The Tale of Two Toms

They both describe themselves as $5 players. They both love the game of craps and think that all the other casino games are a waste of time and attention. They are true craps aficionados, these Toms, true devotees of the game. It is their passion.

Now, Tom the First is a loser, however, because craps is, after all, a game that has a house edge for all but a few players who have mastered through extensive practice the hard-earned knack of shifting the odds in their favor by how they roll. Neither Tom is in that category of player.

Tom the First is a cautious bettor. He makes small Pass Line bets ("Table minimums," he says) and backs them with odds. He also makes two Come bets and back these with odds as well. He never makes the Crazy Crapper high house-edge bets in the middle of the table nor does he make the Field bet. "I play very close to the vest. While I am down in my craps career, I am not down so much that it has any effect on my life. I love to play the game of craps and I will continue to play it for years and years to come."

Indeed, Tom the First is correct. His style of play, his making only the very best bets at the game, has given him an enjoyable pastime that doesn't overlap or interfere with his non-gambling life. This is a man who has a hobby that is fun and in control. "I rarely lose all the money that I bring to the casinos. If things are going poorly, I have no problem figuring I'll stop now and play later. I am in no rush to lose money. I work too hard for my money."

Tom the Second is an entirely different story. He might consider himself to be a $5 player but his losses are rather large nevertheless. He loves to make the Crazy Crapper bets and the hardways bets.

"I come to win a lot of money. I don't just want to win a few dollars," says Tom the Second. "I make the types of bets that can get me a big victory. Over the years I have had several nights where everything I did worked out just fine. I made killings on those nights. The other nights, I tend to blow my session stake."

Tom the Second is a gambler, a lover of action, a man who desires the big thrill from a big win. Even though he knows he is so far behind at craps that he can probably never catch up, it doesn't stop him from making the worst bets at the game.

"I admit it. I am a player. I love to get caught up in the game. I love making a whole bunch of bets. Sometimes I've gone to the casino with the thought that I'll play a very tight game and not make the crazy bets. But when the action starts, my adrenaline starts pumping and before you know it I have all the hardway bets covered and I'm betting one-roll bets like they are going out of style."

These two Toms teach us about the wide range in casino craps players. Indeed, most craps players tend to make decent bets with the occasional poor bet to make some big bucks if luck should hit. While luck will occasionally hit, the times it doesn't hit more than makes up for the money won when luck is the players' lady on a given night.

"I don't want to have to rely on great luck to bring home a victory," says Tom the First. "If I make the very best bets at craps, I know I only need a little luck to bring home the money. I might not have those evenings where I cash in for $500 and leave with $5,000, but I rarely have evenings where I am just wiped off the board. I have plenty of casino sessions where I finish a winner and go home with some of the casino's money in my pocket. I like those evenings."

Tom the Second does not agree with him. "I look at my gambling as a way to go into a world of fantasy, a world where I have a chance to do something incredible. I know that is silly but I leave the serious world when I leave work. In a casino I want to have fun and to me fun is going for big wins. Just coming home with twenty or thirty dollars is not really fun for me. So I bet accordingly. I'll take all the trips that are losses just to have those few that are spectacular winners. That's how I am constructed."

Which Tom is right? In my opinion, Tom the First is the wise gambler; Tom the Second is foolish. Yet, I realize that not everyone looks at casino gambling in the conservative way that I do. Unlike most casino gamblers, I look at those chips as real money and I want to get as many of them as I can - but without the fates being able to wipe me out as I go for them.

Tom the Second is not hurting for money. He enjoys his quest for the Holy Grail of large casino wins. For him, my method and attitude just doesn't get the juices flowing. For him, casino gambling is an amusement park where you ride the craziest rides and hope for the best.

As a casino gambler, you have to decide where you fall on the gambling attitude line - are you closer to Tom the First or are you closer to Tom the Second? Whatever your answer, you must have enough money to support your gambling tastes, as our Toms do, or you could be asking for thrills but receiving nothing but troubles.

If you want to take my advice - be closer to Tom the First.