Craps: Controlled Shooter Warm Up

Many Controlled Shooters needed to learn the hard way. Excited about bringing their skill to the casino, they anxiously await their turn with the dice. Upon getting the dice and establishing a point, they max the odds behind the point and place bet each of the other box numbers across, just to seven-out on the next roll.

So what happened? Even a professional baseball pitcher takes 9 warm up pitches before facing a batter, and that’s after warming up in the bull pen.

As a controlled shooter, when you go to the casino, you need to take the time to ‘warm up’ before putting significant money at risk. You need to ensure your dice grip and toss are on point, and you want to see the reaction of the dice once they hit your landing zone and bounce off the diamonds. Even if it’s a casino and craps table that you frequent, changes in temperature and humidity could affect the action between the dice and the table.

When you first get the dice, is the time to test your throw and the dice action on the table and make any minor adjustments to your grip, toss or landing zone.

A proper warm up will take 6 to 9 rolls and could take longer if something isn’t working. The key is to keep your bankroll risk at a minimum while you’re making your corrections. (Even if it takes 2 or 3 turns with the dice)

Over time, you’ll develop your own warm up session that works best for you, but in the meantime, here is the warm up session I use myself. Feel free to follow these steps until you develop your own routine.

‘Discipline, patience and a small investment of time will pay dividends on your monetary investment.’

WARM UP SESSION STEPS

Here are the steps I take every time I start a new session at the craps tables.

Warm Up

When I first get the dice, I’ll use my normal grip and toss to my normal landing zone. (#1 on the table).
- I want to make sure the mechanics of my toss are sound and that the dice are traveling symmetrically with the right level of backspin, hitting my landing zone, and coming gently to rest on the table.
- I’ll use 2 or 3 rolls to ensure I’ve got this zoned in
- If there are any issues, I work out the corrections and ensure I get at least 2 solid rolls after the fix
- When all is working well, I’ll move to my next step
Once I have my Controlled Throw zoned in, I use the next few rolls to test the table around my landing zone
- I’ll make one toss each to the areas marked 2, 3, 4 and 5 on the table
- This is to test both, in-front and behind my normal landing zone, as well as to the right and left
- Occasionally, you’ll find a soft spot on the table where, for some reason, the dice hit the table and quickly come to rest with very little movement
  - While finding these ‘soft spots’ is rare, when you do… You’ve hit sheer gold!
- Barring having found a ‘soft spot’ on the table, it’s back to my regular landing zone for one more toss
- After that… It’s off to the races.

WARM UP BETTING STRATEGY

The goal here is to risk as little as possible until you have your toss zoned in. Additionally, it’s a lot easier mentally to focus on the corrections you need to make when you don’t have a lot of money on the table at risk.

While you can use any low-roller strategy until your warm up is complete, I’ll walk you through the betting strategy I use during the warm-up period. (Steps below are based on a $10 minimum table)

$10 Pass Line Bet on the come-out. You’ll need either a PL or DP bet to get the dice.
Once the point is established
- No Odds – If there was an issue with my toss
  - I won’t add odds until I feel I’ve corrected the issue
  - Yes, there are times when I’m standing there with just a PL bet on the table, but I’m ok with that.
- Single Odds – If the mechanics of my first toss were good with no issues
As I begin testing the table around my landing zone
- $10 Come Bet / No Odds – On the next 2 rolls of the dice
  - I’m testing an area that is not my normal landing zone
  - A ‘seven’ while I’m testing protects a portion of what is on the table
- Any hits during the Warm Up phase
  - Winnings are used to place, or increase, odds on your other bets
- Once the warm up is complete
  - 3/4/5X Odds on any PL or Come Bets
  - Convert to your normal betting strategy