Editor’s Note: I’ve known Frank Scoblete for many years. We were speakers at many gambling conferences and jamborees, and we also played and dined in Las Vegas. Not too many folks know that Frank paid for his son’s college tuition from his winnings at blackjack (how’s that for playing under pressure). He was, and still is, a very good blackjack player, who walks the talk after spending countless hours, weeks, days, and even months in casinos, beating them at their own game. Frank is also a very gifted writer and speaker. If you read any of his countless books, or been to one of his seminars, you know exactly what I mean (if you haven’t, you don’t know what you are missing). Frank also taught me a thing or two about dice control (skeptic as I was, he made me a believer). Everything that Frank does, he does first-class. He is also probably the most knowledgeable person alive about all the casino games. He has to be after writing books on slots, video poker, roulette, Spanish 21, Let it Ride, Three Card Poker, blackjack, craps, and a ton more games. He’s also got guts. Would you sit down and write a book about your life? I didn’t think so, but Frank did, and it’s a great book ( The Virgin Kiss and Other Adventures). I’m fortunate that Frank has been with the BJI almost since its inception. His wit and comments about the casino scene and blackjack in AC has been right on the money. Get read to read another witty article by "King Scobe," as he discusses the Godfather of dice control, and the many, humbling contributions that he has made to casino gambling.

Happy centennial BJ Insider! One hundred issues, wow! Your achievement is enviable, that’s for sure.

Ubber editor Henry Tamburin has asked me to give a rundown of some of the things I’ve actually done in gambling, and also to tell you what a lasting contribution I have made in the field of craps and dice control. Now, other gambling writers have also contributed knowledge in the area of craps and dice control too – I am not alone; for example, my partner Dominator, perhaps the best dice controller in the world today, has helped to refine the technique so we can handle any type of craps table in the casinos.

But there are two people who did it all from creation to execution – and I just reported on their findings and achievements, and helped push the development of their techniques.

I wish I could take credit for the wonderful advantage-play method of dice control – I wish I had discovered it. But that credit goes to the Captain, my mentor, who is now 86 years old. He’s the one who first came up with the way to beat the modern casino craps table with (what he called) a rhythmic roll. His late friend, the woman known as "The Arm" was the greatest dice controller I ever saw, bar none.

Like the great observers in science (think Charles Darwin), the Captain realized that if one could manipulate the dice it just might be possible to change the probabilities of the game even with those foam rubber pyramids at the end of the table that you had to hit with the dice. He developed a wonderful throw – the throw we teach in my Golden Touch Dice Control classes – and with this throw and smart betting practices, he won eight figures in his career.

Of course he did have help – an amazing woman "The Arm." She was the Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio of dice control. But the Captain was, and is, THE MAN, because he put it all together.

I think I have made some pretty big contributions to craps and dice control, yes (oh, so I am not that humble), but I have also done some interesting things in other gambling areas. Here are my Lucky 7 achievements as I praise myself – if a book is associated with any of these I’ve put it in parenthesis (since I always try to promote my books, wink, wink).

1. Dice control (Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution!)
2. The 5-Count (Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution!)
3. Bringing skinny Dan Pronovost’s epic contribution to blackjack (Speed Count) to a massive audience through my book Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution!
4. Creation of the "Fat Fingers" advantage-play method in blackjack. (Just known by three other players, including someone from this newsletter. I’m keeping this one to myself as no casino has ever thought of it before. Mum may always be the word on this one.)
5. My wife, the beautiful A.P., and I were a great blackjack team in the late 1980s and through the 1990s. Had many amazing (and scary) adventures, some of which I have written about. A.P. was a great card counter and I blame her for the fact that I gained 70 pounds during my playing career! I couldn’t resist all those gourmet dinners.
6. I’ve been banned for craps in one whole state and in several Vegas joints – actually had one casino manager jump across a craps table to ban me (I think the guy was foaming at the mouth) – and I have also had many interesting run ins with some of the nuttier casino employees: a gun placed in my back in downtown Las Vegas at a blackjack table by a monstrously large steroidal security guard; a pit boss following me down the strip from a casino (okay, okay, so my spread was one to 60!) which ended with me ready to punch his face in; two whores trying to break down the door to my room at Treasure Island until they realized they had the wrong room. They were scary looking creatures and I always wondered what happened to the guy who hired them. Add another hundred or so adventures to these three.
7. I guess selling over two million copies of my various books, VHS and audio tapes, and DVDs is a good achievement. I write about all the games, of course, and also about all aspects of the casino world and my adventures.

So to all the readers of BJ Insider – let’s make it to 200 issues! I am privileged to be in the company of such fine gambling writers.

Note: You can read Frank’s description of watching the Captain roll 147 times in an Atlantic City before sevening out (a world record, by the way), as well as other interesting (and hilarious) stories about Frank’s life inside and outside the casino, by reading his latest book, The Virgin Kiss and Other Adventures. It’s available at a discount in our BJI store. Click here.