Unless I feel like throwing away my money when I visit a casino -- which isn't all that frequent, really -- I usually walk straight over to the blackjack tables. I get blackjack. I know when to hit and when to stand, and when to double down. I also understand that as table games go, it has among the best odds on the floor.
Only craps, I think, offers better odds, but I've been scared to play a game I completely don't understand. That is, until last night. Now, thanks to our friends at Potawatomi Casino, I get it. Not entirely, but enough to give it a try in a real-world scenario.
Potawatomi is doing something pretty cool these days, offering free table game training sessions on weekday mornings. They've actually been teaching these glasses in poker, blackjack, baccarat, pai gow, roulette and craps for a while, but only recently have they made a push to let people know about it.
What's particularly interesting about the craps class is that it's taught by their own Gordon Robinson, who is not only a casino manager but is also a very skilled and experienced player, himself.
We sat down for a 90-minute training session with Robinson, and even though craps is one of the most complicated table games out there, he broke it down in manageable bits, offering strategies, tips and tricks to avoid losing your shirt. And, he explained, if you manage your bets, you can even have fun and win a little -- or a lot.
I appreciated Robinson's teaching style, too. For a 35-year veteran who knows so much about craps and its zillions of betting combinations, he jumped from beginner tutorials (how to properly roll the dice, for example) to complex math and odds (and what side bets should never, ever be placed). We walked through different examples and scenarios, and when I went home tried out some free craps games online, I had a general sense of what's going on.
Obviously, I'll need much more practice before I'm willing to throw my hat in the ring at Potawatomi or in Vegas, but a thrilling, yet intimidating game just got a lot more approachable.
Now, if only I can convince our friends at the casino to give me a few chips to work with for real ...
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
