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The Basics of Dice Control
The Key to Attaining a Real Advantage at Dice Control
By Jerry Patterson
-- The Godfather of Dice Control
The Dice Control Revolution is in full swing. It is
now an accepted fact that craps players possessing the skill of dice
setting, gripping and throwing the dice so that they travel side-by-side
in orbit, at the same velocity, and land softly with minimal "splatter," can overcome the house edge at casino craps.
Dice Control can be defined simply as the skill of throwing
the dice more than the random 6 times including the seven-out in the
point cycle. The statistics speak very loudly in this low, house-edge
game: If you can roll 6.14 times in the point cycle, you break even;
roll eight times including the seven-out and you have a double-digit
edge approaching 17%.
Before I get to the key to learning how to control
the dice, let me review the simple 4-step process of dice control:
Dice Control Step 1: You set the dice to move the losing
sevens out of the way, to the hubs or ends, with hardways showing on
all four faces. The Hardway Set is just one of the many sets you can
use, but it has proven itself over the years as the very best set for
newcomers to dice control
Dice Control Step 2: You grip the dice lightly
to minimize skin contact (drag) with the surface of the cubes.
If you are just starting, I recommend the one-finger front grip - middle finger placed near top of crack with thumb behind. You can find other grips defined in Sharpshooter's excellent book, How to Control the Dice.
Dice Control Step 3: You pick up the dice while observing
your projected landing area about 6 inches in front of the back wall.
Dice Control Step 4: You launch the dice into orbit,
perpendicular to the sides of the table and parallel to the back wall.
It is this fourth step that we are concerned about in
this article. To secure an edge over the house, your objective is to
launch the dice at the optimum angle to accomplish a "soft landing" and minimize the random motion of the dice after they collide with the back wall pyramids and come to rest.
Sharpshooter has stated in the Sharpshooter/PARR Dice
Control Course that this optimum launch angle is 45 degrees. The dice
should leave your hand at the required 45-degree angle, rotating side
by side at the same rate of speed.
This 45-degree angle is key to your
control, your soft landing with minimal random "splatter" and, thus, to your edge over the house.
The Question is: How can you be sure that you have
launched at 45 degrees or as close as possible thereto?
The answer is contained in simple tables published with the Sharpshooter/PARR Course showing Table Length (12, 14, 16 feet) in Column 1, Throwing Distance for Stick Left, Stick Right and Table End in Column 2, and, most important, Height above the table in feet for each table length to achieve the desired 45 degrees.
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