Don't Do the Doey Don't

29 September 2020

By Frank Scoblete

The late Atlantic City legend, and my mentor, the Captain of craps, was a genius when it came to playing casino games, especially craps. I’ve written several books and many articles about his ideas, philosophy and methods of play.

I give him full credit for making me the gambling writer that I became. He was my inspiration.

And he was wrong, by his own admission, about two aspects of his methods of play. That’s right, the man I consider to be number one, was not afraid to publically state that he made two mistakes in his play.

His first mistake was advocating the doey-don’t system of betting at craps. He would make a Pass Line/Don’t Pass bet simultaneously (or a Come/Don’t Come) and place odds behind the Pass and Come bets. He only had to worry about the rolling of the 12 on the initial placement, a once in 36 event.

He thought this method enhanced the game and he was wrong about that.

The Pass and Come bets get their power on the initial rolls when they have eight chances to win by the shooter rolling a 7 or 11 and only four chances to lose should the shooter roll a 2, 3 or 12. That’s a two-to-one edge for the player.

This winning placement is wiped out by betting both ends of the equation in using the doey-don’t.

Some adherents of the doey-don’t figure the house edge to be about 1.4 percent since you are betting two distinct bets. That would be nearly the same as betting the Pass or Don’t Pass as separate bets. Combining the bets is not what is actually happening. It only appears so. Yes, one of the distinct bets ties once every 36 rolls and one bet loses once every 36 rolls.

Here is a curiosity: You cannot win on the Pass/Don’t Pass or the Come/Don’t Come – ever - without the bet getting on a number and using the odds. Alone (meaning without odds) this method is a 100 percent losing proposition. The Pass Line alone can win at times; the Don’t Pass can win at times. They don’t even need an odds bet to do so. But making doey-don’t bets at the same time cannot win you any money at all – ever.

Sticking with the Pass Line bet is now the preferred bet, especially for shooters who are attempting to control the dice in some fashion by going after the 7 on the initial placement. That’s why the Captain switched from the doey-don’t to the normal Pass Line wager. (Don’t players are in the same boat in their way.)

The second idea that the Captain changed was how many bets to wager on other shooters. He used to advocate multiple bets after his 5-Count was reached. But why do that? You are merely giving the house multiple bets at which to grind away.

Now the Captain recommends one bet per decision. So if you are betting the Pass Line and the 6 is the point, you place the odds on the 6 and wait to see if the shooter can roll that 6 before the 7. (The same holds true for the Come bet.) The come-out roll for the bet favors the player by a two-to-one margin while use of the odds bet enhances the win should that 6 hit. One bet, one decision, whether using the Pass or the Come.

If you wish to use Place betting, then either the 6 or the 8.

The same holds true if you are betting the Don’t side of the game, one bet/one decision.

For players who used to bet three bets per shooter, using that one-bet method will reduce the hit on the bankroll by two thirds. That’s a great money management scheme right there.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available from smile.Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, kindle, e-books and at bookstores.