What's a good SRR?

Dear Frank,

Purchased your book Casino Craps: Shoot to Win! over a year ago, and have been practicing dice control religiously ever since. While I know that every craps table is different, I built my own practice table that is as close as possible to the table at my local casino.

I’m continually improving, but have yet to have any major casino wins. I’m very conservative and that could be some of the problem. Yet thanks to the Captain's 5-Count, it’s rare that I go home a loser. Over a 3-month period, however I’ve only won about $350.

I have good days where my precision is dead on, and bad days where it is just slightly better than random. When I’m focused, my SSR is around twelve.

My question is what is a good SSR to have? What type of SSR do your instructors have? Do you have a different SSR at the casino verses practice?

Any information/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Joe

Dear Joe:

Think of dice control the way you would think of any athletic endeavor. The ups and downs are par for the course. No baseball hitter stays hot all season; all of them experience some cold spells. So do not let the fact that at times your dice control is poor get into your head. I once lost 72 straight times when I got the dice and couldn't roll to save my life. Recall I recount that in Casino Craps: Shoot to Win!

Now, you only won $350? Let me address this by way of analogy. My wife the beautiful AP and I spent a week in Atlantic City and at the end of that time I won four dollars --- that's right, four measly dollars! We were at the toll booth leaving AC and I was moaning about my "epic win" and finally she said, "Look at all the other cars leaving AC. How many of those people are up?" She was right. So be happy you are up!

The SRR is like a batting average. Certainly when you are hot, it will be sky high; but when you are cold it will plummet. After five to 20 thousand rolls, if your SRR (good days and bad days averaged in) is 1:6.5, you are doing well.

An even more sophisticated method for determining your edge is to use the software program developed by Dan Pronovost called SmartCraps. This program measures your on-axis control. If your results show you have good on-axis control, you could theoretically have a 1:6 SRR and still have an edge. (For those not familiar with SRR; 1:6 is one seven for every six rolls on average, which is a random shooter.) I do a complete analysis of on-axis control in Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players!

The SRR at home will tend to be higher than your SRR in a casino; just like a hitter belts more home runs in batting practice than he will in a game. There is no pressure at home.

The Golden Touch instructors have high SRRs but most are on-axis shooters so they are aiming for specific numbers based on their skill levels. The SRR is not as important for them as their on-axis percentage.

I just put you on my private, members-only website at www.goldentouchcraps.com for a 30-day free subscription. Please feel free to post. We have over 5,000 members and the conversations are great.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete