Customer Reviews

Beat the Craps out of the Casinos: How to play craps and win!

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Frank Scoblete has written a very intelligent approach to craps based on the supposition that most shooters lose the player money. He discusses a method called the 5 Count which is to be used to decide which shooters to risk money on. It is a brilliant system and a relatively easy strategy to employ in the casino. After reading this book several months ago, I made five trips to the casinos and won on four of them. The 5 Count was a wonderful preserver of my bankroll and I was around for the hot shooters on four of the five trips. This book is the best craps book I have ever read and I look forward to reading his follow up book about the Captain's Craps Revolution.

No system of craps play can be judged on just a few trips tothe casino as luck, good or bad, will determine short-range results. Ihave given this 5 count a six year test of bi-monthly play. I estimatethat I have spent some 2,000 hours playing this system in the casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. I use the high roller system almost exactly as described in the book with just a minor variation or two of my own. I have been comped for everything in addition to winning almost a quarter of a million dollars. Does it work? I say yes. Is it perfect? No. But the 5 count has allowed me to be at tables without losing my money and when the hot rolls come, and they don't ALWAYS come, I make up whatever small losses I have and I'm in the black. I won't make a living doing this but it sure beats losing. I want to publically thank Mr. Scoblete for writing this book and his other book The Captain's Craps Revolution because they have made craps a positive experience for me!

As a novice at craps I found this book had too much story (glorifying the captain). I wanted more strategy backed by factual information. I want to know all the bet arrangements, what they mean and their probabilities for success.

I have been to the tables about 10 times now. I understand about half of what is played. The center of the table is still a mystery. I believe a book with more details, drawings of positions and less story telling would work better for me.

I read this book several years ago an I decided to read it again before reading Frank Scoblete's new book Forever Craps: The Five Step Advantage Play Method. As I found on my first reading, Beat the Craps is a superior book for craps players as it offers a workable method of cutting down on the number of bad shooters that players must face. It also helps to position youself for those few good shooters that come up every now and then. The book gives a general overview o craps for the novice and then goes into Scoblete's methods of play based on The Captain, a famous Atlantic City craps player. It is very worthwhile reading. I then read Scoblete's new book which is just a masterpiece. He really expands on the information in Beat the Craps based on over 10 years of play with the 5-Count method of play. Forever Craps is a must read and if you have never read any Scoblete I recommend you read his books in this order: Beat the Craps, The Captain's Craps Revolution (this expands on the information in Beat the Craps), and Forever Craps which really does offer an "advantage play" system as far as I'm concerned.

I've read ten books by Frank Scoblete and I must say that I disagree with the "reader from Las Vegas" on September 23. Scoblete explains exactly how the house edge works in all his books. In Beat the Craps, he takes the position, which I agree with, that the game can't be beaten if you bet every shooter and he uses the Captain's idea that you can increase your chances to win by betting on select shooters. You select these shooters by using the five-count. The theory is that some shooters might be able to control the dice and by using the five-count you will have a better opportunity to be there when this happens. Far from being "snakeoil" this is logical. There is no downside to playing as Scoblete recommends in this book. At the very least, you get many more comps for your action because you aren't betting on every shooter. This is an excellent book for beginners and intermediate craps players who can maintain their discipline in a casino. I recommend it. As a note, I teach math at a junior college in California and don't consider myself math illiterate. I find it hard to believe that someone could read this book and not understand what Scoblete is doing: Reducing your overall risk since you aren't betting every shooter in the time that you're playing and giving you a good chance to be there when a hot shooter arrives. The proof is to play the system in a casino, as I have done for a couple of years now at twice-monthly visits to Vegas. If you like craps, this is a must-read book.

...most books on Craps present the same information - they go over the rules of the game, present the advantage that the casinos have on each bet, then present strategies which minimize the casinos's advantage...which are all usually the same, i.e. play the pass-line, take the odds, take one or two come bets or play the pass-line, take the odds, place the six and eight. One really wonders why there are so many books for this game out there - they all present the same information.

This book breaks the mold - it hypothesizes that there are some people out there who are capable of throwing the dice in such a manner that they have a greater chance of having a longer run at the dice than one would expect if the dice were perfect random number generators. The "5-count" presented in the book is a way of "screening" the shooters to see if they are "worthy" of betting with.

That's basically it in a nutshell - the core of the book is a screening method which, if the author's hypothesis is correct, should weed out shooters who tend to seven out after only a few throws of the dice. Whether one believes that there are people out there who, either by accident or by application of skill, are capable of having longer runs at the dice than normal, is another matter altogether.

The book also presents a betting system which involves betting on the pass and don't pass (and come and don't come) simultaneously and waiting until a shooter has "passed muster" - the disadvantage of doing this is this tends to INCREASE the casinos's advantage. Frankly, if I were to use this method, I would just go ahead and bet on the pass line and dispense with the don't pass bet and only take the odds if the shooter was "odds-worthy".

All modern craps ideas such as rhythmic rolling, dice control, the 5 count, the doey-don't start here. This is a classic text for craps players and since its publication the world of craps has seen an explosion of interest in real-world methods to beat the game. I read it over ten years ago and just reread it in conjunction with Scoblete's latest masterpiece Forever Craps: The Five Step Advantage Play Method! The book is a must for all craps players who are serious about the game. Once you've read this book you can tackle Forever Craps, which I consider to be Scoblete's finest book on craps.

I don't believe that the odds change as the dice are rolled. This is where the author and I disagree regarding his 5-count system. He advocates waiting 5 rolls to see if a shooter is HOT. Anyone with a head for odds will tell you if you're playing with fair dice, it doesn't matter. Regarding his do/don't system, I think it has possibilies, but not he way he presents it. For those who have read it, wouldn't laying odds on don't increase your chances for a win? Anyway, if you want a realistic approach, I recommend the "Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling."

This is the best system I've read about in craps. I disagree that it requires a big bankroll; believe me, I use this system and am no high roller.

Personally, I found all the stories about the Captain boring, but the Supersystem is easily worth the price of the book.

Two warnings: (1) the system is NOT a winning system, because no such thing exists in craps. Scoblete is honest about this and the mathetmatics presented are sound. It's a superior system because it minimizes losses. Therefore, with comps from the casino, a player could use this system and come out ahead. (2) The system is unusual and requires both attentiveness and the ability to deal with casino personnel who will question the player's strategy. Again, Scoblete deals with this fully and forthrightly.

I don't think the basic explanation of the game is especially good in this book. The novice player would probably do better elsewhere, but this is an excellent choice for those who understand the game and are looking to cut their losses and stay at the table longer.

I have read many of Frank's books over the years, and have come to trust his ideas and judgement. I do however try to approach each book I read (at least gambling books) without a bias so I may recognize any falacies without prejudice. I highly recommend this book because the ideas in it are sound in logic and are based on the fact that the ONLY way to beat craps is through physics. The 5-count is based on the ideas that certain rollers might consciously or not be able to influence the dice. While this is not likely for most people, it is still a sound idea, based in physics. NOt many people can throw a hundred mile an hour fast ball, but don't say it can't be done. That's what irritates me about the reviewers who say that the system has no basis in mathematics. IT DOES. The math changes as the physical aspects of the game are altered. I think it time though that I point out that I am mainly writing this reviw because I am so annoyed with the other reviewers saying the book can't be right because of the math. Roulette has been beaten for the same reason craps can be beaten: THE ALTERATION OF THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE GAME! So now that I've ranted, I'll go. And like Frank says in the book, even if you don't win, the worst that can happen using the system, is to cut your losses with the "Doey-Don't" and minimize your money at risk while getting credited with more playing time.