There are several components to dice control, and all of them must be mastered to obtain an edge at the craps table. The Dice Control 101 series will cover them all. In this installment, where and how to stand will be covered.

To review from the last installment: Ideally, we would like to glue the dice together in such a way that the 7 would never show. Since the casinos frown on such a tactic, we try to simulate the dice being glued by putting backspin on the dice. We want the dice to spin together as if they are glued together – spinning at exactly the same speed, touching or nearly touching each other the entire time. We want them to land together, hit the back wall together, gently bounce off the back wall together, and die together very near the back wall.

If you are a pitcher in baseball, do you think you would have a better chance of striking out the batter throwing from second base or from the pitcher’s mound? The closer you are to home plate, the better your chance to succeed in your battle against the batter. Therefore, you want to pitch from the pitcher’s mound – not from second base.

If you are a golfer, would you rather have a five-foot putt or a 20-foot putt? The five-foot putt is obviously easier to sink in the cup than a 20-foot putt.

The same holds true for dice control. The closer you are to the back wall, the better it is for your throw. By standing as close to the back wall as possible, the least amount of energy is needed to throw the dice and hit the back wall. The less energy you impart on the dice, the less energy they have to bounce and randomize when they land and hit the back wall. The further away from the back wall you are, the more difficult it is to control the dice. If our throw is just a little bit off – one die rotating just slightly faster than the other, for example, then the farther they travel, the more they are off. If one die is travelling slightly slower than the other die, the distance separating them increases the farther they travel.

If you shoot from the end of the table to the other back wall, you are maximizing the distance and energy required for your throw and creating problems for your control of the dice. You have to impart far more energy into the dice to get them to the far back wall which requires more effort be put on the dice to slow them down before they hit the back wall. Utilizing all the extra energy makes it harder to control the outcome of your throw. Combine the extra energy with the magnifying effect of extra distance on any imperfections in your throw and you can see the value of standing as close as possible to the back wall.

Keeping the physics of the game in mind, Golden Touch recommends standing at the two positions closest to the stickman. The two positions closest to the right of the stickman are called Stick Right One (SR1 – which is the closest to the stickman), and Stick Right Two (SR2). The two positions closest to the stickman on the left are called Stick Left One (SL1 – closest to the stickman) and Stick Left Two (SL2). These are the closest positions to the back wall. In general, it is better to play at shorter tables rather than longer tables as the distance to the back wall is also shorter.

Unless there is a valid physical reason, we recommend that right-handers stand at Stick Left (SL1 or SL2) and left-handers stand at Stick Right (SR1 or SR2). This allows for an easy, less tiring, pendulum swing, which allows for the release of the dice to be as close as possible to the back wall. Only if these positions feel completely uncomfortable should you stand on the opposite side of the stick. Give yourself at least a few weeks of practice before you decide you can’t handle our first recommendation since this is the best way for most shooters to throw.

Once you become adept at shooting from one side, you may be tempted to throw from the opposite side. Don’t do it. Being able to throw from both sides is not a badge of honor. Using a baseball analogy again – not too many baseball greats could hit from both sides of the plate. The same holds true for dice shooters. Master shooting from your best position and forget about shooting from the other side.