No comments about Craps: Learn, Play, Win.

No comments about The Professor Teaches Craps 101 - DVD.

5 comments about The Captain's Craps Revolution.

1. Scoblete has written a masterful followup to his first book and a must read for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the Captain's methods of play. The book is ... worth every penny.



2. This book came out in 1993 and has been considered by me to be a superior book even to Beat the Craps Out of the Casinos, Scoblete's first book. The reason is that this book is written for people who already know the game of craps. While it is best that you read Beat the Craps first, that is not mandatory. There are excellent strategies in this book that have helped me immensely at the tables.



3. My wife just gave me what I really wanted, a complete set of Frank Scoblete's books and tapes on craps. While I have read and reread all of them several times, my copies have gotten beaten up. Now I have a pristine collection: Beat the Craps Out of the Casinos, Frank's first book, introduces the Captain and his marvelous methods of play such as the 5-Count, The Captain's Craps Revolution look more indepth at the 5-Count and variations in betting systems, then Forever Craps creates the ultimate method of play by utilizing 5 basic concepts to actually get the edge at the game.

   In addition to these, my wife gave me Sharpshooter Craps, Scoblete's audiotape, and Guerrilla Gambling, the best overall book on the casino games.

   My wife also ordered me The Craps Underground, Scoblete's new hardcover book, but that has not yet been released.

   I love the man's writing and I recommend him to anyone with the least interest in craps or casino gambling. His books run the gamut from craps to blackjack to even slots and they are all just so well written and instructive and fun to read.




4. I can't recommend this book to the casual craps player as it doesn't explain how the gameis played. It assumes you know already. But if you are a serious craps player I say, go and buy this book right now. It will probably change your view of craps forever!



5. The first time I ever read about controlled shooting was in this book in 1993 when it first came out. Now, everyone in craps talks about how to control the dice. Scoblete did it first and has done it best. This great book is for serious players who want to really look at the game of craps with the intention of actually winning at the game and not just pretending to win. Get this if you are a dedicated player. The other books I recommend are The Craps Underground, Beat the Craps Out of the casinos and Forever Craps, two masterpieces by the master himself.

5 comments about Dice Angel.

1. "Dice Angel" is a smart, hilarious page-turner with witty dialogue and vivid characters. Set in the real Las Vegas, known only to locals, the book offers an insider's view into the bizarre dichotomy of this world (i.e., who knew Mormonism flourished in Sin City?) We follow Jimmy D., our flawed but lovable, wise-cracking antihero, as he weaves his way through a series of trials and tribulations which would defeat a lesser soul. With nothing left to lose, Jimmy grudgingly hires the weird and wacky gambling guru, Amaris (the "Dice Angel") in the hopes that she can reverse his bad luck. Never a dull moment between these two, and the wild ride which ensues culminates with a couple of unexpected and thoroughly enjoyable twists. A great read!



2. "Dice Angel" is a great fun read. I laughed out loud several times while reading it, and the ending brought a real smile to my face. You also get to see Las Vegas from a locals point of view, which is dead on. The only reason it's not 5 stars is that it's really not meant to be. Its meant to be 4 star fun!



3. In today's day and age people want to read something that is interesting, funny, and a quick read. If you are looking for a very well written book to take with you on the plane ride to Vegas or to the pool, then this is it. Not only is it a page turner, Mr. Rouff's wit shines through and will have you laughing all the way.
   
   As a soon to be published author, it only makes sense for me to wholly endorse another author who inspires me. Bravo Brian, keep up the great work!
   
   James C. Hughes, author, Vegas Original (coming fall, 2008)



4. This short novel is very well-written. It has an engaging plot that leads to a gratifying ending. But, the best thing about Dice Angel is its character development. The characters are believable and diverse. The author is so focused on setting up the story's background and characterization that he doesn't introduce his central character, the Dice Angel, until half-way through the book.
   
   Dice Angel paints most of its characters via dialog. Besides making the book a very fast read, this method brings the reader right into the action. The reader pegs each character just as he or she would do in real life, i.e. by listening to what they say and noticing what they do.
   
   Without straining too hard to be funny, Mr. Rouff also does a good job of inserting humor into the story.
   
   Dice Angel is a very good book written by a skillful and imaginative author.



5. Having spent the last 25 years in Las Vegas I can attest that Brian Rouff knocked this one out of the ball park. I could swear that I know some of these people. The characters are so intriguing that we want to know them better. I hope that this will become a series because one seldom encounters so pleasant a read. The narrative is honest and refreshing and he captures Vegas Noir with style and understanding. Cheers for this page turner of a novel.

3 comments about Commando Craps & Blackjack!.

1. The first thing I need to say about this book is that it is an update of Gollehon's " Pay the Line". This information doesn't appear in the blurbs for either book on Amazon. Having pointed that out I can say that this is an excellent book for serious gamblers. The advice is difficult to put into practice, particularly for newer players. Does anyone really think that parking your butt at a craps table for eight straight hours is a formula for success? People do it all the time. Does anyone really think that the casinos beg you to take comps and insist on giving you rfb because its to your best interest? Everyone takes comps. So its difficult to be disciplined when it comes to gambling and visiting Vegas, but if you want to have a chance of winning you must practice what Gollehon preaches.



2. I have gambled in Vegas for 30 years, and read many a book from alleged experts. Save your money on this book. About the only advice this book gives that is worth anything is to bet more when winning. Otherwise, only very green beginners will find anything of worth in this book. I gave it one star because it has a great title. But, that's about all it has.



3. 'Commando Craps & Blackjack!' by John Gollehon is a good book in that some of the basic "rules" (or disciplines as Gollehon calls them) of gambling (bide your time, start small and work your way up, avoid greed, set a predetermined 'loss' limit, small wins are still wins, etc...) are sound advice for any gambler. However, in explaining the rules of craps, this book falls short in my opinion. The advise seems pretty elementary (play the passline, play the odds, play the come line, etc...), but doesn't explain everything an inexperienced player needs to know about the game. Gollehon glosses over the prop bets (mentioning only the Hardways and then actually contradicts himself.) No mention of horn bets, C&Es, any sevens.
   
   For blackjack, the advise is really standard advise. Just type 'blackjack strategy chart' on Google and print yourself out a chart. There. You're done. You have the 'optimum' strategy for blackjack (and you can take it into the casino with you).
   
   I would say that one should read the 1st half for the disciplines and basic gambling philosophies and then read a more detailed book for a greater understanding of the rules of blackjack and craps.

5 comments about Gonna Roll the Bones.

1. A man tired of his house and his family foes out to play craps at a place callee the boneyard in this dark fable. lThe illustrations progress from forboding to downright scarey. There is a lot of text for a picture book, and while the story is interesting and exciting, I am puzzled by the "Caldecott Medal" marketing. This book is not appropriate for young children because of the scarey pictures and long story.



2. spooky, but not scary, this atmospheric picture book by david wiesner based on the well-known fritz leiber novella is a trick of the eye and a treat!



3. "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber is one of my favorites stories and when I learned that David Wiesner was adapting it into a picture book I had high expectations. After all, the idea was loaded with promise: Wiesner, winner of a Caldecott Honor Medal, is an extremely talented illustrator who has conjured up beautiful books with his precise, whimsical watercolors and seemed to be well suited to illuminating the dark magic and dense imagery found in this story.
   
   Leiber's tale, "Gonna Roll the Bones", was first published in Harlan Ellison's watershed anthology DANGEROUS VISIONS and won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, is one of Leiber's best; a marvelous story of the Devil and a ne'er do well gambler (Joe Slattermill) rolling dice with Joe's soul as the wager. I won't spoil the tale's surprising and important pay off which has been excised right out of this book.
   
   The abridgment of Leiber's story is the first problem with this book; all of the story's poetic language, subplots and evocative ambiance disappear in the condensed text. Of course, since the story is being adapted as a picture book, this abridgment would be acceptable if the imagery and mood of the lost prose were recreated by the illustrations. And, unfortunately, the style Mr. Wiesner has chosen to illustrate the story fall far short of this task.
   
   The illustrations in the book are monochromatic drawings done in pencil on vellum to resemble old time sepia tones in a photo album. They're drawn in a sketchy linear style with little detail, minimal modeling and far too few darks that fail utterly to invoke the spooky magic of Fritz Leiber's prose.
   
   In his afterward Mr. Wiesner tells us that he first adapted this story as his senior year project while a student a the Rhode Island School of Design as an "attempt to create a wordless picture book" because the story captivated him and he "was excited by the imagery which was so rich with detail and atmosphere." Sadly, these are the very things absent from this book and its illustrations.
   
   Sorry, but I can't recommend this one.



4. If you or your child are tired of picture books because they all start to seem the same, read this. It's different. And David Weisner's illustrations (contrary to the bitter douchebag below) are really special and wonderful



5. I will buy David Wiesner's books on the strength of his name. The beauty, complexity, and humor in his books make them fascinating and enjoyable for the children, as well as for me. This book does not measure up. It is not suitable for my children. The drawings are quality, but not what I would recommend to examine and peruse with my children. They are frightening. The story is frightening. I, myself, when sharing it on a first read with my husband, was taken aback and chilled. I do not recommend it at all. Unfortunately, with his wonderfully creative talent, he went down the wrong road with this one.

No comments about How to Win at the Casino: Baccara Black Jack Craps Poker Punto Banco Roulette Slots.

5 comments about Beating the Casinos at Their Own Game : A Strategic Approach to Winning at Craps, Roulette, Slots, Blackjack, Baccarat, Let It Ride, and Caribbean Stud Poker.

1. Beating The Casinos At Their Own Game is a book you should consider if you'd like some help playing at the casinos. It's a well, written and nicely illustrated 278-page gambling guide with instructions for most of the games you'll find at any casino. The author, Peter Svoboda, knows his math because he has the credentials: a degree in both mechanical and civil engineering.

   You'll find casino basics in chapters 1 and 2 including some history, odds of winning and losing, what the casinos do to get you there, the house advantage, advice on managing your money and when to quit. And if you have a gambling problem, Peter will direct you to the right place. Chapters 3 through 13 list rules of the ten most popular casino games, with playing strategies and some betting systems you can try. The illustrations will help you learn the games and the math listed will explain the odds and probabilities of winning.

   Peter includes some known strategies for Craps, Roulette and Baccarat. So, if you're inexperienced at any of these games, you can take an expert with you to the casino. Peter also presents some of his own winning systems.

   If you've never been to a casino, but think you might want to try some of the games offered, I'd recommend studying this book before you enter. It has all the basic playing information you'll need to improve your chances of winning...




2. This is the first review I have written on Amazon. I felt compelled to write this to keep unsuspecting people from purchasing this book. I do not know the author, I am not an author, and I have no interests in whether this book does well or not. I am simply giving my opinion.

   Simply put, my problem with this book is that it is full of incorrect statements and poor advice which completely ignores probability theory. For example, on roulette, Mr. Svoboda actually says, "The house will always have a 5.26% edge, but you can increase your winning probabilities by playing it smart." What?!? When I read that, I knew he had a very weak grasp of probability theory. It is impossible to change the odds in roulette; they are fixed. You are always at a 5.26% disadvantage, no matter what your betting strategy is. Period. I suggest you run away from any book that asserts otherwise.

   The surprising thing is that in several parts of the book, Mr. Svoboda agrees that the casino has an advantage over the player in the long run. However, to overcome this, he recommends that players play in the short run! I couldn't believe that an engineer, and someone who supposedly understands mathematics and probability, would actually write such completely incorrect information. True, in the short run you may win, but odds are that you will lose. The percentage disadvantage you face does not change.

   Over and over, Mr. Svoboda asserts that his strategies increase your chances of winning. How can you increase your chances of winning if the odds against you are fixed? For example, after several pages of detailed and complex tables and charts, Mr. Svoboda admits that his craps betting strategy gives the house a 2% advantage. Yet he still advocates following his strategy, saying that you just need to know when to walk away when ahead. What he fails to mention is that you will be behind more often than you will be ahead.

   In games of chance and independent trials (such as craps, roulette and keno, to name a few), the house has a fixed percentage advantage over the player. This is a proven mathematical fact. There are no betting systems or strategies whish can change this percentage advantage. The only thing a player may do is bet slowly and bet the minimums in order to decrease the rate at which he loses. Gambling at these types of games should be viewed as paying for entertainment, not investing, as Mr. Svoboda suggests.

   Casinos love people with systems. Why do you think companies choose to spend $1 billion to build a new casino? Because they know that system betters will come in and lose more than that. Casinos exist because they make money for their owners. I had thought that with the advanced level of gaming theory available today, that books which advocated incorrect probability theory would become a thing of the past. Then I read Mr. Svoboda's book and realized I was wrong.

   On the plus side, the book does clearly state the rules of the games and the odds of winning. It has very pretty and colorful charts and tables. As a rule book, it is very good. However, as a strategy guide, you are much better off ignoring this book. Mr. Svoboda's assertion that "this book will help you learn how to level the playing field...and gain a return on your investment" is false. This book does not tell you how to even the odds against the house. The only return on investment you will get by following the advice in this book is negative.




3. I browsed through this book at the local bookstore. All I can say is don't take any pointers from this guy. He says before placing bets on "any craps", you should wait until the die hasn't produced craps for atleast 18 rolls???? He says after this the probability of any craps showing is 88 %. What is this all about? The truth is the odds of rolling craps is the same (11 %) regardless of how many times it's been rolled in the past. If you already own this book, I suggest you take your loss and throw it away.



4. Once I picked up this book I knew immediately I would breeze through the explainations easily. The text was well done and very readable = the charts, graphs and diagrams all came at the right time. The tid-bits about Mr Svoboda's experiences were fun to read, But.. most of all I was able to acquire a grounded knowledge of how to approach the games at any casino! Can't wait for the next book to come out from Mt Svoboda!! His knowledge and skills at communicating the nuances and the details of each game were very evident! Fun and easy lessons!!



5. I bought this book before heading to Vegas mainly because I wanted to brush up on the rules of blackjack. I was only going to have 4 hours there so i didn't want to waste any time getting ready to play. I found the second chapter and other sections that describe how things work in casinos (where to get your chips, what hand signals to give the dealer, etc) useful in keeping me from wasting time when i got there. The rest of it was worth reading to learn the rules of the games and to get me thinking about probabilities.

   Unfortunately, the logic's not always there and sometimes the data are wrong.

   Some examples:

   In the roulette section, he recommends that if you are going to bet on a single number, you should pick one that hasn't shown up in the past 20 spins. This, after explaining how a lot of people keep gambling on the faulty premise that if something hasn't happened in a while, it's likely to happen, and after describing bias in roulette tables, which would make a number more likely to re-appear if it HAS appeared multiple times before.

   In the blackjack section, I re-calculated the probabilities for each of the tables that he has in there, and while most of his numbers are right, some of them are off by as much as 5%. True, my numbers could be wrong, but since i wrote a computer program to do it (meaning that it did it consistently for each test), why would it be right for all but one value in the table? More likely, they are hand-copying or editing errors.

   I wrote software (yes, i'm a geek) to play the game, implemented his suggestions one by one, and played 100,000 hands with each to see what kind of improvement each one made. The fact is, if you play your hand just like the dealer (hold at 17+, hit below), you will win 48% of the time, lose 43% of the time, and push 9% of the time. If you implement all of his strategies, you will win 48% of the time, lose 43% of the time, and push 9% of the time (yup! exactly the same!). What's important turns out not to be how you play the game (in most of the strategies, you are trading busts for losing hands and vice versa), but how you BET. Using his doubling and splitting strategies lets you hang on to your money much longer before going broke (sometimes twice as long). In the blackjack section, he doesn't spend much time talking about betting.

   Lastly, and this applies to blackjack again, he claims that the casino's main advantage in blackjack lies in the fact that "the players must choose before the dealer whether or not to draw more cards." While it's true that you could play a lot better if you could see the dealer's cards, that is not what gives the casino the advantage. Remember, the dealer is basically a human machine -- it hits at < 17, holds at 17+. The dealer does not have the benefit of seeing EITHER of your cards, so that can't be the advantage. The casino's real advantage is that the player has one more losing condition than the dealer has. That condition occurs when both the dealer and the player bust. Other than that, if the player played exactly like the dealer, they would both do exactly the same. You cannot overcome this handicap. If you play conservatively such that you do not bust (which is where most of Svoboda's recommendations lead you), the percentage of hands you lose because the dealer has more points than you will go up.

   That's about it for now. Just wait till I read the other chapters, though!

No comments about Fundamentals of Craps.

4 comments about Gamble To Win Advanced Craps.

1. This is one of the few craps books that tells you how to chart the numbers and shows actual sessions. People think the numbers are random, but the author shows you how to take advantage of streaks by charting the trends.



2. I can not write a strong enough criticism of this book. It holds itself out to be informative self-help, but in reality it is part fiction and part fairy tale.
   
   The book is based loosely on what Mr. Ellison has dubbed the Theory of Statistical Propensity. Mr. Ellison (whom it should be noted at this point has the mathematical credentials of a short order cook) stews up his bland theory by reheating the old Gambler's Fallacy - a meritless contention that numbers on the dice, the roulette wheel, or whatever contraption you are currently losing your rent on, are somehow "due to hit." He dresses it up as a mathematical theory but it is in fact the same old fool's notion: That random numbers appear in patterns and that the laws of probability run hot and cold.
   
   Had Mr. Ellison not dozed off in high school math class, he would know that the reason numbers tend to even out to the statistical mean over time is that larger and larger sample sizes help to smooth out apparent statistical inequities.
   
   For example: if you flip a coin one hundred times, it's entirely possible that every single flip will land on heads. That's 100% for heads. Now flip one hundred additional times and you might get an even split, 50 head and 50 tails. That brings our total heads count to 50 heads out of 200. Still a significant 75% heads advantage, but closer to the inherent 50% probability than before, no?
   
   Now flip that coin another 1,000,000 times.
   
   When you finally build up a significant enough sample size (1,000,000, in our example) a measly 150 flip head advantage is de minimus. Heck a heads advantage of 10,000 barely moves the needle. That's why numbers draw to a statistical average, Mr. Ellison, not by some cosmic force pulling the coin in one direction or another. It's why a casino can run a profitable business with games where the house advantage is a slim 2% or less. You may walk out a winner one day, every day one week, even every day one whole lucky year. But keep pressing that improbability and you will find over time the sample size will start to work against you and you will lose. Its not some genie in the dice, it's called "regression to statistical mean". Google it.
   
   Aside from his Intelligent Design Theory of Dice, Mr. Ellison imparts the following gems of wisdom:
   - If your dice hit chips during a throw the probability of rolling a 7 is statistically increased.
   - If the stickman changes, the probability of throwing a 7 next roll is statistically increased.
   -If your dice accidenatlly go off of the table, the probability of throwing a 7 is statistically increased.
   
   Again, Mr. Ellison doesn't bother to do any critical thinking here. He fails to step back from his own delusions and recognize these triggers for what they are: memorable events outside of the normal course of play - anchors that his tiny mind can recognize, glom on and refer back to. It is much more convenient to pick up on these memorable cues than the millions of other variables which simply fail to capture his attention. Does the dice thrower put his weight on his right or left leg during the throw? Is there an odd or even dollar amount of money being wagered this throw by the third person on the left? These are events that have just as much impact on the random throw of the dice. I wonder why he his attention isn't drawn to these peculiarities? Could it be he's just not that creative? Or is it rather that these events, just like the ones he cites, don't have any impact on the roll at all?
   
   When I purchased this book I wanted an intelligent discussion about the mathematical odds of each wager and some traditional patterns of betting to crib off of. What I got was a 200+ pages of superstition and snarky barbs at the recognized authorities in the field who did not return his emails and calls (with good reason, it turns out).
   
   If I had more time I would write 200+ pages of my own, and that wouldn't even begin to describe all of the reasons why you SHOULD NOT BUY THIS BOOK!



3. R. D. Ellison (the author) is a real life professional gambler. He explains exactly how he plays and why. I have read many many books on gambling and what amazes me is a lot of them don't even explain the built in house edge that the casino has and how it is nearly impossible to beat. R. D. Ellison gets the house edge iformation out of the way right from the get go in all of his books. Craps is a random game yet from experience I know that there are certain patterns and trends. What you have to do is look for the right spots and make certain bets at the right time. Definitely not as easy as it sounds. And I know this all too well from much experience. It takes great patience for sure. But it can be done. R. D. Ellison knows all there is to know about craps because he has had much experience over many years of play. He shows plenty of examples of actual table decisions in this book and all of his other Gamble to Win books. I do have to recommend that you read Gamble to Win Craps (by the same author) before going on Gamle to Win Advanced Craps so that you will fully understand all of the concepts. And most importantly learn how not to lose. Every craps player seriously needs to add this book to their arsenal.



4. I have known Mr. Ellison for several years so the reader could say my review is biased. Before his books came along there wasn't much out there that gave practical advice on gambling. He has been in the trenches for years fighting the casino games and winning. The tester in the back of this book is a testament to this. No one could have played that long if they were losing! Beating a system tester (Roulette) is no easy task let me tell you! If there were no trends in gambling results then there would be no point to gambling in the first place. You can use all kinds of mathematics if you want to disprove this but if you are going to gamble then you better believe in them! The theory of statistical propensity and his explaination of it proves that the results are dependent on the precision of the dice (wheel, etc.) but we don't have to understand this to play the games. As usual Mr. Ellison has come up with another book to give us food for thought.