Cheering us on at craps

Craps is a friendly game since the overwhelming majority of the players, probably about 95%, are betting with the shooter to make his pass line point. No rightside or lightside player wants to see that seven rolled during the point cycle of the game. Players won't even say the word "seven" for fear that the seven will show since it has heard its name.

When a craps game is going in favor of the players, when points are being hit, when box numbers are repeating, the table becomes energized. That's why you can hear so many people cheering at the same time when a table gets hot. When a table gets blisteringly hot, those shouts change into ceiling-busting screams.

You won't find such cheering hordes at blackjack, except (maybe) on those rare occasions when the dealer busts and everyone at the table wins. Perhaps then some of the players might say, "All right!" and then go back to being quiet and intense. Blackjack is just not that thrilling a game for all the players at the same time. Blackjack players are just not that vocal. It is a sedate game.

Not so with craps. The casino hands you the dice and metaphorically says to you, "Okay, sir or madam, here are the dice. Try to beat us." And that is exactly what you try to do. Those dice are in your hands; you throw them, you become the center of the craps universe for the players at your table when you are shooting.

You don't get that at blackjack or any other table game. Although baccarat players do get to throw out the cards from the shoe, they have no decisions to make. It doesn't matter if the cards are this or that. The baccarat player has nothing to say about it. But with those dice in your hands -- it is up to you, baby.

Now, the only players who are quiet during a hot roll are the darkside don't players who are rooting for the shooter to seven out and therefore not make his point. However, rarely will you find a darkside don't player whooping it up when that seven shows for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is the fear that the other players, those rightside players, will treat the darkside don't player as if he were a witch in Salem. And you know what happened to those Salem witches, right? If not, read The Crucible.

I have at times been at tables where a darkside don't player has cheered on the seven. Usually the rightside players will leave the table if several shooters seven out early and give the darkside player what he wants. Then the darkside player finds himself all alone at the table or standing there with his friend, another darksider, waiting for other players to come and hopefully continue to feed the darksider's bankroll.

On occasion darksiders will shoot the dice. Usually they shoot with disdain, whipping the dice down the table figuring that doing so will bring on that hoped-for seven. Of course, they are hoping to seven out quickly because rolling for them is fraught with danger if that roll goes on and on.

The great irony when a darksider rolls is if he has a hot hand. He keeps losing because he is rolling number after number while the only number that wins it for him during the point cycle is that unnamed, unspoken seven. I once saw a darksider wipe himself out! Needless to say the rightside/lightside players were cheering like crazy. This darksider slinked away from the table, a defeated, embarrassed, red-faced man.

The common thread in writing about craps is for authors to pontificate that darksiders are not the opposite of rightsiders; that they aren't rooting against those rightsiders, they are merely trying to beat the casino.

Let's take a look at that proposition.

• On the come-out roll, the rightside player wins on the 7 and 11; the darksider loses on the 7 and 11.
• On the come-out roll, the rightsider loses on the 2, 3 and 12; the darksider wins on the 2 and 3. The difference exists on the 12 where the rightsider loses but the darksider doesn't, he merely pushes.
• During the point cycle, the darksider wins when the 7 is thrown; the rightsider loses.
• During the point cycle, the rightsider wins when the point number is hit; the darksider loses.
• On some occasions the darksider and rightsider both win. If the rightsider has a come bet just put down and a 7 is thrown; the rightsider wins the come bet and the darksider wins whatever numbers he's betting against.
• The same will exist if the rightsider has made his point and is now coming out and rolls a 7. The darksider will win his don't come bets while the rightsider will win his pass line bet.

I'll leave it up to you to decide if the darkside and rightside are enemies at the table. Most rightsiders think they are. Interestingly enough, most darksiders are quiet about this subject. In the years I have been playing craps, most darksiders are withdrawn when at the table because they are aware how the rightsiders feel about them. Rightsiders tend to be boisterous. Certainly in that they are opposites.