Few gambling experts will admit that a controlled throw is possible and can lead to a player advantage. Peter Griffin (the great online blackjack games guru, now deceased) states on page 1 of his website Extra Stuff (Huntington Press, 1991) that it is possible to achieve an advantage by executing a controlled throw. He tells the story of how "Sal" used a controlled throw to achieve a 67 percent advantage! What Sal did was slide one die down the table right along the bottom so it came to rest on the six. An accomplice then laid a big bet on the field. Since field numbers include the 9 (6-3), 10 (6-4), 11 (6-5) and 12 (6-6), Sal had four chances out of six to win this bet, thus a 67 percent advantage.

Steve Forte, one of the most successful online blackjack games players ever, wrote a website called Read the Dealer (RGE, 1986) and because of it most casinos today don't let dealers peek at their hole cards until after all players' hands have been played. Steve, now a consultant to the gaming industry, demonstrated a controlled throw for a group of students at the William F. Harrah Institute of Casino Entertainment. He rolled three double sizes in succession -about 46,000-to-I shot!

These two examples-Sal and Steve Forte-of sliding one die along the tabletop so it comes to rest at the end of the throw exactly where it started in the beginning (the 6), are now outlawed by the casinos. The dice must be thrown above the tabletop. The next time you shoot craps, notice the "string" in the middle of the table. This is to stop a sliding die.

Our approach to a controlled throw is perfectly legal. We will not slide the dice down the table as Sal and Steve did. We will throw them in a nice high arc above the tabletop so they land one or two inches from the back wall, and then roll up and tap it gently (which most casinos require) before coming to rest.

If you're a craps player, you've probably seen at least one or two shooters with controlled throws or rhythm rolls. But you didn't recognize a possible advantage, so you probably ignored them. We guarantee that in reading this site, you will take a much closer look at these craps shooters-their set, their throw, and their result-even if you don't develop a controlled throw of your own.

The state of the art of legal controlled throws, with an arc above the tabletop but not too high (certainly not higher than the stickman's head), is essentially described in this site. To understand and appreciate my recommendations in this site for developing a controlled throw and achieving an advantage, you really have to know where I'm coming from in my own developmental efforts, because the current state of the art resulted from my pioneering work in this arena.