THE LEONARD BENSON COMPANY

Here’s a new progression for the craps tables. I call it the “horizontal press.” I’d like to present the basic concept. Unlike baccarat and blackjack, craps is a multiple bet game. It is not unusual to have three or four bets on the table with each roll of the dice. This “multiple bet investment” puts a great stress on our daily buy-ins. Moreover, with so many numbers to play, it is hard to “predict”w which number may take off at any given time. Just when you built up the 6 and 8, the 5s and 9s come pouring out! It can drive you crazy.

But I think I have a solution. The more I use this “horizontal” progression, the more I am convinced it is the only way to play this multiple bet game. Let me show you how it works.

The classic way to progress a bet in craps is to press it “vertically.” For illustration, let’s say we have $60 place bets on the 6 and 8 and a $50 place bet on the 9. If the shooter threw a 6, the accepted way to increase this bet would be to press the 6 up to $120. The $70 win on the 6 is invested solely on the 6. We pressed this one bet up “vertically” to a higher limit. We now have 5 chances out of 36 to win this pressed bet and 6 chances to lose to the seven.

But the problem with this classic vertical progression is that the player is now dependent on this one number to make a nice score. As mentioned earlier, there are 5 other box numbers besides the 6 that can easily hit in any short term run. What if they start hitting? Do we keep pressing them as well without collecting? It might take 4 or 5 rolls of the dice just to vertically press two or three numbers. After that, we still need a couple of more hits to cash in on these bets.

Bottom line, when we press our bets vertically, we are dependent on REPEAT NUMBERS to cash in. It can take many rolls of the dice to vertically press 4 inside numbers to higher units. If these numbers don’t repeat our progression is wasted.

However, I propose a new progression. Instead of investing our win vertically, why not invest it horizontally! Take the above illustration. With a $70 win on the 6, why not add $15 and press the 6 and 8 $30 each and the 9 $25, giving us a $90 6 and 8 and a $75 9. Now instaed of just one number with 5 chances to win, I have three numbers with 14 chances to win!

But it gets better, because with the horizontal press you do not have to wait for repoeat numbers to cash in. With every hit on these place bets we are going to collect and use a reduction progression. We are going to turn this one “horizontal investment” into win after win after win!

So, with a win on the $90 8, let’s say, I collect $105 and reduce it to $30, collecting a total of $165. If the 9 should hit, I do the same thing. With the horizontal press, you do not need repeat numbers to cash in on this position. From my experience on the craps table, we’ll be lucky if we get two or three more rolls of the dice once we progress our bets. Until next time.