sure will post to your request.

With your dedication and a good practice routine you should do good at this thing we call dice control.

Alligator Rose and I hope to meet you in the casinos in the future.

Doc

Doc and Alligator Rose, thanks you very much for sharing this information. I will try this at practice. Interesting. Hope to see both of you again soon. You are full of information. I remember in class, my dice were hitting 12,2 sometimes. You told me to check the dice and make sure that they are level. I check them on every throw and my shot has improved because of those words. Rarely, do I hit high or low anymore. Your words make a difference. Will try Timmer/Dice Pilot thing.

Eagle Eye,

Doc has given you some excellent tips for practice. #1 is especially relevant.

You want to get to the point where you can self analyze what you are doing by watching your dice. When you are shooting in the casino, often that is all you have to work with. You need to be able to tell what you are doing by seeing how the dice rotate in the air and then what happens after they land on the table, hit the back wall and settle.

When I practice I often just watch my dice to see what they are doing. I want to feel them rolling of my fingertips at release. I watch to see if they are rotating side by side in the same plane, square to the table in the air after releasing off my fingers. I want to see them hit my target softly and bounce straight back together to the back wall. Then they should bounce relatively straight back and just die close to the back wall. That is the ideal toss.

If they do anything different in any of those steps I have done something wrong in my toss. Based on what I see that is not right, I know what I did wrong in my throw and I correct it. In the refresher class I would teach the students what to look for in the toss and then how to relate that to something they did. It can not be taught in the primer class because at that stage you need to work on the basic set up and throw. After 6 months of practice one should have the proficiency and knowledge of the basics to advance to the next stage. I want the refresher students to walk away with the tools to analyze their own throws. That is why I would explain what I was looking for in the reaction of the dice both in the air and when they hit. Then I would teach them what the general cause is for that reaction and have them change it. Usually the result would be better and we would have gotten to the root cause. From then forward they will be able to analyze their own toss and correct themselves, for the most part.

Skinny, I think I have been putting to much pressure on myself, because the last time I went to the casino I threw the dice short of the back wall. The dice stopped and the seven showed. I started with a small amount of money and had it pressed up a good bit and then I threw short. Any advice? I think I got shacken. I had a $6.00 six pressed close to $100. I can’t explain what happen to me to cause me to throw short and seven out. I saw the pit boss tell the boxman to move. Pitboss was sitting in the boxmans position and watching everything I was doing. Any advice so I won’t do it again.

I will follow your advice and thanks for any and all help.

A few ideas. You are still new at this so you are going to make mistakes from time to time. Throwing short can come from trying to be too exact. Look at your target and trust your throw, do not try to be too deliberate. Just let the swing flow naturally and muscle memory will do the rest. If you do throw short, don’t worry about it. It will happen from time to time, just make sure your next throw hits the back wall and move on from there.

As for the pit boss, do not let the crew get into your head. Most of the time they are only doing some part of their job that has nothing to do with you. When they are focused on you, ignore what they are doing. You have a job to perform and need to be able to zone out everything else that is going on around you except for the task in front of you. Set the dice, grip and square the dice, focus on your target and execute your throw, trusting what you have practiced thousands of times at home. Everything else around you is extraneous. Ignore it. Meditation, concentration, focus on something else, whatever it takes to keep your mind quiet and unaware of what is happening around you.

As for the betting, you need to have a game plan for all situations and never vary from it. You need to know exactly what bets you are going to make, how you are going to press or put up additional wagers, what triggers an action on your part regarding betting and of course the pay off for every bet you make. I worked out a lot of different betting methods on paper (actually excel) and talked to a number of different instructors about different ways to bet. Finally, I settled on how I like to bet (The Big Skinny) and I use it all the time. I ran through a number of different scenarios using TBS with excel to see how I would handle them all. Finally, I would run thru games in my head when I exercised and when I went to sleep (instead of counting sheep) using TBS and keeping track of all the bets in my head. Over the course of a year I probably spend about 200 or more hours betting in my head and I have done this for several years even today so I can stay fresh. This was so I could make my betting automatic. I don’t want to think about betting at the table, I want my bets to be on autopilot. Furthermore I do not worry about the money on the table. If the circumstances call for me to put up more money on a number than I ever have before, so be it. I have worked it out mathematically and I know it is the right thing to do. To do otherwise would cost me money. Lost opportunity can be just as costly, if not more so, than betting too much. You see by working out when to press and when to put up additional bets, I do it without thinking about it. I don’t look at it as money, I look at it as following the rules of a plan that I know is correct because I have worked it out in advance, seen what happens under all situations and therefore follow that plan explicitly.

But it does not sound like that is the situation you were in. By what you say, it sounds like you pressed up close to $100 too quickly, without a sufficient profit to justify being at that level. You can not let emotion enter into your game until you walk away from the table. You don’t want your emotions to influence you to bet too much OR too little. I wrote some articles on betting you may find helpful. Check out "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy" and "How much should I be winning at the tables?" at the following link: http://www.goldentouchcraps.com/skinny.shtml They covered betting at the course you took. You can review what your were taught in class and follow that.

I have been reading some of the materials and information you suggested. It has been most helpful in my understanding of the total game. I will work on implementing a plan of action before going to the tables. I will practice my betting before hand so it will come naturally. Work on Meditation and concentrate on the job at hand. You are a very wise man. I know what you suggested will work. Thanks so much. Sincerely, Eagle Eye

I think Skinny is so right in what he tells people . It is from years of rolling . Every roll does come to an end some sooner then others and it seems that a lot of short rolls do it up with a 7 .
How many recorded practice rolls have you had since the class ? How many were short rolls ?
I have lots of them . I seem to be landing the dice closer and closer to the wall to try not to have short rolls . I have stacks of chips all over on the pass line were I throw to make sure that it is more like it would be in a casino.

I feel that if you don’t do it this way you will feel different when you get to a casino and there are all these chips right were you throw.
The way I bet have never got to the point that the money bothers me . I am working on that but every thing takes time .

Well it did bother me a little on my last trip. I put out 10.00 on the fire on my roll only and lost it twice then on the next roll I bet 1.00 on it and hit it for 4 numbers so was a little upset . Was so upset did not bet it again.
I have been practicing using up a unite and it has been working a little .
Have you passed smart craps yet ?
Good Rolling. 😀 😀