Craps question

At a $5 table can you bet $6 on the pass line or do the bets have to be in $5 units. If you can bet $6, would the dealers think the bet would be $5 for the player and $1 for them? How would you handle that?

Quote: dihaig

At a $5 table can you bet $6 on the pass line or do the bets have to be in $5 units. If you can bet $6, would the dealers think the bet would be $5 for the player and $1 for them? How would you handle that?

Dihag

If you placed $6 on the pass line then thats your money. If you are making a $1 dealer bet, its placed right next to your $5 bet on the passline. Then its for the dealers.

That does usually give you good service from the crew. What some players do is place a $6 line bet and then when the point is made or a comeout 7 or 11, they toke the dealers the $1, buts its strictly opional by the player. A $1 line bet is definately for the dealers. Also, when its placed for the dealers they always announce it, which indirectly encourages the other table players "join the toke club".

Experience tells me that that $1 dealer bet that I make whenever I am tossing the dice goes a long way during a session.


Eagledice

Quote: dihaig

At a $5 table can you bet $6 on the pass line or do the bets have to be in $5 units. If you can bet $6, would the dealers think the bet would be $5 for the player and $1 for them? How would you handle that?

Players put up "barber pole" bets all the time. Dealers will not think it is for them until you toss one to them, unless as stated above that you put their bet beside yours. If you are toking put the bet beside yours. Besides all the good karma mentioned above it establishes you as a person who at least looks as if they know what they are doing.

If you are making a center-bet for the boys announce "two way" when you throw the bet. This divides the bet in half, one for you one for them. If you are tossing in a mixed amount say for example, "$6 hard eight, five for me one for the boys." There are varriations here but clear communication will take care of things.

Thanks for the answers. Very helpful.

You could announce that the dollar on top of your passline bet is for the boys and this way that dollar will be included in your rating. Some casinos might not count the bet to the side of your pass line bet as part of your action.

Same thing when you bet the numbers for the dealers. If there is any question on creditng the bet to you for comps, then be sure the "dealers bet" is placed on top of your stack.

Youll have to ask the boxman or floorman about how they rate you for the dealer bets to decide how the bets should be positioned at the table.

When I make a pass line bet for the dealers I put it on top of my own bet and say "The dealers are on top." For example if I'm betting ten dollars for myself and two dollars for the dealers, the two red chips go on the bottom and I place the two one dollar chips slightly offset on top. If the bet wins, the dealers take their winnings but the bet is still up for the next come out. If multiple passes are made the dealers keep winning but I'm only out the cost of one bet when it eventually loses.

When you place the dealer pass line bet beside your own bet, do you also place an odds bet for them? Do you make their odds bet in the same proportion that you make your own odds bet? For example, if you are taking 5x odds, do you also make a bet for the dealer for 5x, or just 1x, or no odds at all?

I usually toke the dealers with odds next to my own. Ask the box or pit boss, but often a casino will let you go 10% over maximum as a toke. So at a $5 3/4/5x table, you can put an extra $1 next to your $15 in odds on 4/10 for the dealers, $2 on the 5/6/8/9 (though 6/8 will get short paid). I tend to toke odds on 4s and 10s. At tables with half-dollars or quarters, you can do $1.50 on 4/10 and $2.50 on 6/8 for correct payouts. If you're betting at a $10 table or higher, fractional dollars tokes aren't a problem - with the 10% rule you can go up to $3/$4/$5. But ask first what the policy is.

Quote: Avczilla

When you place the dealer pass line bet beside your own bet, do you also place an odds bet for them? Do you make their odds bet in the same proportion that you make your own odds bet? For example, if you are taking 5x odds, do you also make a bet for the dealer for 5x, or just 1x, or no odds at all?

no way I give them free odds routinely. The Wizard himself has expressed concern that this would be expected, but it has been no problem for me. If any dealer was to suggest it was in order, I would give out a big "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?" with a big smile on my face. If any persistence got irritating, I would start tossing one dollar tip bets on 'any 7' or something else in the middle that no doubt they also had been pushing, instead of putting it on the line. If it had been on "the don't", the dollar goes to the middle of the table immediately. If it really gets ugly you have to leave the table before any mis-pays occur.

There is neither an obligation or even an expectation to give the toke bet full odds. There IS an expectation to give the toke bet at least 1x odds.

If you're particularly budget minded, make the toke bet (and odds) stating "Player control." When the bet wins, the dealer will only take the winnings, and the bet stays up.

My friend tips $1 + max odds for the dealers on every roll when he gets ahead. That's $11 on a ten times odds table, and $21 on a twenty times odds table, *on every line and come bet.* He knows that I disapprove of this tipping method and think it is excessive, but he does it anyway. So what? There are definitely worse things to be doing... Personally, I think the dealers would get just as much excitement and enjoyment out of $1+$1 on every line/come bet.

Needless to say, the dealers make a LOT of money on his good rolls. Last time we played at Main Street Station, the Vice President of Downtown Operations for Boyd Gaming approached him, thanked him personally, said he could have whatever he wanted from them, and gave him his card.

Whatever he wanted? What about a trial of his new craps side bet?

For the most part, I tip the dealers only when Im shooting and Ive made a pass (other than a come out 7.11).

If for example my passline is $25 with full odds, and I make the point, I will start betting $10 for the dealers.

On a few rare occassions, when I have had a monster roll, I will also place the numbers for the dealers starting with $52/54 across -- but player controls, meaning the dealers take the wins. In my 15+ years playing craps this has happened fewer than a half dozen times.

Once, the roll was so strong that the dealers were pressed up to $135 across.

this past weekend, I was not the shooter but the shooter had already made a half dozen passes with three different numbers. The point was 4 and if he had hit it it would have been the first payoff towards the fire bet.

The numbers kept coming... and coming... so I started making two way hard 4s. eventually both the dealers and I had $25 each on the hard four... and seven out. This was one of the few times Ive bet for dealers when Im not shooting.

Ive been at tables where another shooter has had a big hand, and when I color up I have a "hand in" for the dealers.

Thats just the way I do it.

Quote: AlanMendelson

...and when I color up I have a "hand in" for the dealers.

Oh, no matter hot the session goes, there's always a few chips left over for the boys.

Quote: Alanmendelson

...and when I color up I have a "hand in" for the dealers.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Oh, no matter hot the session goes, there's always a few chips left over for the boys.

I've never made a bet for the dealers. I always give them the tip directly. It's fine if I lose money to the house through my bad luck, but I don't want the dealer's tip going to the house too.

Quote: helpmespock

I've never made a bet for the dealers. I always give them the tip directly. It's fine if I lose money to the house through my bad luck, but I don't want the dealer's tip going to the house too.

That's exactly why I only toke with odds. Same net result but lots more fun for everyone.

Quote: helpmespock

I've never made a bet for the dealers. I always give them the tip directly. It's fine if I lose money to the house through my bad luck, but I don't want the dealer's tip going to the house too.

I figure if the dollar I bet is worth about 98.5 cents to them, they ought to enjoy it without too much fuss. That's what I figure the added pass line bet is worth, and dealers get more of the benefit of that "in the long run" business. To each his own though. I do try to remember to throw something to them when I leave the table.

I haven't read this whole thread, so I apologize if this has been mentioned or brought up.

Because of another thread I read on this forum, I started copying what another player does. When I'm the shooter, I make my pass line bet, and then make a $1 toke on the pass line as well. If a point is rolled, I then back up the toke with odds.

However, it occurred to me from something I read in this thread, that I might have an alternative solution. I don't play full odds. (Yeah, I know, stupid me.) I usually only play double odds, occasionally triple odds depending on how many waitresses I've struck out with that night. Anyway, if I'm not playing full odds, I could add another "odds" bet to my own, and use that to tip the dealers with. Obviously, this only works when there is a point made. The idea being that when the point is made, the payout on the extra odds would go to the dealers as their toke. This might take some wrangling on my part, but I believe it should be doable.

I would be risking a little bit more money in order to get them their toke, but I also wouldn't lose that money when the point is rolled, being able to keep it to make their next toke odds bet.

Ideas?

Nothing wrong with doing that.

The only thing "wrong" when making a toke bet, would be a toke bet without one of your own next to it.

Some people will also classify a toke on a high edge bet wrong, but if it hits, how wrong is it?

I've done that. Throw a $1 for the boys on a hardway bet. I'm not on it. Although, the strangest one I've done was betting on the Don't Pass, and put a $1 toke bet on the Pass line for the dealers. I got odd looks on that one.

Quote: konceptum

Although, the strangest one I've done was betting on the Don't Pass, and put a $1 toke bet on the Pass line for the dealers. I got odd looks on that one.

I think I posted here a year and a half ago about a session where I did just the opposite. I told the dealers that my shooting had been so bad that week that, while I would keep betting the pass line, I would put their toke bets on the don't, just so one of us could win something. That turned out to be my best shooting session of the trip. Fortunately, each time I set an even-number point, I placed a two-way hardway bet on the point number and hit a number of those, so the dealers did make some money even though most of the don't bets lost.