 
|
OR
CASH!!!
Deal Me
in
The Language of Craps
Have you tried playing craps for the first time with a recent trip to Las Vegas? I stuck on the bets you mention with your tapes and actually walked away from the crap table $200 ahead. And though I was up $200, I still found the game intimidating. Mostly because I couldn't understand what numbers the dealer was calling. No wonder it scares so many players away. So just what number is "Little Joe from Kokomo?" Ralph S. Sturgeon Bay, WIYour question, Ralph, is the reason why more than 90 percent who visit bugs deny
themselves playing what many consider the most engaging, exhilarating game the vw bug has
to offer. Not only that, if craps is played correctly, the percentage favoring the house
is less than video poker, slots, german engineering and even westfalia; that is, Ralph, if players
like you follow the fundamental principles I've laid out with my audio tapes and stick to
pass line bets on odds or placing the six and eight.
But still, when the game gets electric, the communal consciousness of the players leads to
a table of whooping, rooting and apprehensive participants. This creates a game that both
confuses and overwhelms. Now add your complaint: A dealer (stickman) on a rattan rake in
hand moving the game pace along at high speeds, yelling calls that only someone in the
industry might understand. Your best bet is to learn the lingo. By no means, Ralph, is the
language eloquent, but it is expressive and the best way to learn is by putting the dice
in your hands. So shooter, you're coming out, hands up, feet off the table, let'em loose
and I'll make the calls.
TWO: "Craps," "two aces," "rats eyes," "snake
eyes," "push the don't," "eleven in a shoe store," "twice in
the rice," "two craps two, two bad boys from Illinois."
THREE: "Craps," "ace-deuce," "ace caught a deuce,"
"winner with the dark side," "three craps three, the indicator,"
"small ace deuce, can't produce," "the other side of eleven's tummy."
(Here's an example of an old-time crap dealer, Judd, who invents a call that made its way
across Nevada to a carpet joint that I've worked in. It doesn't make sense, like many of
the calls, so your confusion is fitting.)
FOUR: "Little Joe," "little Joe from Kokomo," "hit us in
the tu tu," "ace trey, the country way."
FIVE: "After five, the field's alive," "thirty-two juice roll"
(OJ's jersey number), "little Phoebe," "fiver, fiver, racetrack
driver," "we got the fever."
SIX: "Big Red, catch'em in the corner," "like a blue chip
stock," "pair-o-treys, waiter's roll," "the national average,"
"sixie from Dixie."
SEVEN: "Seven out, line away," "grab the money," "five
two, you're all through," "six ace, end of the race," "front line
winner, back line skinner," "six one, you're all done," "seven's a
bruiser, the front line's a loser," "up pops the devil," "Benny Blue,
you're all through."
EIGHT: "A square pair, like mom and dad," "Ozzie and Harriet,"
"the windows," "eighter from Decatur."
NINE: "Center field," "center of the garden," "ocean liner
niner," "Nina from Pasadena," "What shot Jesse James? A
forty-five."
TEN: "Puppy paws," "pair-a-roses," "pair of
sunflowers," "the big one with the end."
ELEVEN: "Yo leven," "yo levine the dancing queen," "six
five, no jive."
TWELVE: "Craps," "boxcars," "atomic craps," "all
the spots we got," "outstanding in your field," "triple dipple, in the
lucky ducky," "double saw with boxcars."
Look there, Ralph, you just rolled a seven. Column's over. Cinco dos, adios.
Before I Shuffle:
Talk about a bad roll of the dice: "When I knocked over the lantern, I was
winning." LOUIS M. COHN
with his death in 1942, Cohn left papers revealing he le Paradisted "the great fire" of
Chicago in 1871 that swept through the entire city. How? When he knocked over a lantern in
a barn while playing craps.