Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-01-03
PLAYING AT CRAPS.



bier Is Hard on the Player.
Craps is the favorite gambling game
of the negroes, and now the whites
and not poor white trash, either-are
playing it, though merely for fun. IT
there be an adequate amount OF
squeezing" and ''rooting"-if we may
use the terms of the game in speaking
of it-and the plaintive cry of ''come
seven" or ''come SIX be repeated when
the players are in desperate straits, the
game can yield much more sport for an
evening party. Gathered about the
dining-room table, any number of per
sons may play-though, of course, the
play should be for fun and not for
money. Some gambling houses in st.
Louis where craps where played were
raided recently and the players and pro-
prietors were charged with violating the
law. They were defended on the
ground that the game was not gam
BILE, and so the introduction OF expert
testimony became necessary. Only one
witness seemed able to discuss the
game with clearness, and this is what
he said:
"Rolling the dice, is of course, a
and we assume it is an honest play.
In craps two dice are shot, and there
are eleven possible results. You can
throw 2, 8, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, II and 12,
and you can't throw anything else.
Now, under the rules of the game, if
upon your first throw you make z or II
you win. If you throw neither of these
sums, but turn up 4, S, 6, 8. 9 or 10, you
neither win nor lose, but have another
and another shot util you either throw
a 2, whereupon you lose, or repeat the
| first point you threw, whereupon you
| win. Now, look what a sucker game
| it is. There is one throw only
| by which you can make 2, two throws
| by which you can make 8, three throws
sum up 4, four throws 5, five throws 6,
six throws z, five throws 8, four throws
9, three throws 10, two throws il, and
one throw -. You understand what
mean that there are only that many
combinations of two dice that will
bring up those sums. On your first
throw, if you roll or II, you win.
| There are six ways you can roll z, and
two ways you can roll II, eight in all,
| and there are twenty-eight other ways
| in which the dice can fall in which
you will not get either or II, and
consequently not win on your first
play. That is, it is % to 8, or to 2,
that you will not win on the first dash
| out of the box, while there are in those
twenty-eight throws four possible
ones-one 2, two SIS and one IL
upon which you lose immedi-
ately. Leave that out of the figuring,
aud take it that the odds against your
winning on your first shot are to 2.
Say you throw 4. Under the rules OF
the game you then go on throwing un-
til you cast another 4, when you win,
or 7, whereupon you lose. Which
ever comes up first determines it. There
are three ways in which you can throw
| with two dice, and six ways in which
You can throw Z. Hence it is to 8,
or to that you will throw the first,
/ which loses for you. Ifyour point was
a or an on the first roll, the two
| best, then, as there are five ways to
| roll either of these sums and six ways
to roll 2. the odds are 6 to against you.
That is, if you will look at i. reasonab bly,,
and with the figures before you, when
| you play craps it is to that You will
not WIN Oh tHc nTst Foll, anu, accord
ing to your point, from to l to to
that you will not win afterward on any
other roll. don't know of any game
that looks like a game of chance where
the advantage in the betting is somuch
against the player"
Craps will continue to be played for
amusement, even though the chances
are against the player. But in all so
cial games there should be NO borrow.
ing of chips; that is certain to cause
| complaint. Let those who lose drop
out, and the ultimate winner receive a
! prize from the hostess.-Chicago Times,