Imagine yourself in a restaurant where a dozen businessmen are gathered around a table. About every five minutes each of them reaches into his pocket, takes out three dollars and throws it on the floor. What would you do? Pick it up, right? After all, that’s $36 every five minutes. Translated, that’s $432 an hour! Personally, I’d station myself at that table with a broom and dust pan and defend it from all intruders. I’d cheerfully sweep up every crumpled dollar, lovingly straighten it out and fold it into my pocket. If their meeting went on for twelve hours – I’d be there the entire time. Yeah, I might need to get a stool to sit on and an ash tray for a cigar. I’d probably order in a dozen oysters and couple of bottles of Becks. I might even hire an assistant and pay them a percentage of the rake if I needed to take a break or if their meeting extended beyond twelve hours. After all, there’s more to life than work, right?
Now imagine a dozen players standing around a craps table with the All Tall Small Bonus Bet layout. The minimum bet on the Bonus Bet is $5, so they’re all betting $5 – $5 – $5 or greater. And, of course, no one is winning the wager. They’re losing $15 or more on every shooter. But even if they win – they lose. They lose because of the vig they’ve paid. That wager cost them around 20% – the equivalent of throwing $3 away every time they made it. So there’s that $3 on the floor. And there’s the house – sweeping it up.
Here’s the other “cost” of the Bonus Bet and similar wagers (the Fire Bet, Sharpshooter Bet, Repeater Bet, et al). Not only do they cost you up front money out of your rack – they make you a weaker bettor. Where you USED to rely on your ability to influence the dice, pick players to bet on and discern table streaks and trends and capitalize on them – these days you pay less attention to the game and depend on “lightning strikes” from bonus type bets to provide you with a win – or at least to get you back to even.
When’s the last time you played something like $30 each on the six and eight, took one hit, then regressed to $18 each? How about a simple “same bet” instead of pressing on the first hit out of the box? Do you ever say “turn me off” or “take me down” anymore? Do you do it as often as you used to? If not – then you’re not managing your action as well as you once did and, IMHO, it’s costing you money. Focusing on the carnival aspect of the game instead of the basics has made you a weaker bettor.
How to you fix this problem? It’s not rocket science. There’s nothing that says you can’t bet those prop bets. Just set aside a specific amount of your bankroll at the beginning of each session to do it with. If you by in for $500 – allow yourself $50 for prop bets. Stick that $50 in the back rack and make all prop bets from the back rack. Put all prop bet wins in the back rack as well. As long as that back rack grows feel free to keep playing the props. But when the chips start to dwindle don’t EVEN think about reaching into that front rack to replenish them. Instead, just throw them on the floor and I’ll pick them up and put them in my rack. Better me than the casino.
Want to cut your losses and improve your wins? Cut out those high vig bets and focus on where the winners are. Pass Line bet with Odds. Six and Eight Place Bets. Four and Ten Buy Bets. Come Bets with Odds if you’re wired that way. It’s a smarter way to play.
