Gaming Guru

Did Using the 5-Count Cut My Comps?

Frank:

Just got back from Harvey's in Lake Tahoe and wanted to let you know how disappointed I was in my comps playing the 5 -Count. The pit boss told me at the end of my trip that the casino does not take into account any odds for comps. I played the Supersystem and was taking odds.

Have you heard of this?

I guess I shouldn't be disappointed too much since the 5-Count saved me a bunch of money!

Anyway, just wanted to let you know!

Charles

Dear Charles:

Almost no casino in the country counts the odds bet at craps since the casino has no edge over that bet.

The 5-Count probably had nothing to do with the amount you received in comps. Your Pass/Don't Pass; Come/Don't Come (Supersystem) would result in the casino simply counting the total amount of those bets and basing your comps accordingly.

Let us say you bet $10 on the Pass and $10 on the Don't Pass. That is a total of $20 facing a house edge of approximately 1.4 percent. That means for every one of these bets, your expectation is to lose 28 cents. If you bet three of these on every roll of the dice after the point, you might be on approximately 33 percent to 44 percent of the decisions. So let's say you face 39 combined decisions.

Let us say that you actually see 100 decisions per hour. That means you lose 0.84 X 100 X 0.39 which equals a loss of $32.76 per hour. The casino will return between 30 and 40 percent in comps. That means you will get between $9.83 and $13.10 per hour in comps. A four hour comping period would give you between $39.32 and $52.40 per day. Since you stayed a few days, your room was probably fully or partially comped. Most casinos will subtract the cost of the room from your comps. What's left over can go towards food.

You received what anyone would receive betting $20 per decision. However, the 5-Count actually saved you 57 percent of your expected loss because it reduces the decisions by that percentage; so in reality you received far more in comps than a regular player. That's where you saved your money. So instead of an expected loss of $39.32 or $52.40, your expected loss was only $16.91 or $22.53. Not bad at all.

For your great letter I am giving you a free week on my members-only private web site at www.goldentouchcraps.com. We have over 5,000 members and the discussions are interesting, educational and fun.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete