Some like it hot

2 August 2016

By Frank Scoblete

It’s August. In parts of the country, temperatures are soaring. It’s hot and in New York, where I live, it can be hot and humid and, at times, just awful. You sweat just thinking of the outdoors. That is why God created air conditioning. It is as close as we will ever get to the Garden of Eden.

The only people who really like the temperature to be blazing hot are casino players, but their thinking has nothing to do with the weather outside the casino as it does with the weather inside the casino, at the tables and slot machines. Hot tables and hot machines are what casino players crave. To them, hot is better than not!

Now, some players are under the impression that tables and machines actually can have the quality of “hot” and its opposite quality of “cold.” Craps players will go up to a table – even an empty table – and ask the dealers if the table has been hot or not. My advice is to touch the table to see if it is hot or not – because a table is just a table. What the player really wanted to know is if the players at the table in the recent past have had good fortune.

So keep in mind that hot and cold streaks have nothing to do with a table. They have to do with events that occurred in the past and are not necessarily predictive of what is going to happen next. So forget about trying to clock a table or a roulette wheel or any such silliness. If anyone tells you this type of wagering can actually overcome the house edge – flee!

And now to “Scobe’s Surefire Satisfying Strategy.”

I am now going to reveal to you my own, very special, very personal, very good clocking method. Clock the players! If a player has been hot, bet with that player. You see how simple that is? If the player cools off; leave that player and hunt for another player that has been hot. You’ll probably get a lot of walking in this way, which is a good thing too. Gambling and walking are not a bad combination; just ask your doctor. (Okay, your doctor will probably say that walking is far better for you.)

Clock the players is a great way to play. It is quite simple. Can it give you an edge over the house? No, sorry. Is it a winning strategy? No, sorry. But, heck, almost no strategy any gambling writer gives for casino games is a winner. The math tends to strongly favor the house. That math of casino games is almost impossible to overcome. The best we can do is use the soundest strategies to keep the house edge against us as low as possible. I know that is not an exciting thought.

But my strategy can be fun; although it can’t be used at all games. For example, it can’t be used at blackjack because everyone plays an individual hand. Unless you are prepared to bet on someone else’s hand (which is allowed in some casinos) you are not going to be able to hop onto a hot player.

Here are examples of how to clock the players. Go to a mini-baccarat or regular baccarat table and wait three decisions. If someone wins all three decisions, then bet whatever that individual bets on the next round. Keep betting with that individual until he or she loses two hands in a row. Then clock some more to see if anyone else gets hot. If not, move on.

A word of caution is needed with baccarat players. Many of them are extremely superstitious. If you go into the high-roller room you might note that several seating numbers have been eliminated from the table. For example, the number 4 is usually not on the table, because it sounds like death in Chinese. So clocking superstitious players has to be done with some finesse.

This same method works beautifully at roulette. Just wait three decisions of the wheel and if someone wins three times in a row, you place your bets exactly where he places his bets and make all the bets this individual makes – although don’t go over six. Should our roulette player lose two in a row, stop playing and clock some more. If no one gets on a run; walk away to another table.

Roulette players have no problem with other players dumping wagers on top of their chips. Roulette is a friendly game . . . mostly.

At craps, if a shooter wins two pass line bets in a row, bet what that shooter. Now craps can be dangerous because there are so many different bets most of which have large house edges. So, stick to watching the pass line wagers. Those will be the bellwethers. Two pass line losses in a row. Clock another shooter.

There is a hidden benefit for those of you who employ my “Some Like It Hot” strategy. By clocking players you are spending time not wagering. That saves you from the total ravages of the house edge. And that’s a good thing. You’ll still get that anticipatory feeling as you wait to risk your money. I think that will be satisfaction enough.


Frank Scoblete’s latest books are "I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps," "Confessions of a Wayward Catholic" and "I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack." Available from Amazon.com, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and at bookstores.