Do Professional Craps Players Exist?

Professional gamblers exist in certain types of gambling. Here are the main ways that people use to make a living through gambling:

• Card counting
• Hole carding
• Poker
• Sports betting
• Esports betting

As you’ll notice, craps doesn’t appear on this list. Most people consider craps to be a game of pure luck.

However, a subset of gamblers claim that you can make long-term profits with real money craps. They suggest that you’ll beat this game by tossing the dice in a certain manner.

Is craps really beatable, though? I’ll discuss how this game can supposedly be beaten below along with if professional craps players truly exist.

Two Proposed Ways for Beating Craps

Two alleged methods exist for consistently winning in craps — one that’s a skill-based technique and another that’s actually illegal. You can read the finer points behind both of these methods below

Controlled Shooting

Controlled shooting (a.k.a. dice control) refers to a method for holding and tossing the dice in a specific way when playing craps for real money.

The first part to dice control is gripping the dice in a certain manner (a.k.a. setting). The goal with setting is to expose desired combinations while hiding undesired numbers.

Here’s an example of a popular dice set that hides combinations involving seven:

• Arrange the dice so the threes form a V-shape.
• This set hides numbers that form a seven.
• Meanwhile, it exposes plenty of non-seven combinations.

After gripping the dice in the proper manner, you want to toss them in a way that makes them lightly hit the back wall. Your aim is to reduce kickback off the wall and, thus, eliminate some randomness.

Of course, pulling this feat off is easier said than done. You’re hurling the dice over 10 feet down the table and towards a pyramid-patterned wall.

Controlled shooting experts claim that you should practice for several hours per day. If you keep up the practice routine for several months, then you’ll allegedly become a skilled shooter.

Given that casinos don’t let you practice on their tables, you’ll need to either purchase a regulation craps table or rig one up. The latter is decidedly the cheaper option.

Experts purport that if you do everything just right, you’ll reduce your Sevens to Rolls Ratio (SRR). The average player has a 6:1 SRR, meaning they throw a seven around one out of every six times.

By changing this figure to just 6.3:1—meaning you’re rolling a seven around one out of every 6.3 times—you’ll gain an edge over the house. You’ll win even bigger profits by pushing your SRR to 6.4:1 or better.

Dice Sliding

Casinos require that you toss dice down the table to produce random rolls. They prefer that you also hit the back wall with tosses, although this stipulation isn’t necessarily required every time.

The concept here is to reduce any skill element involved. When rolling two small cubes 10+ feet down the table, you’ll assuredly produce a random roll.

However, you can considerably reduce this randomness by sliding dice. When done just right, this technique prevents dice from tumbling over into a random combination.

Dice sliding begins with you sitting the desired combination face up. If you want to roll an eight, for example, then you’ll put fours facing up on both dice.

You’ll also need somebody to distract the dealer and other personnel. After all, casinos don’t allow you to slide the dice.

Once the crew is distracted, you slide the dice down towards the back wall. With enough skill, the dice won’t tumble over and will show the exact combination you want.

Challenges to Beating Craps

If you love craps, then you’ll no doubt be interested beating the game consistently. As you’ll see below, though, serious obstacles exist on the path to craps winnings.

Controlled Shooting Is a Scam

In theory, dice control seems like a valid way to beat craps. It relies on practicing and perfecting your toss.

Those who tout controlled shooting claim that it’s similar to a baseball player or a basketball player honing their craft. After all, professional athletes spend years improving their skills.

The problem, though, is that casinos don’t care if you set dice. The only time they’ll say something is if you take too long and hold up the game.

As you may know, casinos are meticulous about rooting out card counters and other skilled players. They take every step possible to ensure that professional gamblers don’t take advantage of them.

Why then do you never hear about controlled shooters being thrown out of the casino?

Because dice control doesn’t actually work!

Nobody outside of those hawking controlled-shooting seminars claims that this technique works. Casinos don’t believe in it either.

Unlike with card counting, no math proves that controlled shooting works. You merely need to rely on the word of those who make money pushing this fantasy.

In short, dice control is a clever scam devised by certain experts to make money. It doesn’t matter if you spend months or years practicing this technique because you’re still going to experience random tosses.

Dice Sliding Is Illegal

Dice sliding actually does work. In fact, a couple of gamblers once made $700,000 with this technique (more on this story later).

By sliding the dice on the table, instead of rolling them, you have a better chance of producing a desired combination. This method takes out the complete randomness of the dice bouncing off the back wall.

Of course, casinos are fully aware that sliding dice works. In contrast to controlled shooters, they actually watch for dice sliders.

You can of course try sliding dice down the table when the dealer is watching. However, they’ll sharply warn you that the dice must be rolled rather than slid.

This is why cheaters take the extra step of having an accomplice distract the dealer, boxman, and/or stickman. They know that they won’t get away with sliding dice otherwise.

Such an elaborate plot goes outside the bounds of advantage play and into blatant cheating. Therefore, casinos reserve the right to prosecute dice sliders in a court of law.

Casinos Can Catch You Later

As can be seen, dice sliding is the only real way to win in craps. The downside—and it’s a big one—is that this technique is illegal.

The casino won’t call the cops if you slide dice in front of them one time. Instead, they’ll probably discount the turn and warn you not to do it again.

However, they will get law enforcement involved if you’re blatantly cheating. The latter includes using somebody to distract the dealer while you’re sliding the dice.

Assuming you pull off this ruse perfectly, then you can make serious profits without getting caught…at least initially.

Casinos run the numbers to look for anomalies. If they see that they’re suddenly losing big money through a certain game, they’ll investigate the matter further.

This means going back and looking at the surveillance footage. If you’re sliding dice, then trained surveillance operators should pick it up.

How Much Can You Win Through Dice Sliding?

As explained before, dice control won’t make you any extra money versus rolling the dice randomly. Therefore, you earn the same amount with controlled shooting as you would when tossing the dice like normal.

On the other hand, dice sliding can result in big profits. You could easily earn six figures with this technique if you don’t get caught.

Professional gamblers Leo Fernandez and Veronica Dabul did exactly this in 2011. The Argentinians worked dice sliding to perfection and won $700,000 at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Dabul distracted the dealer. Meanwhile, Fernandez set up the dice and slid them down the table while the croupier wasn’t paying attention.

The duo slid dice at the Wynn for a month and seemingly got away with their caper. However, Wynn officials reviewed the tapes and figured out what Dabul and Fernandez did.

They had the pair arrested. Fernandez and Dabul were forced to pay back all the money in the form of fines.

Long story short, you can accumulate big winnings through dice sliding. The biggest skill, though, is getting away with the money afterward.

Is Being a Craps “Pro” Worth the Drama?

Whether you consider a dice slider to be a pro is subjective. Casinos and law enforcement, though, see such players to be outright cheaters.

Therefore, sliding days isn’t just about perfecting the technique. You also need a detailed scheme to avoid getting caught.

You might initially have some luck in avoiding detection when sliding dice. As long as your accomplice is good at distracting the dealer, then you stand a better chance of not being noticed.

However, casinos can always go back and review surveillance footage after taking on heavy losses. They’re much more likely to catch you in this event.

I’d highly suggest not trying to become a dice slider. If you get caught, then you’ll be looking at serious fines and even jail time.

And controlled shooting doesn’t even work. That said, dice control isn’t a legitimate a route towards becoming a professional gambler.

Conclusion

Craps pros don’t exist, at least in the sense of an advantage gambler who legally makes profits. The two main reasons why professional craps players don’t exist include:

• Controlled shooting doesn’t work.
• Sliding dice is illegal and, thus, considered cheating.

In one case, you have a scam technique that doesn’t actually produce profits. With the other, you can win serious money but also take on considerable legal risk.

Dice sliding is your only option for guaranteeing long-term craps profits. It’s not a good option either when considering that you’re basically cheating rather than winning legally.

Fortunately, craps does feature a low house edge if you stick with pass line (1.41% house advantage) and don’t pass line (1.36%) bets. You stand a solid chance of winning by continually placing these wagers.