Table Games Bring a calculator to the tables?

Hey guys!

I was wondering if anyone has ever thought about bringing a pocket calculator to the tables. Or maybe you have seen someone using one at the tables?

Honestly, i am a slot player. At least til my next trip where i really wanna spend most money on bj and craps. Being new in the craps game makes it hard to exactly know or calculate in my head how much a payout is. Sure, i am not talking about a come out roll but about odds. i heard about people getting payed out wrong...

So... What do you guys think? Would the casino be okay with it? Do you trust the dealers? Let me know!


Greetings from germany!

 

Croupiers are going to be a lot faster and a lot more accurate than you might be with a calculator.

 

This is 100% true. Not to mention, if you're new at it, I'd be willing to bet that they know the payouts better than you do, especially at craps. I've gotten one or two incorrect payouts in my life, and it's not something a calculator would have helped with; if a mistake happens, it's generally because they paid you out for the wrong bet and/or didn't realize you had a bet that needed to be paid, not because there was a math error. And blackjack is just 1:1 and 3:2, anyway, which hopefully you don't need a calculator for.

But to answer your question, the general rule is no electronic devices at the table. Calculators, presumably, are included.

 

Sure, We dont have to talk about BJ. That would be bad. I'd rather start learning 1st grade maths than bet money at a Casino..

So, what you guys tell me is that it does happen but very very rarely that they make ANY mistakes? Good to hear that. Ive never been at a craps table so i was just curious if mistakes happen often, esp when the game starts to get faster..

Thank you guys!

 

Let's put it this way: I've seen more mistakes made at the blackjack table than at the craps table. Those guys are really, really good.

 

At some of the low end joints (Casino Royale) you do have to keep a close eye on them, but usually because they don't place your bets correctly, or they don't pay out a bet that they should have. It's pretty rare that you get an incorrect payout amount. If you have a hot roll, and bets are pressed up considerably, sometimes it takes them a bit to figure out the correct payout as they typically deal with bets in the $10-25 range rather than the $100-500 range when the table is hot. However, while it will take them a bit longer, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be correct as it is closely watched and verified by the box man.

Honestly, there isn't much to remember. You get 7 bucks for every 6 dollars bet on 6 and 8 and for every 5 dollars bet on 5 and 9. You get 9 dollars for every 5 bucks on the 4 and 10. On your odds bet you will get true odds, so it will be double your money on 4 & 10, 1.5 times your bet on 5 & 9, and 6 to 5 on 6 & 8. If you play full odds it's pretty easy to know whether you get paid correctly on a 3x4x5x table because your payout will be the same dollar amount no matter what. For example on a $10 table, playing full odds, you should be paid $60 on your odds bet every time the point is made no matter what the point is.

 

The hard part isn’t the math. It’s knowing (or remembering) the payouts for the bets you intend to place. Once you know the payouts, you’ll know how much you should bet so as not to be short-paid. And if you bet “correctly” the math is really the simplest of arithmetic.

For example, let’s say you want to place the six and eight. The payout for these bets is 7:6. Therefore, in order for you not to be short-paid, you need to bet in multiples of 6. (If you bet $5, the payout would be $5.83 – they aren’t going to give you the change, you’ll just get $5 making this a very poor bet.) So once you know that you need to bet a multiple of six, the math is very easy. If you bet $6, you know the payout should be $7. If you bet $24, the payout should be $28 (you bet 4 ‘units’ of $6, so the payout should be 4 ‘units’ of $7).

Learn the payouts and know what you "should" bet. Then the math will take care of itself.

 

In Vegas yes. Go to your local Indian casino and give them anything but red chip play and watch them get more confused than a baby at a strip club.

 

You can't have a calculator out at the table.

 

that's really a non-issue. it rarely happens and even less is it actually any kind of a big deal. and the game moves way too fast for you to worry about trying to keep up with it as a newbie. just take the money they give you and move to the next roll.

 

I'll echo everyone else, just don't worry about it. Yes, they make mistakes, however I would say 80-90% of the mistakes I've seen in my life you can very easily notice without doing any math.

1) They just don't pay you. A good examples here would be a field bet that they just never noticed and you didn't get paid on. Knowing how much you get from here matters very little when all you need to understand is if you got paid or not.

2) They don't see the proper chips. They mistake a red+green for just 2 red. Again to me you shouldn't need a calculator here because even if they are wrong, it should be so obvious to you that the calculator shouldn't be needed.



I will also stress that mistakes happen very rarely. On average I might see one every 15-20 hours of play and I'm not counting just me. I'm counting everyone around me that I see that I notice something went wrong.

 

As others have mentioned, all of crap table pay-out problems have been with a bet not being paid at all because it was overlooked... and 100% of those have been hard-ways and C/E bets...and the few times it has happened to me, I just quietly mentioned to my croupier, "hard 8?" or "my yo is still up isn't it?", and they jumped all over it to be sure I got paid.
More important to remember your bet increments for place bets...you can certainly hurt yourself by betting "wrong", however, most good crap dealers will alert you when you place a $10 6 & 8, or just plain tell you to "you need another $4."

 

Wow, thank you guys! That really calms me down. And as mentioned, if they make a mistake it will be pretty obviously. I mean, calculating the payouts is a big part of their Job...

You guys are awesome! Very helpful...

 

I agree. If you spend enough time at the craps table, you will notice that there is a regimented and precise procedure as to how a dealer will pay off bets.

They don't skip around. They will start at one section and pay in sequence depending on what bets are on the table and where players are positioned around the table.

All dealers have to "audition" for their jobs, and I would imagine a craps dealer really has to be on it when he auditions. Watch them when they press or pay-off players bets. As the bets get larger and larger the way they handle the chips under the eagle-eye watch of the boxperson is simply amazing and a credit to their commitment to excellence....

 

What you should also find is that after a little bit of play you should have a pretty good idea of what most of your bets pay based on the wager - like if you always put $10 on the 8... versus if you try to confuse yourself by constantly changing your bets, especially to odd numbers, like if you put $17 on the 8 this time and next time you put $14 and then the time after that you put $23...

 

A piece of paper with the correct payouts would be almost as valuable.

 

Also legal. Because I'm guessing a calculator is technically illegal, but most likely they'd laugh at you and tell you to put it away.