Customer Reviews

Gamble To Win Craps

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The book was informative on a lot different playing strategies. Yes I made some money some of the strategies that were in this craps book. Also the author provides you with what to expect when playing craps. Unlike many authors writing gambling books Ellison has a lot of professional gambling experience which makes this book on craps worth reading and referencing. This book is better than most craps books that are currently published.

This book goes into a lot of detail, yet tells the reader very little. The biggest disappointments were the many times this WRITER, and I say that because to me he's a full-time "writer" rather than gambler, like Scoblete! (After all, he's a "pro" who lives in Ohio, rather than Vegas or Atlantic City.) Anyway, the many times he delves into some theory based on past results, and tells how he succeeded at this technique, only to be slapped in the face with reality later on, usually quite soon. So why spend the time writing about it??? I can tell you why. FILLER! Pure and simple. This is one of those guys who believes in the "law of averages," which is pure fallacy.

Another MAJOR flaw with the book is how he claims to use "craps scorecards" to record his sessions. This may be so, however, when he describes a "day in the life" of his wonderfully free life as a "pro gambler," he does NOT show these scorecards! He just tells you how much he made at the table, then moved on to another table! What a crock. We are supposed to just believe that he made so much on any given day, and the "day in the life" had only an alleged two hours of play, yet he didn't feel it necessary to show ONE SINGLE table event to support his claims.

I've read a few of this guy's articles online, and they seemed legit. However, after reading this complete waste of time, I have lost all respect for this clown. Most of his "professional" strategies have names like "The Random This" and "The Random That." Meaning he goes up to a hot table, and if he shooter has 4 as a point, he dumps a quick $100 down on the table and buys the 4. Of course, he won the bet.

A few other things I didn't like was how he seemed ignorant of why the house was happy a horseplayer won a large bet, seeming to not know that the house already took it's cut out of the parimutuel pool. And how he claimed to hide his glee at seeing another shooter at the table fail. Isn't the HOUSE the one with the edge? Why express jealousy at another player? It may have been YOU or ME there! One of his customers! There's really not much worthwhile here. I only bought the book because the chapters looked good, and he intended us to be fooled by a quick glance. At one point he talks about holding the dice for 40 minutes, and how much the other bettors made from him. However, he never mentioned making a killing with that roll. Most of his "strategies" are hit-and-run type things, so most likely he didn't make much from such a hot roll. Very, very disappointing. And doesn't seem trustworthy or legit in his writing.

Do not brother to read this book. I have bought a couple of Mr. Ellison's other books and found them to be informative, however this book is not worth reading. The best parts can be found in his other books. For instance his ideas on bankrolls are good, but can be found in all his books.

I'm going to keep this short. I've read many books on Craps. This is probably the worst or second worst I've ever read out of over double digit books on the subject. It's unreal. It's pretty much "crap". I usually look for books that are going to say something different than other books so I bought this one. This one is different for sure, but unfortunately I feel that it didn't add anything to my knowledge of the game or possible gameplay.

The only one i have read for now, i really enjoy this book, you feel like you get teach by an experienced pro gambler on the game...easy to read and far from boring.

I've read this and many other books on craps, perhaps the best being Sillberstang. I agree that Ellison makes more use of the gambler's fallacy than perhaps he should but I'll tell you why it's still a great book.

Other books (some mentioned in this one) give the rules and practices that are common enough. No great differences. And he does explain several places that the dice have no memory and no reason at all to follow streaks or patterns, the gambler's fallacy.

But Ellison gives you his actual personal experiences at the tables. This includes strange streaks and patterns. This really makes the book worth reading.

He may go overboard on identifying and listing the various kinds of streaks and apparent patterns that he is always on the look out for. He still intersperses reminders that you are just one seven away from a loss and that the patterns have no magic, that they are just experiences of the particular roll. The gambler's fallacy is always with him as just another tool in his belt.

If it were not for his telling of his experience you might think rolling the dice would always produce the same boring curve. Well, it does, but only after you get to (not very) large numbers. Before that you do actually see such patterns, sometimes and yes, eventually. It is what our brains are made to pick up on.

These patterns are only relied on by gamblers (losers and winners) to justify their strategies, so go figure. Several other books (the better ones) make the very same point, that the game is very often filled with such streaks that have no reason for being there and of course cannot be relied upon. It may be a mistake to rely on such patterns but watching them or watching other people do so can only be instructive and entertaining, win or lose.

Some of the warnings about what brings a seven are common in many books, but he is the only one to make the very valid point that if one of the "unlucky" events gets you to turn off some bet at random it can work to your advantage. Again he does not insist that the bad luck is real but that following such random events can randomly help.

As for the dispute of the "fact" that you can't toss 1,000 heads in a row, spare me. The discussion of probability is light at best and he does come out on the right side if I recall.

You can learn a lot from Ellison on how to play and how things go, whether or not you care to follow him in the search for the elusive streaks. In any case this it is great to hear from an actual player beyond the same old rules, cautions and warnings, though he does give plenty of those.

Within the first 10 or so pages I found a blaring error, stating that when flipping a coin 500 times, it is "impossible" to get 500 heads*. The author was very adamant with this view and stated variations thereof throughout the book. One cannot denounce the gamblers fallacy and still go on to say that past trends influence the future, as his sermon on "trends" says.

Casinos need these books in the market.


*Also, the probability of flipping 500 heads out of 500 trials is the same probability as flipping any specific sequence of heads and tails. Without attention to ordering of the heads and tails, then 500 heads would be improbable, but still not impossible. With a long string of black turning up on the roulette wheel, only the sucker and the degenerate believe that red is "overdue."