THE CASINO’S PERCENTAGE OF BANK CRAPS BETS

Cheating at Dice

Most gambling casino that cater to the masses are on the square (honest) and earn their profits by employing Old Man Percentage. The same cannot be said for thousands and thousands of private Craps games or for the countless dice games played in illegally run gambling joints. Nearly every private Craps game has either its Craps hustler (a player who offers short odds ) or its dice cheat two characters who are consistent winners in 90 percent of all friendly games.
Of course, dice specially made for cheating have been found in the tombs of ancient Egypt and the Orient, and in prehistoric graves of North and South America. Any die that is not a perfect cube will not act according to the correct odds and is called a “shape.” Shapes are cubes that have been shaved down on one or more sides so that they are slightly brick-shaped and will tend to settle down most often on their larger surfaces. Shapes are the most common of all crooked dice and can be made either as passers or missouts.
Six-ace flats are the commonest variety of missouts, and have the six-ace sides shaved down. Thus, these sides turn up oftener than they would with square dice, and produce more sevens. The cheat bets the dice to lose.
Flat passers have had the six-ace sides cut down on one die and the three-four sides on the other, so that the points, 4,5,9, and 10 appear more often than they should. Or the two-five sides are shaved on one die and the three-four sides on the other, so as to favor the points 5,6,8, and 9. The cheat bets the dice to win.
Two-way flats (fast sevens or four-way sevens) are shapes that have been shaved down on two different sides. When a few thousands of an inch in taken off the six and three sides, for instance, the six-ace and three-four sides are rectangles having a greater area than the two-five sides. The numbers 6,1,3, and 4 will appear oftener than usual and, when both dice are cut down in the same way, these numbers will combine to from 7 more often than is normal. They are, fast sevens or four-way sevens. The six-ace and two-five sides, or the three-four and two-five sides, when cut down, act the same.
Bevels are shapes having one or more sides sandpapered so that they are slightly rounded rather than flat. Such cubes tend to roll off the rounded sides and come to rest more often on the flat sides. Bevels can also be made as passers or missouts as weak or as strong as desired. Use the “wobble test” to detect beveled shapes. Hold one die in each hand and rub two sides together, trying different sides. When a beveled surface or another beveled surface, the dice games will wobble, or rock, back and forth.
Cut edges are dice whose edges are not all beveled at the customary 45-degree angle. The four edges on some sides are cut at a 60-degree angel. This gives some sides a larger area than others, and the dice tend to settle on the larger surfaces more often. To detect cut edges, hold the dice together and note the width of the separation line between them. If this varies when you try different sides, the edges have been cut.

The pivot test for a loaded die.

Loaded Dice. The gaff (doctoring) on shapes is called outside work; on loaded dice it is inside work. Loads may caliper as perfect cubes, but extra weight just below the surface on some sides will make the opposite sides come up oftener than they should. Loads, contrary to what most people think, are not so heavily weighted that the same sides always appear this behavior in a game would look very odd indeed. Like shapes, loads are percentage dice that throw certain combinations more of than they should.
Most Craps players know so little about crooked dice that they are cheated out of millions of dollars every year because they think that transparent dice cannot be loaded. Dice makers have never found this very difficult; they simply drill the recessed spots on two or three adjacent sides of the dice a little deeper than usual. Then they insert thin gold, platinum, or tungsten amalgam slugs, which are covered by opaque paint on the spots.

In a well-made pair of transparent loads, the other spots are also drilled deeper and filled with paint. Then, when you look through the dice, all the spots seem to be recessed to the same depth. In addition, many online poker players believe that the practice of throwing the cubes against a background is protection against crooked dice. This protects you only against controlled shots, not against shapes or loads.
There are a couple of good tests for loaded dice. The best method is to fill a tall glass with water, hold the suspected cube just above the surface and drop it gently into the water; do this several times holding the die with a different number up each time. Note whether the die settles evenly or whether it turns over as it goes down. If it turns, and if two or three numbers always show up and other never show, Then the dice are loaded.
If there is no tall glass of water handy, try this: Hold the cube loosely between thumb and forefinger at diagonally opposite corners so that there is as little pressure as possible. Try all four combinations of diagonally opposite corners. If the cube is loaded and the weighted sides are on top, the die will pivot as the heavier sides swing around to the bottom. The feeling of movement of the die is unmistakable.
Tops and bottoms are dice with one or more faces duplicated on the opposite side of each die. Since certain numbers are omitted, this will tend to produce some numbers in disproportionate frequency and never to produce certain other numbers. For Example, two dice marked respectively with duplicates of 3-4-5 and 1-5-6 can never produce combinations totaling 2,3,7 or 12 which are the only combinations with Which one can lose in the game of cards craps . Such dice are usually introduced into the game by sleight by accomplished dice cheats. Since it is impossible to see more than three sides of a cube at any one time, tops and bottoms are unlikely to be detected by the experienced gambler.
The Slick Dice Cup. The average player believes that the use of a dice cup protects him against dice cheats. Nothing could be further from the truth. More cheating at Craps, backgammon, Poker Dice, buck Dice, High Dice, and other dice games takes place when a dice cup is in use than when the dice are thrown from the hand. why? Because it’s easier to cheat and less detectable when crooked dice and a dice cup are in use. All a cheat requires to take the unsuspecting player is a slick dice cup and a set of two, three, four, or five loaded dice, called first flop dice, depending on the game being played. The cheat places the loaded dice into the cooked dice cup and the dirty work begins.

The pivot test for a loaded die.

The slick dice cup has a smooth slicked inner surface and when the cheat shakes the cup with an up and down and slightly rotary motion of his arm, the loaded dice instead of rattling at random inside the cup spin around the inside surface like wooden horses on a merry-go-round. The centrifugal force lines the dice up within the cup in a horizontal position. The last sideward shake just before they are thrown causes the loaded dice to topple over so that their loaded sides are down. When the cheat throws them, he holds the cup parallel with the playing surface, shoves it forward a bit and jerks it back quickly so that the dice all slide out without turning over and the cheat throws a desired number. When the other poker players throw using the same cup and dice, they shake and throw properly and the loaded dice do them no good. To avoid being cheated with a slick cup, use a trip cup, which contains obstructions in its inner surface that makes the dice tumble as they are thrown and prevents the shark from sliding them out. Some cups have shark from sliding them out. Some cups have a trip others are lined with ribbed rubber.
If a trip cup is not available, you can insist that the dice be well shaken and that the cup be turned completely upside down on the throw so that the dice bounce on the playing surface and do not slide out. Don’t hesitate to examine the dice.
cheating with Honest Dice. There are still a great many gamblers who don’t quite believe the stories about cheats who can make fair dice act like performing seals. “Can fair dice be controlled?” is a question I am often asked. The answer is “Yes,” but only on certain playing surfaces. There are a good many dice cheats who have practiced long and hard and have perfected the ability to make honest dice behave as they want them to under certain conditions.
Following are five of the most effective controlled dice shots used to fleece even the most seasoned Craps players. Three of these, highly guarded dice-shark secrets, are the Backboard Control Shot, the Three-Cushion Controlled Dice Shot, the Three-Cushion Controlled Shot. They appear here in print for the first time.
The Spin Shot or Whip Shot. Although difficult to perfect, this is the most common controlled dice shot. It works best on soft dirt. The dice are held with the desired numbers on top, rattled in the hand, but not actually shaken. A quick whip like snap of the hand sends them spinning through the air like twin helicopters. When the dice land, the spinning motion keeps them from turning over and they settle down, the wanted numbers still on top. This shot can also be done on hard surfaces; some surfaces even help the dice to spin and slide without turning over. It can also be accomplished on the green baize surface of the bank or open crap table which is why casinos insist that the player hit the backboard or throw the dice over an elastic string which is sometimes stretched across the center of the table.
The Blanket Roll. This controlled percentage shot is also called the soft roll or pad roll shot, and makes use of blanket, soft rug, or carpet plus a 3-foot high vertical backboard lined with foam rubber. As a rule, throwing the dice against a backboard is a protective measure against dice cheats, but not with this controlled shot. Prior to the time of releasing the dice from the hand, the cheat gives the dice a phony shake, a la spin shot. Then, instead of rolling the dice on the soft surface as in the blanket roll, he lets them fly against the backboard in such a way that both dice hit the backboard at the same time causing the dice to bounce off the backboard onto the soft surface. The momentum causes them to roll back end over end like a pair of cartwheels without turning sideways. If the one-six is one hub of the wheel and the two-five is the other, the only way the cheat can seven out is with a three and four.

The types of shots to look out for the blanket roll (top) and the whip shot (bottom).

The Three-Cushion Controlled Dice Shot. This highly secretive private dice-game controlled throw requires the use of a 3-foot high vertical backboard and two sideboards; each lined with foam rubber. Also needed are a smooth table surface, usually a piece of linoleum, onto which the dice fall and slide to a stop. This controlled shot is very effective because few gamblers believe it is possible to hit a sideboard, backboard, and sideboard and still control the dice. To execute this fantastic dice control shot, the cheat shakes the dice ala the spin shot and throws the dice against the right sideboard where they ricochet off the sideboard onto the backboard and onto the second sideboard where they drop onto the smooth playing surface, finally coming to rest with the desired numbers uppermost.
The Dice-Table Control Shot. This new casino dice table control shot is the most difficult dice throw to perfect because it requires perfect aim and timing that can be gained only by long and arduous practice on a regulation casino dice table. This dice throw has taken many a casino operator for a bundle. Prior to the publication of this book, it is doubtful that more than a handful of gamblers and casino operators have had the slightest idea that such a controlled shot ever existed. And I firmly believe that once this book hits the book stands, dice-table manufacturers will make certain that it can’t work on their tables.
Most modern dice tables have a sponge rubber embossed zigzag pattern lining the inside of the four la inch upright rails that enclose the table’s playing surface. However, a bottom inch of this lining, at the juncture of the table surface and the upright rails does not possess the embossed zigzag patterns it is plain sponge rubber. And this is exactly the spot the dice cheat must hit to control this shot.
The pickup of the dice in order to execute this controlled shot is difficult to detect because only one die has to be maneuvered into position. Immediately after the dice have been offered to the cheater-shooter, he picks them up in such a manner that one die has the desired number uppermost. This die is held palm down between the thumb and the first two fingers of the cheat’s right hand flat on the table surface. The cheat lets the dice fly out of his palm-down hand from the table surface giving the one die he wants to control a whip like snap aiming at the juncture of the table surface and the sponge rubber side-board. When the spinning die hits this spot of the sideboard (the bottom inch), it bounces off at an angle and drops into the center of the table without turning over, with the desired number remaining uppermost. If the cheat holds the die so that a five is always uppermost, “a hard-way 10” becomes an even bet. The same holds true for the point numbers6, 8, or9.
Protection Against Dice Cheats. At this point you are probably wondering if there is any simple sure-fire all-around method of making sure that the dice in the games you play are honest. I’m sorry, but the answer is “Nor” Your best protection is to have the information given in this dice chapter in your head. If you are smartened up to all the methods and angles, you will have reduced your chance of being cheated with crooked cubes or a controlled dice throw to a minimum.
The only absolutely certain way of never being cheated at a dice game is not to play. But if this rule proves a little too tough to follow, you should at least take a good close look at the cubes and make sure of the following:

1. Each of the two dice in use total seven on all opposing sides.
2. All sides are level and not concave, rounded, or with raised spots.
3. All sides are equally polished.
4. The edges and corners are all straight, square, and preferably sharp rather than rounded. If rounded, see that all edges and corners are rounded equally.
5. The spots are all countersunk the same distance and the paint on all spots is the same distance from the cube’s surface. Better still, use flush-spot dice.
6. The dice pass the pivot or water test for loads.
7. Whenever possible, use transparent dice.
8. If the dice cup in use is not a trip dice cup, insist that the dice be well shaken and the cup turned completely upside down on the throw so that the dice drop on the playing platform.
9. Never play dice on a blanker or soft surface and avoid turning dice against an upright backboard lined with sponge rubber.

If the dice meet the above requirements and you are able to protect yourself against the dice cheat’s crooked control throws, your only worry as far as being cheated is concerned with the dice cheat whose trained fingers can switch a pair of crooked dice for an honest pair as quickly as you can say “Scarne on Dice.”
I have described the most-used dice cheating devices and methods, but there are still a good many others. For information on such things as the slide shot, the Greek shot, the twist shot, how to switch dice, the dice cup switch, and (with two dice) the Pinochle gaff, heavy paint work, busters, etc.