Charting The Table

If you have read much about playing craps, you have probably come across the term "charting the table." I have seen descriptions of two basic types of charting: 1) tracking each roll in an attempt to determine a good time to make a specific bet. 2) tracking each shooter in an attempt to determine someone you should bet with or against. I don't chart the table, although I have sometimes based my betting on how a shooter has done in the past -- sometimes betting that the careful setter will repeat the long roll he had last time, and sometimes betting that he won't get that lucky twice. As with all other bets, sometimes I'm right.

My opinion on charting is that it is a waste of time. Each roll is random. The dice have no memory and are not going to even things out. If I happen to be playing at the same time as one of the few true controlled shooters, I just hope I'm betting on the correct side. But ...

For those who chart or have tried it, what do you chart? What are you looking for? How well does / did it work for you? Have you ever been "backed off" for charting? (One Indian casino around here does not allow charting - I can only imagine it's because they don't want somebody who rarely makes a bet taking up space at the table.)

I don't keep track of good or bad shooters with pen and paper, however it seems that every time I play craps, people are consistent with there shooting. Even guys that roll the dice all the way across the table get the same results every time.

I know there is no merit to choosing how to bet based on a specific shooter, however I still do it.

A couple of trips ago, I was at Palazzo and a guy next to me was already at the table when I arrived. He wasn't even playing, just charting in some fashion in his mini-notebook that was about 1/4 the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. The page was covered with numbers and scribbles.

He said he was a math professor from UGeorgia. After each roll, he would write down the roll, and then peruse his list. We were chatting a little, and after about 10 mins, he apparently got confident enough to call one roll, "if I'm right, next roll SHOULD be a 6". It wasn't.

He didn't get any problem from anybody at the table or any of the staff; he wasn't taking up a needed spot.

Shortly after that, an old guy gets wheeled up on the other side of me by his gender-indeterminate assistant, gets on his feet and starts betting the Don't for $100. Of course, immediately wins like 3 in a row.

"YOU have any advice for me?" I say. He laughs.

I don't need a chart to know when the 6 & 8 are coming up less than 13.89% of the time. It doesn't change my bets.

Quote: seattledice

I don't chart the table

Actually, I think you do. I think we ALL chart the table. Its human nature to some extent. Oh, I don't mean you keep a pen and paper chart, I mean that you form a mental impression of the recent situation.

If you go into a bar or a party and have a feeling of "this joint is really jumping" it affects your behavior to some extent. The music is lively and the people are happy, clearly in a festive mood. Its the same way with a craps table: if as you approach you see oodles and oodles of chips all over the layout, everyone has lots of place bets down, everyone is on the pass line, everyone is making lots of bets ... this gives you an impression that constitutes a "chart of the table".

If the dealer sees you approach and says to you "Choppy but definitely better on the Donts" his statement is meant as a verbal "chart" of the table's recent activity. Is it binding upon the dice? Heck, No! We all know that. He knows it too.

But we all chart the table to some degree. I can't sit down at a Baccarat table without having the floorperson put a paper form and a pencil in front of me. I don't want it, I won't fill it out, I won't consult it. None of this affects his behavior. He does it each and every time. Such a thing is unheard of at a craps table. No pre-printed forms, no golf pencils in sight, no time wasting chart makers encouraged. Time wasting chart makers who have lots of money are tolerated though.

Those who carefully and precisely chart the table are probably no more rewarded for their efforts than those who chart the table in a brief and haphazard manner.