Scoblete Craps
'Frank Scoblete's Forever Craps will teach even veteran craps players revolutionary new techniques. You'll learn the new Five-Step Advantage-Play Method, a surefire way to increase your profits at the tables! You'll also learn refinements for the 5-Count, Rhythmic Rolling techniques, maximizing comps, terrific Don't betting strategies, how to protect yourself from criminals, and much, much more! One site as an example that aims to teach dice control is goldentouchcraps.com Golden Touch Craps by Frank Scoblete (click here). Exactly what is “dice control?” It’s the notion that you can control the outcome of a dice roll to increase the likelihood of certain numbers appearing more or less often to reduce the house advantage.
Frank Scoblete is one of the most-famous gambling authors of all time. He’s written dozens of gambling books and countless online articles.
Scoblete got his start in the 1980s when he began writing for gambling magazines. Since then, he’s continued to churn out popular gambling books and articles.
Besides his writing, Scoblete is also famous for being a huge proponent of craps dice control (a.k.a. controlled shooting). This alleged advantage-play technique involves holding the dice in a specific manner and throwing them with the same consistency/force.
The idea is that you can influence the results over time by using a practiced dice toss. But this is a controversial topic that’s surrounded by skepticism.
Many have called into question the legitimacy of Scoblete based on his constant support of dice control.
I’m going to discuss this skepticism and whether it’s warranted. I’ll also cover the good points of Scoblete and how he’s helping further the gambling world.
This piece isn’t about bashing Scoblete and questioning his character. Rather, it’s about examining both sides of Scoblete and what the gambling industry thinks of him.
Who Is Frank Scoblete and What Has He Done?
Frank Scoblete is best known as a gambling author who’s written many books, including Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution, Beat the One-Armed Bandits, and Forever Craps. But he got his start as a writer, actor, and teacher.
Scoblete was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1947. He attended St. John’s Prep. school and had offers for both academic and athletic scholarships.
He accepted the latter and studied history, literature, and philosophy in college. Scoblete now has a master’s degree in each subject.
Upon graduating college in 1969, he immediately went to work as a writer and editor. Scoblete would eventually become the publisher of Island Magazine, which was based out of Long Island.
He got into radio at this time with a show called “Frank Scoblete Live!” Healso began working as a high school English teacher in the early 1970s.
In 1975, Scoblete took up acting and co-founded The Other Vic Theatre Company. This acting troupe put on plays at dinner theatres, parties, and resorts.
He acted, directed, and produced over 50 plays with The Other Vic Theatre Company. It was during one of these plays that he found his passion for gambling.
Scoblete was researching a gambling-related role for The Only Game in Town in 1985. He traveled to Atlantic City with his co-star, Alene Paone, to play casino games and get into the mindset of a gambler.
This resulted in him making more frequent trips from New York to Atlantic City. He was not only playing casino games but also becoming interested in gaining an edge.
Scoblete fell in love with gambling enough to where he sold his theater company in 1989 and started writing casino columns for WIN Magazine.
He and Paone became romantical involved not long after they met. She created a publishing house that produced his first book, Beat the Craps the Out of the Casinos.
Paone also shared his penchant for gambling. After she and Scoblete got married in 1993, they spent a large portion of their honeymoon playing blackjack at a Mississippi casino.
Since the release of his first book, Scoblete has only become more widely known in the gambling world. Beyond writing, he’s also been active on the radio and has even appeared in TV documentaries like “What Would You Do If …?” on the Travel Channel.
Scoblete isn’t just a gambling writer either, because he’s turned his passion into becoming an advantage card counter. He also claims to be an advantage dice controller.
The Good Points of Frank Scoblete
Frank Scoblete Craps
Frank Scoblete has spent three nearly decades as a prominent gambling writer. His master’s degree in literature has helped him become one of the best gambling writers ever.
Scoblete writes in an entertaining style that’s easy to read. He also calls on old stories to help hammer his points home.
He frequently discusses a craps player knowing as “The Captain,” whom he claims was the greatest craps players ever. The Captain has since passed away, but he lives on in many of Scoblete’s online gambling columns.
Scoblete’s current articles can be found on CasinoCityTimes. He writes about many gambling related subjects, but his favorite game to discuss is definitely craps.
In an April 2015 article on CasinoCityTimes, Scoblete rips trend betting while also propping up dice control. Here’s an excerpt:
“Sadly, gamblers are looking for just such magic to turn a negative expectation into a positive one. Dice control can give you an edge over the casino — if you learn how to do it (a physical skill) and bet correctly (which many craps players just can’t bring themselves to do); but charting, tracking, using your intuition and analyzing random history cannot do it.
“A couple of “intuitive” Internet denizens strongly urge that you develop your psychic talents to pick out which tables to play on and which shooters on which to wager. Here is a saying you should memorize: Random is random.”
In a November 2017 column, he recounts some wisdom that The Captain gave him during a talk on Atlantic City’s Boardwalk:
“All life seems to be waiting for this or that; you want to get older, you want to get married, you want to have a job, you want to have a house. For most things we have to wait.
“But with gambling, get-rich-quick seems to be the desire there. So rhythmic rolling is out once a person realizes it takes time and discipline. That might do most players in.”
Scoblete also writes about plenty of other casino games like baccarat, blackjack, roulette, and slots. You can find his articles all over the internet just by googling his name.
The well-known author is famous for his numerous books throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Here are the many books that he’s written:
- Armada Strategies for Spanish 21
- Beat Blackjack Now! The Easiest Way to Get the Edge
- Beat the Craps Out of the Casinos
- Best Blackjack
- Bold Card Play
- Break the One-Armed Bandits
- Casino Craps: Shoot to Win!
- Casino Conquest: Beat the Casinos
- Casino Gambling: Playing Like A Pro in 10 Minutes or Less
- Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players
- Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Pai Gow Poker
- Forever Craps
- Get the Edge at Blackjack
- Get the Edge at Roulette: How to Predict Where the Ball Will Land
- Golden Touch Blackjack
- Golden Touch Dice Control
- Guerrilla Gambling
- I Am a Card Counter: Insider the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack
- Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines
- The Baccarat Battle Book
- The Captain’s Craps Revolution
- The Craps Underground: The Inside Story of How Dice Controllers Are Winning Millions from the Casinos
- The Expert’s Guide to Casino Games
- The Virgin Kiss and Other Adventures
- Twenty-First Century Blackjack
- Victory at Video Poker
Overall, Scoblete has penned over two dozen books that revolve around both basic gambling strategy and advantage-play.
As I mentioned before, Scoblete backed up his expertise by becoming a professional card counter in the 1990s. He’s also developed enough mastery of other casino games to justify his status as a gambling expert.
Frank Scoblete Craps Documentary
Another thing that the 70-year-old has done includes many interviews and some TV segments. He’s helped to inform the masses on gambling strategy through these media appearances.
The Questionable Side of Frank Scoblete
The biggest controversy surrounding Frank Scoblete is his insistence that players can use dice control to win long-term profits.
If you’re unfamiliar with controlled shooting, this technique involves “setting” the dice and throwing them with the same motion every time.
A common dice set is the V-shape grip. This is often used after making a place 6 or 8 bet, because it hides the 7 and leaves dice combinations open that can form 6/8.
Here’s how the V-shape grip works:
- 3s form a V (better chance for a 6).
- 5 and 1 are side by side and exposed (also for 6).
- 2 and 6 are side by side and exposed (better chance for an 8).
- 4 and 4 are side by side and exposed (also for 6).
Dice control offers a wide range of sets based on what wager you’re trying to win. But this set along with a place 6 or 8 bet make a good starting point.
The goal of controlled shooting is to slightly alter the odds. After all, you don’t need to control your toss very often to gain an edge over the house.
Dice control experts measure their success by Sevens: Rolls Ratio, or RSR, or the ratio of rolls that produce 7 versus those that don’t.
The regular odds of tossing a 7 are one out of every six throws (6:1 odds). But you want 7 to come up fewer times when it causes you to lose a bet.
Here’s an example involving place 8, where you must roll an 8 before 7 to win:
- Place 8 payout is 7:6.
- True odds of winning are 6:5
- House edge is 1.52%.
- You roll 8 five times for every 36 rolls (36:5) on average.
- You roll 7 six times for every 36 rolls (36:6) on average.
- If you bet $10, your average win would be $11.67.
- 5 wins x 11.67 = $58.35 in winnings
- You lose $10 for every loss.
- 6 losses x 10 = $60
- This leaves you $1.65 in the red.
Here’s what happens if you can slightly alter the odds of tossing an 8:
- You roll 8 an average of 5.5 times per 36 rolls.
- You bet $10 and earn $11.67 for each win.
- 5 wins x 11.67 = $64.19 in winnings
- You lose $10 for every loss.
- 6 losses x 10 = $60 in losses
- $64.19 – $60 = $4.19 profit
- 19 / 124.19 (total bets) = 3.37% advantage over casino
After you have your dice set down and understand the goal of controlled shooting, the final piece is to work on your toss. Scoblete explains thatyou want to practice controlled shooting much like a professional athlete would hone their technique.
The more you work on your dice toss, the more likely you are to alter results and collect winnings. But you must first have a place to practice.
Most players can’t afford a regulation-size craps table, nor do they have the space for it. But you can find affordable smaller tables or rig up your own using parts of a regular table like the felt and rubberized back wall.
Scoblete preaches that consistently practicing a soft toss off the back wall reduces the amount of kick-back for the dice. This means less-random results and a higher chance that you’ll roll your desired number(s).
This all sounds good in theory. And it’s a big reason why Scoblete has sold so many books and training seminar spots over the years.
The question is if dice control really works as advertised. Some gambling experts like Dominic LoRiggio, Chris Pawlicki, and Stanford Wong back up Scoblete’s assertion that controlled shooting works.
But it’s hard to believe this when casinos don’t actively ban controlled shooters from casinos. Instead, they merely warn dice setters about taking too long to grip the dice and toss them.
If anything, casinos are merely annoyed with controlled shooters, rather than fearful that they’ll win big profits. I’ve honestly never heard of a player being banned for controlled shooting.
Compare this to card counting, where skilled players are banned on a regular basis. Furthermore, counting is proven to give successful players an advantage.
I should add that Scoblete and LoRiggio run Golden Touch Craps seminars in cities like Atlanta City, Las Vegas, and Memphis. And you must pay $1,595 to attend this two-day dice control class.
The price alone doesn’t condemn Scoblete as taking advantage of people. But I wouldn’t pay nearly $1,600 to learn an advantage-play technique that may or may not work.
What the Doubters Say about Scoblete and Dice Control
Frank Scoblete is adamant that dice control is a legitimate technique that can improve your craps winnings. And he’s doubled down on this statement many times.
The Las Vegas Sun’s Jeff Haney did an interview in 2006 with Scoblete and Wong. And Scoblete made multiple references to how controlled shooting works if you put enough work into the matter.
“With video poker or blackjack, it’s just a matter of statistics. You have to make the right decision at the right time, and you have an edge,” he told Haney.
“With dice control, you create your own edge. Everything has to be functioning perfectly.”
Of course, there are many people who don’t believe that controlled shooting works no matter how perfectly everything is functioning. You can see the skepticism about dice control in a WizardOfVegas forum thread.
One forum member named “MrV” writes:
“There was no Captain of Craps, certainly not as he has described him in other stories: Frank employs a literary device: a cliched “hero of mythic proportions.”
There are no dice setters winning millions from casinos, as he claims.
“No, it’s just a bunch of fairly well written B.S. designed to sell books by instilling false hope in the losers wandering dazed and confused in the casinos.”
Another member named “RonC” praises Scoblete’s writing abilities but isn’t sold on dice control:
“I enjoy Frank’s books. I am highly skeptical of his dice control stuff, but he writes in an easily readable style.
“There is a tendency to rehash stories a bit, so I am not sure if I will read the new one. Maybe if I can get it at a low price.”
Forum users aren’t considered the ultimate authorities on gambling and advantage-play methods. But the general sentiment in this forum thread and others is that dice control doesn’t work.
Gambling expert Michael “The Wizard of Odds” Shackleford experimented with controlled shooting to test its effectiveness. Dice control coach Beau Parker had Shackleford attempt to roll 7s and 11s on the come-out roll.
Shackleford ultimately concluded that the results weren’t much different than random rolls.
Conclusion
Frank Scoblete has had a fine career as a gambling author. And nobody can take away what he’s accomplished through his many books and numerous articles.
But his insistence that dice control works dents his credibility among many. This is especially true when considering that he’s made lots of money selling dice control seminar slots and craps books.
I won’t go so far as to call Scoblete a scammer and claim that he’s willingly taking advantage of gamblers. He may very well believe that it’s possible to toss dice 10 feet across a table, hit a diamond-patterned wall, and produce the desired number.
But I don’t think that controlled shooting does anything. Furthermore, I believe that people are wasting a lot of money by purchasing materials and seminar spots to learn dice control.
Maybe it’s physically possible to avoid rolling a 7 once in a blue moon. But it doesn’t seem remotely possible that anybody could do this consistently within 36-roll spans.
In summary, Scoblete is a good writer who has many credits to his name. But he would do his legacy some good by not pushing controlled shooting any longer.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.The Craps Underground - A Review
'Scoblete's new book depicts the real world of dice influencing about as accurately as Hogan's Heroes depicted life in a World War II German POW camp.'
That was my initial impression of Scoblete's new book which I posted on the message board a few weeks back. Now I've had a chance to re-read the book a couple of times and fully digest it. Fortunately, I acquired one of the pre-release copies of the book, gratis. I would have had a SERIOUS case of buyers remorse had I actually paid $24.95 for this 315 page hard cover dog.
My complete review follows.
I read a lot. I spend an hour and a half each work day on a train, so I go through books quickly. In my library, I have probably 40 to 50 books on craps specifically or gambling in general. In all the gambling books I've read, I can unequivocallysay that no matter how poorly written or conceived the book was, I've always found some redeeming quality in the book. The Craps Undergroundis the exception. If a good gambling book is like a delicious filet mignon, this book is more akin to the stuff they feed people on the TV show, Fear Factor.
Let's start with the ENTIRE title of the book. The Craps Underground - The Inside Story of How Dice Controllers Are Winning Millions from the Casinos. Pure, unadulterated hype. For arguments sake, we'll assume that 'Millions' means something more than one or two million, ten million would be a reasonable starting point, and it's at least implied that it also means millions in net profit.
Last spring, Frank Scoblete estimated that there are fewer than 200 skilled 'dice controllers' operating in the US. By doing a little division, that would mean on average, those 200 dice 'controllers' are taking down $50,000 in profits, each. Except for a few rather well bankrolled shooters, there is no evidence that the average dice controller is showing that kind of profit. Yes, many dice influencers are consistently profitable but the title alone, and I'll repeat myself here, is unadulterated hype.
So, now let's get into the book a bit. Chapter one opens with Scoblete having a marathon winning session with the dicecoach, Beau Parker. Here's how Scoblete describes the session with the dicecoach...
'...seven glorious hours shooting dice with a fellow dice controller and newfound friend known as the 'Bodacious One,' Beau Parker.'
This session, and these warm expressions of friendship for the dicecoach occurred just a few months prior to the formation of GTC. I'll get back to that later.
Let's dive a little further into this drivel. In the early chapters, we get to hear Scoblete wax poetically about 'the Captain,' again. Yawn.... hasn't he beaten that horse to death yet? Then he introduces various future members of the GTC organization.
Apparently, these guys never lose! Or if they do happen to have a poor session, it is quickly followed by a miraculous comeback. AMAZING! There are a couple of chapters on 'The Lee Brothers.' These two chapters are almost engaging. Except for one thing. OF COURSE 'The Lee Brothers' coincidentally have read all of Scoblete's books, and religiously play like the captain. Subtle as a freight train, that Scoblete.
There's a chapter on the Las Vegas Craps Festival which I participated in. Scoblete briefly mentions me here, and he certainly had the opportunity to take some shots at me if he wanted to. Surprisingly he didn't though, for whatever reason. However, he did misrepresent what I discussed that day. Here's what he had to say about me.
'Irishsetter has strong opinions.'
Well, he got THAT part right but later went on to say,
'In fact, Irishsetter made a strong pitch that people shouldn't be paying or charging to learn dice control, that all the information should be free.'
In all actuality, I said nothing of the sort. The gist of my discussion was twofold. One, that aspiring dice influencers should learn as much as possible for free, or as cheaply as they can, and two, that there is no one single correct philosophy on how to set, grip and throw the dice. My opinion today is no different. If you're interested, I have an article on dicesetter.com which goes further into my discussion that day called, The 'Missing' Tape - The Article.
My guess is that given the opportunity, Scoblete didn't want to take any obvious shots at me, but instead chose to misrepresent my discussion in an attempt to embarrass me since I do occasionally participate in seminars. What IS missing in the book, is what Scoblete talked about that day.
One of the major points of his discussion was that dice influencers would soon begin to experience the kind of heat that card counters get if they didn't go 'underground.' It seems Scoblete had a change of heart. Either that, or his definition of going 'underground' is hyping dice influencing in books, holding seminars in casinos, and advertising dice control on the radio and in newspapers and magazines.
Blah, blah, blah. Several chapters not even worth mentioning.
OK, what's next. Scoblete raids Jerry Patterson's PARR organization of most of the coaching staff and Golden Touch Craps is born. Despite the fact that I'm intimately knowledgeable about many of the personalities involved here, these chapters are about as interesting as watching hibernating bears.
I have to give Scoblete credit though. He mentions his GTC staff and as many hangers on in the GTC periphery as often as possible. Why? Because the average Joe will think it's really 'neat' that Frank Scoblete put them in his book. Pathetic? Yes. But, those folks in the periphery will go out on amazon.com, buy multiple copies of the book, and write a glowing review so their friends will buy it and see their names in print. Oh Boy!
Now we get to the 'A and E Special.' It's my opinion that the truth lies somewhere between what was broadcast by A and E, what has been written on the various web sites, and what is written in this book about the special. What Scoblete wants you to believe is that A and E decided not to broadcast the footage of all the winning sessions that actually occurred. This despite the fact that the A and E special was basically a feel-good piece.
The funny thing about the A and E special is that the dicecoach, who was the main focus, invited Frank Scoblete to join him. (Scoblete then invited several other folks. What a guy!) Remember how they'd become 'friends' during their marathon craps shoot several months earlier?
It seems that 'ole Scoblete is beginning to have a change of heart again. You see, Scoblete in the A and E chapter elaborates these wonderful stories about the GTC folks involved, but basically trashes everyone else who is not involved with GTC like the dicecoach, Soft Touch, and Hardways.
Blah, blah, blah. A couple more chapters not even worth mentioning.
Ah...finally we're heading to the conclusion of the book. Scoblete closes the book with his Las Vegas Diary. This portion of the book was published on his site several months back, so I was familiar with this part already.
I'll give you the long and short of his 15 day diary here. Frank wins. Frank says wonderful things about the various GTC folks he plays with. Frank says nasty things about various other people he comes across. They lament that Treasure Island isn't as friendly as it used to be. Boo-hoo-hoo. Frank and his playing partners lose, but miraculously have a comeback! Heard this before?
What is really interesting about the diary is how Scoblete trashes dicecoach, again. Remember, in the opening of the book, Frank and Beau are 'newfound friends.' Now, just a year later, here are just a few things that Scoblete now has to say about dicecoach. When asked if Frank knew the dicecoach, he replied,
'No, no' and 'I barely know him.'
Apparently he doesn't even have the cojones to refer to Beau by his name or his moniker at this point. Throughout the diary he refers to him now as 'Crapsguy' and basically lays blame on Beau for whatever heat they experience in the casino. Frank writes,
'Some GTC members had a theory that the Crapsguy, the freelance dice-control instructor, had been too public, aggressive and up-front at the tables about what he was doing...'
This coming from the Scoblete is a hoot! He goes on to say,
'even when GTC did our course at Sam's Town in Tunica we were laid back at the tables and never talked about dice control or handed our business cards across the table to drum up new business as the Crapsguy is wont to do.'
Frank Scoblete Craps Five Count
Again, from Scoblete's pen, this is a riot. I mean, he's holding a seminar in a casino for Pete's sake and he complaining about thedicecoach handing out his business card? Besides, just a few pages earlier in the book, Scoblete had elaborated the following story which occurred at the Green Valley Ranch crap tables.
'..a dealer at Sunset Station, who likes to play at Green Valley Ranch, complimented me on my style. I gave him one of our Craps Club Black Chips with our phone number, and whispered to him if he was interested in learning how to roll like that give us a call.'
So, Frank will deride you for behavior that he himself exhibits. Hmmm. What's that saying? Oh yeah. Pot - Kettle - Black.
I wonder how Beau the dicecoach would have been portrayed in the The Craps Underground had he accepted GTC's invitation to join their organization. You think perhaps THAT had something to do with Frank's change of heart, from 'friend' to 'the Crapsguy?'
Basically, the book in a nutshell is this. 70% of the book is an infomercial for GTC. 20% of the book is various trip reports. Don't worry. The few sessions which aren't profitable for Scoblete? Just read on, a miraculous comeback is in store. The final 10% of the book is the subtle trashing of anyone who is not involved with GTC or a member of the GTC flock.
If you read the jacket cover of the book, and anything else Scoblete writes for that matter, it says,
'Frank Scoblete is the number-one best-selling gaming author in America..'
Scoblete Craps
If that's true, and people really do think Scoblete has something to say, well, then, my mother was right when she said,
'Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.'