Hood Craps
Avocados are creamy, delicious fruits that are packed with nutrients that may help prevent muscle cramps. They’re particularly rich in potassium and magnesium, two minerals that act as. Dice games are criminally under-appreciated. Shooting dice, also known as street craps, is a slightly simplified version of traditional Casino Craps, and is a classic hustle. You can also learn to play Mexican drinking dice, Farkle,.
Note from Sharpshooter: I first wrote about the physical phenomena of dice trajectories and other critical elements of dice control in my ground-breaking 95,000 word book, Get the Edge at Craps, How to Control the Dice, Bonus Books, Chicago. I discuss the optimal 45-degree launch angle, the synchronized dice movements and the shortening of the horizontal distance, or range that the dice must travel.
After you have set and carefully gripped the cubes, you will gently launch them into their trajectory; parallel to the sides of the table and perpendicular to the far, or back wall.
To secure an edge over the house, your objective is to launch the dice at the optimal angle to accomplish a 'soft landing' and minimize the random motion of the dice after they collide with the back wall pyramids and come to rest.
The First Key is the 45-Degree Launch Angle.
I have stated in my book and several years before that in the Sharpshooter/PARR Dice Control Course that the optimal launch angle for projectile motion is 45 degrees. Artillerymen have known for hundreds of years that the maximum range could be reached for a given amount of gunpowder if the cannon ball was fired at about 40 degrees to the horizon. Because air resistance and wind are factors when firing a massive cannon ball hundreds of feet through the air, a slightly more horizontal component of motion is needed.
Applying this principle to dice control and standing as close as possible to the stickman to cut down the total distance of the toss, will greatly reduce the energy needed to propel the dice to their target (and subsequently has to be burned off as the dice finally come to rest). By applying differential calculus to projectile equations of position and motion, I was able to prove, mathematically that 45 degrees is optimal if wind and air resistance are neglected. For a pair of acrylic or acetate dice thrown a few feet above a table in a controlled atmosphere, a launch angle approaching 45 degrees is best. I also developed new formulas for calculating other interesting information about one’s throw.
The dice should leave your hand near the required 45-degree angle, rotating side-by-side in a synchronized fashion. As the dice swing about the throwing elbow, the dice actually travel in a circular arc because your forearm should act like a fixed radius. At the moment the dice are released, the circular arc is tangent to the parabolic trajectory. You will want to release the dice at, or near a 45 degree angle in order to maximize the range of the throw for a given initial velocity. Refer to Figure 1 below.
Question: How can you be sure that you have launched at 45 degrees or as close as possible thereto?
The quick answer is in the table below, which shows how high to throw the dice above the table bed to achieve the optimal 45-degree launch. Maximum parabolic heights (apexes) for various horizontal ranges for the 45-degree launch angle are calculated. I have also included some other values that I will explain in a moment. It does not matter which table position you throw from, the distance and launch angle will determine the height.
Flight Parameter Table for the 45-Degree Launch Angle | ||||
Apex Height, Ymax (feet) | Time of Flight (seconds) | (in-lbs) | ||
1.00 | 0.50 | |||
5 | 12.68 | 1.29 | ||
1.50 | 0.61 | |||
7 | 15.01 | 1.81 | ||
2.00 | 0.70 | |||
9 | 17.02 | 2.32 | ||
2.50 | 0.79 | |||
11 | 18.81 | 2.84 | ||
3.00 | 0.86 | |||
14 | 21.23 | 3.61 | ||
4.00 | 1.00 | |||
As you practice at home, you will get a feel for the apex heights above the table surface needed to attain the 45-degree launch angle. This should be part of your normal practice of setting, gripping and throwing with control. After a while, you will develop a feel for exactly where to release the dice to create the longest range for a given velocity. Once you have locked in the proper release point, you will learn to adjust the release velocity to lengthen or shorten up on the horizontal range.
Calculating Parameters of Your Trajectory
You can gage the angle for the 45 degree launch or whatever angle you choose to employ by knowing how to calculate the apex height of the dice above the table surface. The highest point (Ymax) of the parabola can be calculated with the following formula:
Where R is the horizontal range that the dice must travel and θ (theta) is the initial launch angle. For example, if the dice are launched at 45 degrees (tan 45° = 1.00) and the range is 6 feet, then:
Ymax = 6 ft/4 x 1.00 = 1.5 ft, or 1 foot and 6 inches
If the dice were thrown at 35 degrees (tan 35° = 0.700) over a 10-foot span, the height is determined thusly:
Ymax = 10 ft/4 x 0.700 = 1.75 ft, or 1 foot and 9 inches
Other interesting parameters like release velocity, time in flight, and kinetic energy of the dice can be determined using these formulas:
Where “g” is the acceleration due to gravity, or 32.17 ft/sec² and “W” is the weight in pounds of the dice (0.043 lbs).
For our 35-degree launch example over a 10-foot distance, the velocity, flight time and kinetic energy is calculated:
Release Velocity: V = sqrt [(10 ft x 32.17 ft/s²)/ sin 70°]
V = 18.50 ft/s
Flight Time: t = 10 ft/(18.50 ft/s x cos 35°)
t = 10 ft/(15.15 ft/s)
t = 0.66 sec
Kinetic Energy: KE = [6(0.043 lbs)(18.50 ft/s)²]/ 32.17 ft/s²
KE = 0.258 lbs(342.25 ft²/s²)/ 32.17 ft/s²
KE = 2.74 in-lbs
For this example, the launch velocity is 18-1/2 feet per second, the time in flight is about 2/3 of a second, and the kinetic energy of motion is 2.74 in-lbs.
If you refer back to the parameter table, you see that I have calculated the maximum heights, release velocities, flight times, and kinetic energies for all 45-degree launch-angle ranges. Apex heights and flight times are more for your reference as you gage your throw. The velocity and kinetic energy values should be minimized because the amount of energy that you initially apply to throw the dice has to be completely spent in order for the dice to come to rest. The more energy you apply, the more bounces and the more violently the dice will react with the table and back wall before coming to a stop. You can now refer to these values, or calculate new ones for different launch angles.
This article will conclude next week.On This Page
Introduction
Street Dice is a dice game that debuted at the Downtown Grand casino in Las Vegas on May 16, 2014. It could loosely be described as a simplified version of craps, with just two bets and a maximum of four rolls to resolve a bet. At the Grand, the game is played outdoors with the dice cast inside a three-sided wood box, painted to look like an alley.
The dealer uses a claw to pick up the dice.
Rules
There are two bets only in Street Dice. Both are played with two ordinary dice.
Pass Bet
- The Pass bet is made before the 'Set the Point' roll, the equivalent to the come out roll in craps.
- If the Set the Point roll is a 7, then the Pass bet pushes.
- If the Set the Point roll is an 11, then the Pass bet wins even money.
- If the Set the Point roll is a 2, 3, or 12, then the Pass bet loses.
- Otherwise, whatever was rolled becomes the Point. The object is to roll the point again, within three more rolls, and without rolling a seven. The odds depend on the point and on which roll it was rolled a second time, according to the pay table below.
- If a seven is rolled after the Set the Point roll, or the player goes three rolls without rolling the point or a seven (I'll call this getting three strikes), then the Pass bet loses.
Pass Bet Pay Table
| Roll | Point | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4, 10 | 5, 9 | 6, 8 | |
| 1 | 5 to 1 | 4 to 1 | 3 to 1 |
| 2 | 4 to 1 | 3 to 1 | 2 to 1 |
| 3 | 3 to 1 | 2 to 1 | 1 to 1 |
These are the dice used. They are a little bigger than craps dice. I'm told the Grand preferred to use even larger dice, but these are as big as Nevada Gaming will allow.
Some readers might wonder about the bounciness of the ground. It is like wet clay. Sometimes the dice just lay right where they land.
Brick Bet
- The Brick bet is made before the 'Set the Point' roll.
- If the Set the Point roll is a 7 or 11, then the Brick bet pushes.
- If the Set the Point roll is a 2, 3, 5, 9, or 12, then the Brick bet loses.
- Otherwise, whatever was rolled becomes the Point. The object is to roll the point again the hard way* within three more rolls, and without rolling a seven or the point the easy way**. A win pays 25 to 1.
- If the player rolls a seven, rolls the point the easy way, or goes three rolls after the Set the Point roll without doing either, then the Brick bet loses.
Good Craps Strategy
* The Hard Way is rolling a particular even number with both dice landing on the same face. For example, a five and five would be called a hard 10.
** The Easy Way is rolling a particular even number with both dice landing on difference faces. For example, a four and six would be called an easy 10.
Analysis
The following return table shows the probability and contribution to the return of all possible outcomes of the Pass bet. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 5.02%.
Pass Bet Return Table
| Event | Pays | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set the Point roll 7 | 0 | 0.166667 | 0.000000 |
| Set the Point roll 11 | 1 | 0.055556 | 0.055556 |
| Set the Point roll 2, 3, 12 | -1 | 0.111111 | -0.111111 |
| Roll 1 -- Point 4 or 10 | 5 | 0.013889 | 0.069444 |
| Roll 1 -- Point 5 or 9 | 4 | 0.024691 | 0.098765 |
| Roll 1 -- Point 6 or 8 | 3 | 0.038580 | 0.115741 |
| Roll 2 -- Point 4 or 10 | 4 | 0.010417 | 0.041667 |
| Roll 2 -- Point 5 or 9 | 3 | 0.017833 | 0.053498 |
| Roll 2 -- Point 6 or 8 | 2 | 0.026792 | 0.053584 |
| Roll 3 -- Point 4 or 10 | 3 | 0.007813 | 0.023438 |
| Roll 3 -- Point 5 or 9 | 2 | 0.012879 | 0.025758 |
| Roll 3 -- Point 6 or 8 | 1 | 0.018605 | 0.018605 |
| Seven out | -1 | 0.248114 | -0.248114 |
| Three strikes | -1 | 0.247054 | -0.247054 |
| Total | 1.000000 | -0.050223 |
The following return table shows the probability and contribution to the return of all possible outcomes of the Brick bet. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 6.27%.
Brick Bet Return Table
| Event | Pays | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set the Point roll 7 or 11 | 0 | 0.222222 | 0.000000 |
| Set the Point roll 2, 3, 5, 9, 12 | -1 | 0.333333 | -0.333333 |
| Hard way win | 25 | 0.027502 | 0.687538 |
| Point made easy way | -1 | 0.088594 | -0.088594 |
| Seven out | -1 | 0.165009 | -0.165009 |
| Three strikes | -1 | 0.163340 | -0.163340 |
| Total | 1.000000 | -0.062738 |
Good Craps Roll
This display indicates how many more rolls the player has to hit the point.
Rack Card
Click on any image for larger version.
Here I am making the very fist bet, which was Tweeted. Hopefully, that guy behind me wasn't holding his nose because of me.
Internal Links
- Die Rich — Similar game that appeared at the Luxor in 2006.
External Links
- Wizard of Vegas — Discussion about the game in my forum.