CasinoCityTimes.com

Home
Gaming Strategy
Featured Stories
News
Newsletter
Legal News Financial News Casino Opening and Remodeling News Gaming Industry Executives Author Home Author Archives Author Books Search Articles Subscribe
Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter!
Related Links
Related News
Recent Articles
Best of Frank Scoblete
author's picture
 

Tips from Gambling Greats: Howard "Rock 'n Roller" Newman

31 October 2003

Howard Newman is big, maybe 6'4" at a minimum, and also BIG, like he could be the bouncer at your local casino and no one would dare step out of line. In fact, in his movie and television career that spanned the 1970s, Howard Newman played cops, mafia strong-arm men, and guards. He was typecast because of his size and looks. On screen, he could look mean, real mean.

But Howard Newman, known as "Rock 'n Roller" to his growing legion of fans, is gentle as a lamb. (Are lambs gentle? They must be for that saying to be a cliché, right?). And that very gentleness has made Howard one of the greatest rhythmic rollers (dice controllers) in the country. For those of you not familiar with the terms "rhythmic roller" and "dice controller," they mean essentially the same thing – the ability to influence the outcome of your dice throw to offset the house edge at the game of craps.

Howard had been rhythmically rolling for about four years and is one of the premier teachers for The Golden Touch Craps dice control seminars. He's a natural and has one of the softest, smoothest throws I've ever seen. "It comes from my years of pitching soft-pitch softball in Florida," he says.

"Howard has one of the most consistent deliveries I've ever seen," says Dominator, the manager of Golden Touch. "He's one of the few dice shooters who hits the hard ways enough to overcome their awful edges! When Howard shoots, it's like watching Barry Bonds or Babe Ruth come to the plate. You are always aware that he could hit that huge home run; in Howard's case that means five or six hard ways back to back to back. He's thrilling to watch!"

Howard's consistency could be his downfall! He's been such a consistent winner he jokingly says that his wife has come to expect it. "When I go to the casino, my wife tells me what she wants to buy with the winnings. She has no idea that it is also possible to lose; that controlled shooting isn't a guarantee that I'm going to win each and every time I go to a casino. I'm almost afraid to go home should I ever lose and have to face her. 'Honey, I lost.' She'll break down."

Howard has large but highly sensitive hands – and not just from softball. Howard is a neuromuscular physical therapist who owns his own practice in Tamarac, Florida, next to University Hospital, that employs two psychologists, a medical doctor and three therapists. "I coordinate the patients and therapists and also see many patients. I help people who are suffering muscular, joint and nerve pain. I like to help people."

But that's not the end to the Howard Newman phenomenon because he is also a world-renowned artist whose paintings have appeared in such galleries as S.E. Feinman Fine Arts in So Ho, New York, La Mama Galleria in the East Village, New York, and in other galleries throughout America. "I started as an impressionist painter without ever having taken a lesson. I saw myself in a vision, perhaps a reincarnation, as a child living in France during the 1860s. When I began painting, all of my paintings were impressionistic in nature."

As a young man in the 1970s, Howard went to France to film a commercial. "I saw the original impressionists' works and I felt extremely moved and tears came to my eyes. Funny thing, when I signed my paintings, I never felt comfortable signing 1975; I always wanted to write 1875." But Howard did not stay an impressionist for his whole career; instead he "decided to develop a new style for this modern time." So he began to paint New York City street scenes. "I call them nostalgic New York. These are all scenes that remind me of my happy times growing up in New York City – Coney Island, Brooklyn street corners, parks and fields, candy stores, cars and the like."

You can see Howard's paintings on his website www.newmanfinearts.com. You can even purchase some direct from Howard through his site.

In the field of gambling Howard Newman has put his stamp of excellence on a precision controlled shot that is beautiful to behold. It is a smooth pendulum swing from the right of the stickman (Howard is a lefty) that bounces once and dies after lightly hitting the back wall.

Howard sites the mental aspects of gambling as being of the utmost importance: "I believe that so much of gambling is mental. You have to be in the right frame of mind or you will make bad bets, chase your money and get yourself into a big hole that you can't dig your way out of. So many people lose their cool at the gaming tables that it's no wonder they lose their money. The house edge is often not the worst enemy of the gambler; his worst enemy is often himself. In this I believe what the Captain of Craps [the legendary Atlantic City craps player I've written about in several books] has to say: 'The true contest is not between you and the casino; the true contest is between you and yourself.'"

Of course, Howard doesn't dismiss the mathematical aspects of gambling. "You must know the best bets to make at craps because very few controlled shooter can overcome house edges in the double digits. You also have to know how to bet on other shooters while you're waiting to get the dice in your own hands. It only makes sense to attempt to do everything you can, short of cheating, to win. So, you have to marshal your intellect to help you make the right bets, your will to stick to those bets, and your discipline to practice a controlled shot that can turn the game in your favor."

Howard is also a firm believer in "The Captain's Method" of rhythmic rolling, "It's a full-body movement way of shooting the dice, very soft, very smooth. It takes a lot of practice to get it just right but when you do, your dice just float to the back wall."

And how did he get the nickname "Rock 'n Roller"?

"I'm a 1950s and early 1960s rock 'n roll trivia buff. I used to do a radio show where callers would try to stump me! They rarely did. I know my old-time rock 'n roll."

You can meet Howard "Rock 'n Roller" Newman at Frank Scoblete's Gamblers Jamboree on November 14, 15, and 16 at Gold Strike Casino Hotel in Tunica. He'll be teaching the Golden Touch method method of dice shooting. He will also be doing trivia contests during the breaks in the seminars. Can you stump Howard? If you can. You'll win a prize. Better still, if you get to play with Howard at the tables you might just get to win some money too! "Thank you vary much!" (Now, who said that?)

Frank Scoblete

Frank Scoblete is the #1 best selling gaming author in America. His newest books are Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines; Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker!; Beat Blackjack Now: The Easiest Way to Get the Edge; Casino Craps: Shoot to Win!; Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players; Casino Conquest: Beat the Casinos at Their Own Games! and The Virgin Kiss.

Frank and Casino City Times columnist Jerry "Stickman" teach private lessons in dice control. Frank's books are available at Amazon.com, in bookstores or by mail order. Call 1-800-944-0406 or write to Frank Scoblete Enterprises, PO Box 446, Malverne, NY 11565. Frank can also be reached by email at fscobe@optonline.net.

Frank Scoblete Websites:

www.goldentouchcraps.com
www.goldentouchblackjack.com

Books by Frank Scoblete:

> More Books By Frank Scoblete

Frank Scoblete
Frank Scoblete is the #1 best selling gaming author in America. His newest books are Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines; Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker!; Beat Blackjack Now: The Easiest Way to Get the Edge; Casino Craps: Shoot to Win!; Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players; Casino Conquest: Beat the Casinos at Their Own Games! and The Virgin Kiss.

Frank and Casino City Times columnist Jerry "Stickman" teach private lessons in dice control. Frank's books are available at Amazon.com, in bookstores or by mail order. Call 1-800-944-0406 or write to Frank Scoblete Enterprises, PO Box 446, Malverne, NY 11565. Frank can also be reached by email at fscobe@optonline.net.

Frank Scoblete Websites:

www.goldentouchcraps.com
www.goldentouchblackjack.com

Books by Frank Scoblete:

The Captain's Special Report

> More Books By Frank Scoblete