Dear Mark,
In a your May 15, 2001 column in Casino Guide online, you wrote
the longest roll without a seven being rolled was 3 hours, 6 minutes.
I was at the Golden Phoenix in Reno, NV this weekend, and the
roll lasted 3 hours, 10 minutes without a seven.
Since I watched the first hour of the roll, I only scored $2200
off a $100 buy-in, playing only place and come bets with max odds.
However, those who were betting the table max ($500 plus 3-4-5
odds) by the end of the third hour scored $3,500 on a couple points,
totaling about $15,000 for the roll. It was funny to watch the
casino reload the table with chips four times, as they didn't
have enough originally on the table to keep paying everyone. Perhaps
the best part was this was not a "high-roller" table.
Everyone there started betting the table $5 minimums. Nice to
see the little guy get a break. Chris C.
Craps offers players gambling
immortality if ever a "long roll" should happen when
they are bellied up to a craps table. Your roll, Chris, might even
get you a mention in the figurative Craps Hall of Fame, and it
certainly is worthy of mention in this column, especially since
you made some ka-ching.
Breaking the bank, where jittery pit bosses keep calling for chip
refills, does not necessarily drape everyone with gaming glory.
Your good fortune leads me to this important point: A long, extended
roll doesn't necessarily boost you from nada to nirvana. It is
the "quality" of the roll that dictates whether you
will have a celestial moment. If your numbers are rolling, your
game is spread out on the layout (example: additional come bets
with odds), and you are progressively betting more, you are looking
at the potential for the roll of a lifetime. Otherwise, the experience
is nothing more than a tantalizing also-ran, that first-class
stimulant for the imagination.
The longest roll I was ever involved with was 73 no-seven throws,
but it was simulated on a home computer while I was watching an
episode of Seinfeld. Though I have participated in many 30-minute
rolls, I have once witnessed a run of the dice that lasted just
under an hour and a half.
For those wanting to know, before your undocumented score (no
disrespect; I just hadn't heard about it until you wrote me),
the hottest hand of all time belonged to Stanley Fujitake of Honolulu.
Stanley held the dice for three hours and six minutes at the California
Hotel and Casino before cinco dos, adios (the 7) appeared.
If anyone of you was ever involved in a killer hand, or if you
have met unusual characters or witnessed strange occurrences,
preferably in a casino, I would love to hear from you.
Dear Mark,
How does a casino decide where to put the different slot machines
on the casino floor? Danny B.
Finding a home for each one-armed
bandit is called "slot mix." Slot mix is casino nomenclature
describing the physical placement of machines on the casino floor.
Slot management places its machines strategically to maximize
customer appeal and potential casino earnings.
Slot mix is composed of five basic variables: floor location,
coin denominations, payoff schedules, casino advantage and payoff
frequency. These variables can be blended into the casino floor
in infinite variations, with no two casinos doing it exactly the
same, but all striving to separate you from your hard-earned money.
Gambling quote of the week: "Gamblers come in all shapes and
sizes. You've got your master strategist, your aggressive pot
chaser, your pensive contemplator, and every casino's favorite,
the impulsive idiot, to name a few."-Mark Balestra, The Complete
Idiot's Guide To Gambling