Is Craps the hardest game to protect from Cheats? Do you really know the ins and outs of Craps pastposting, pinching and bet-capping?

You all know that Craps is the hardest game to deal. But is it the hardest game to protect from Cheats? Do you really know the ins and outs of Craps pastposting, pinching and bet-capping? If you REALLY do, don't bother reading this article.

Well, not that you've decided to hang out with me for a few minutes, let's step back into my Table Games Protection classroom where I'm instructing a group of attendees in Craps Game Protection.

I explain, "There are only two ways to cheat at craps: manipulate the dice or manipulate the chips. We've already covered the two ways to manipulate the dice, sliding and switching. So show me some chip-manipulation moves you've seen or know about.”

One attendee named Howard, who’d dealt craps for twenty years, volunteers enthusiastically to show us some moves. I like the idea, but instead of him just showing the moves, I prefer he actually do the moves. So I say, “Okay, let’s get a craps game going in here. I believe we have enough people to form a craps crew. And the rest of us will be players. Let’s all gather around the table.”

I get four attendees to play the box man, stickman and two base dealers. I realize that a lot of jurisdictions don't use box men, but still some do. Half the group squeezes around the table. Stacks of red, green and black chips are passed to the players who put them in the table's chip racks. Like always, there are some attendees who do not know craps and they stand behind those around the table.

I tell the group, “Okay, we’re going have a normal craps game here, just like out on the floor of your casino.” I look at Howard, who instinctively knew to take the first position next to the base dealer. Obviously, he knew something about craps cheat moves.?

“Okay, Howard, just do your thing. When the time is right, pop in your moves. Please…nobody say anything when you see Howard cheat. We’ll just keep playing for fifteen minutes and then we’ll discuss the moves he did.”

The craps game gets going, and it goes really well. The attendees are chatting as they watch. The atmosphere quickly becomes that of a real craps game in progress, almost as if we’d abandoned the training room. That’s exactly how I wanted it to go.

I see Howard do a variety of bet-caps, pastposts and pinches. When he bets his green chips on the pass line and the shooter rolls a point, Howard pinches a chip or two off the bet. His moves are pretty good in that they’re timed right. Good timing for chip-manipulation moves on craps is not a constant. It depends on numerous variables, mainly the dealer’s movements and awareness levels at different times.?

When he’s betting the don’t pass and the shooter rolls a point, Howard bet-caps his original don’t pass bet, putting two greens on top of the three he’d originally bet. One time he did it without creating a diversion, the other when throwing in two green chips for proposition bets, diverting the attention of the stickman and box man. He cleverly tossed the chips very close to the chip well in front of the box man, which sometimes evokes a reaction from box men innately protecting the table’s bank. All Howard needs is to get the box man’s eyes drawn to his tossed-in chip for a second.?

He also snuck in a naked pastpost on the don’t pass line that was pretty smooth, and slid a pass line bet to a don’t pass line bet after a point was established.

Howard’s twenty years dealing craps definitely made him efficient as a chip manipulator. I made a joke to that effect as I halted the action on the game.

I ask the attendees in general, “Okay, what moves did Howard do?” Naturally the attendees around the table caught the majority of them because they knew they were coming. So we discuss his moves, then we talk about the shot-moves he didn’t do, where sneaky players take a shot at you by using misdirection and confusion, throwing in chips just before the shooter rolls and using the right language that can indicate two different bets or amounts.?

Some dealers will immediately call out “No bet” to avoid disputes after the roll, but others will place the bet where they think the player wanted it. Then if the bet loses, the player claims the dealer put his chips on the wrong bet. I said this bet and you put my chips on that bet, etc. This happens very fast, and since the player threw in his chips and called his bet just before the shooter rolled the dice, he can get away with this one time and it’s usually a significant amount of money.

This move is similar to that roulette move we saw in a prior class when the player’s $500 chip got slid from red to black and the claimer claimed he’d bet the winner and not the loser and got paid. Adhering to procedure is the best defense against these shot moves, mainly no bets should be accepted unless there is no doubt about which bets they are and for how much.?

“Let’s go back to the chip manipulation moves. When do professional bet-cappers and pastposters like to make their moves?” One attendee points to the don’t pass line and says, “They like to pastpost and bet-cap on the don’t pass more than the pass line.”

“Correct,” I say. “Besides, bet-capping on the pass line after the come-out roll would be for naught unless, of course, it’s somehow done on a frontline winner.” What the attendees don’t know is that’s exactly what I’m going to show them later, which may be the most effective craps-pastpost design of them all. “Yes, professional craps bet-cappers prefer the don’t pass line. The main reason is that there are just so many opportunities at different moments to do it. That’s because once the point is established, the don’t pass becomes a favorite to win until it does win or the shooter sevens out…

“However, there is one crucial time when the professional bet-caps his don’t pass bet.” Let me show you. I move over to the end of the table and place two red chips, $10, on the don’t pass line. “Okay, say the shooter rolls a four. I want to lay single odds. That would be $20, 2 to 1, right? Someone, please show me the correct way to lay the odds chips.” Of course I know how to lay odds bets, but this is part of the exercise, and there are a few accepted ways of laying odds.

An attendee named Burt, who was the base dealer who’d so well cooperated with Howard’s cheat moves, shows me two accepted ways of laying odds in that 2 to 1 situation. First and most common, he says, is the odds bet of $20 made with four red chips, three of them heeled off the bottom chip toward the dealer. The second way is a bridge where two reds are placed next to the original bet and then two more reds are placed on top between the two bets to form the bridge, similar to the way some dealers pay 3 to 2 blackjacks.

“Okay, I’m going to lay the odds the common way.” I place two red chips next to my original two-red-chip bet on the side closer to the dealer. “Now, at the opportune moment, which can be any time after any roll before the shooter makes the point or sevens out, I do this.” With one hand and in a very quick motion, I lay $40, a $25 green chip with three red chips heeled off it toward the dealer, and then drop two red chips on top of my original two-red-chip bet. The result is that I now have a don’t pass bet of $20 and a don’t pass odds bet of $40, which corresponds with the 2 to 1 single odds against the point of four, right?

“As you see, I laid the odds first, which is necessary because if I’m seen by the crew laying chips on the original don’t pass bet, I’m caught in clear violation of the rules. So by going out and laying the odds, it appears I’m laying double odds if the crew happens to notice, but what I’exactlyct these moves before they happen. What percentage of your players would you say are ‘don’t’ players? In baccarat, the distribution of Player and Bank bettors is more or less fifty percent, with most of them rotating between the two bets every shoe. But in craps it’s quite different, isn’t it? Obviously, there are much less don’t players than pass-line players. I’d say it’s around five percent, right?” The attendees tend to agree, one saying perhaps even less. “Okay, if it’s five percent of the players betting ‘don’t’, how often do you see two or three ‘don’t’ players on one side of the table who are not together?” Their answers all indicate this would be a rare event.

“So that’s your tell,” I surprise them. “Anytime you see two or more players on the don’t pass bar at the same side of the table, be suspicious! One might be giving another shade while the move is made. By shade I mean camouflage. Just more hands out there laying odds, making it more difficult to spot the move. And the person giving the shade might intentionally lay the odds wrong to attract the dealer to his bet, not the one that’s being capped by his partner. As inexperienced players often make mistakes laying odds, this does not raise red flags…

“Okay, now I want to show you guys how some top pros work your craps tables. So I need one volunteer to be my claimer. Andre says he’s ready to give it a shot. I tell the group to take a five-minute break. Then I grab Andre and take him outside to show him the move we’re going to do. Andre assures me he’s ready to go. “Let’s go back in there and get the money!” he says with a laugh.?

We return to the training room. I get the same crew we had before in their positions and half the group as players. I announce that the table minimum is $15 and the maximum $2,000. The base dealer on my side is named Jeffrey. I am standing right next to him in the first position; I will be the first player paid if the pass line wins. I place three red chips, $15, on the pass line. Andre is standing behind me. In the real casino, nobody would notice him.?

The shooter is at the other end. He rolls the dice and craps right out. Jeffrey takes my bet as he clears the pass line. I bet $15 again. The shooter rolls a point; I take the odds. A bunch of rolls later, the shooter sevens out. The dice pass; I make the same $15 bet, three red chips. The shooter rolls a ten. I take the odds, placing three red chips on the apron behind my three reds on the pass line. The shooter comes right back with a winner-ten. Jeffrey takes the one don’t pass bet off the layout, then grabs a stack of red to pay the pass line winners. He cuts into my odds bet twice with three red chips, then cuts into my pass line bet with three more reds. At that instant, as Jeffrey’s hands are leaving my bets, my hands shoot underneath his arm and I do a monster bet-switch on both my line and odds bets. My left hand picks up my original $15 odds and line bets as my right lays in two new bets, each consisting of two purple $500 chips capped with a $5 chip, exactly where the original bets had been, all done in one second.?

Then I turn away and Andre jumps into my spot, slaps a stack of $10,000 in purple chips into the chip rack, hits Jeffrey’s hand and cries out, “Hey, I’m betting purples here and you paid off in reds! What is this crap!” Jeffrey, who would be in shock had this occurred in the real casino, looks down and sees a perfectly laid $1,005 pass line bet with a $1,005 odds bet behind it, and then he sees the $10, 000 of “back-up” purple chips in the table rack in front of Andre.

This is basically the same move as the one in blackjack but done with a mechanic and claimer instead of just one cheat who performs both roles. When done right, casinos will pay this move and others like it ninety-five percent of the time. Hard to believe but true, documented by my own personal records. Some of you might say that this type of move would never work today, but don't fool yourselves. If done right, it is a killer psychological move that gets the money nearly every time.

The attendees are stunned by how fast this happened. To show you the extent of the power of this move, check out this flashback: Tropicana casino in Atlantic City in the late nineties. I claim this same craps bet-switch, except it’s $1,505 on both the pass line and odds, three purples and a red on each. The original switched-out bets were both $20, four reds. The box man and the base dealer look at each other as if totally unsure, then the box man shakes his head and says to the dealer, “No way it could’ve been a move; it was too fast.” So they paid me $1,505 in the front and $3,010 in the back. That is a monster feat, even for a team as good as ours was. But still, it was just another dealer-made-a-mistake scam. Remember, you must verify with surveillance any claims that dealers made mistakes of $100 or more.

And can you believe that gig in Atlantic City? It actually occurred to both the dealer and the box man that it was a move yet they just couldn’t believe it was a move.

To sum this all up for you, I remind you: come to Table Games Protection Classes with an open mind and leave your ego at home. I always stress that in order to get the most out of Game Protection Training, you have to believe possible what you think is impossible.

I am living proof of impossibility happening routinely over a 25-year casino cheating career.

Richard Marcus Game Protection Training at your property: https://globaltablegamesprotection.com/game-protection-training-at-your-property/