Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Bust-Out Joints

Fulano’s father played the saxophone in bands when he was in his 20′s. That was during the Great Depression and Prohibition, when one of the only good-paying and regular jobs was work in speakeasy’s. Fulano’s father worked in several such joints in Akron, Ohio. The speakeasy’s and gin joints had gambling, which was also very profitable. The games were all rigged. The most common way to rig a crap game is not to use loaded dice. Instead, shills and ringers were used to fleece the marks. Here is how it works:

The game of craps looks complicated, but it is not. A player throws a pair of dice, which has 36 possible combinations. If the player throws a 7 or 11 on the very first first toss, he wins. If the player throws a 2,3 or 12 on the first throw, he loses. A 2,3 or 12 is called “craps,” hence the name of the game. If the player tosses any other combination on the first throw (4,5,6,8,9 or 10) this is called his “point”. In order to win after getting a “point,” the players keeps throwing the dice until he either throws his “point” again or he throws a 7. So, if he tosses the dice and they come up with his point before he tosses a 7, he wins. If he tosses a 7 first, he loses. That is the game.

This is what a crap table looks like: It is a long, rectangular table with high sides all around. The player stands on one end, and tosses the dice so that they tumble and hit the opposite side and come to rest on the far side of the table from where he is standing.

In a bust-out joint all the players on one end of the crap table are shills who work for the house and make bets, pretending to be players. They crowd around and elbow out anybody who is not a shill, thereby preventing anyone not a shill from standing on their end of the crap table. The “marks” play from the other end of the table.

The table is long and narrow, and a person tossing the dice from one end cannot see the combination on the dice down on the other end. The stickman, who stands near the middle of the crap table calls out the number tossed for everybody to hear. He then pulls in the dice with the stick and delivers them to the player for the next toss.

Whenever a “mark” gets a point, he has to keep rolling until his point appears again and he wins, or he rolls a 7 and he loses. In a bust-out joint, after a “mark” gets a point, the stickman will call out “7″ on his next toss — no matter what the real number was. All the shills down at the end where the dice landed will groan in disappointment, and reaffirm the stickman’s call. The “mark” loses, as he thinks he threw a 7. In reality, the “mark” was the only real player at the table and he was ripped-off.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

The Art Of Dr. Seuss, Boarded: A New Pirate Adventure, Wild Horses Festival

Events December 26-December 30, 2024
Next Article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”

Fulano’s father played the saxophone in bands when he was in his 20′s. That was during the Great Depression and Prohibition, when one of the only good-paying and regular jobs was work in speakeasy’s. Fulano’s father worked in several such joints in Akron, Ohio. The speakeasy’s and gin joints had gambling, which was also very profitable. The games were all rigged. The most common way to rig a crap game is not to use loaded dice. Instead, shills and ringers were used to fleece the marks. Here is how it works:

The game of craps looks complicated, but it is not. A player throws a pair of dice, which has 36 possible combinations. If the player throws a 7 or 11 on the very first first toss, he wins. If the player throws a 2,3 or 12 on the first throw, he loses. A 2,3 or 12 is called “craps,” hence the name of the game. If the player tosses any other combination on the first throw (4,5,6,8,9 or 10) this is called his “point”. In order to win after getting a “point,” the players keeps throwing the dice until he either throws his “point” again or he throws a 7. So, if he tosses the dice and they come up with his point before he tosses a 7, he wins. If he tosses a 7 first, he loses. That is the game.

This is what a crap table looks like: It is a long, rectangular table with high sides all around. The player stands on one end, and tosses the dice so that they tumble and hit the opposite side and come to rest on the far side of the table from where he is standing.

In a bust-out joint all the players on one end of the crap table are shills who work for the house and make bets, pretending to be players. They crowd around and elbow out anybody who is not a shill, thereby preventing anyone not a shill from standing on their end of the crap table. The “marks” play from the other end of the table.

The table is long and narrow, and a person tossing the dice from one end cannot see the combination on the dice down on the other end. The stickman, who stands near the middle of the crap table calls out the number tossed for everybody to hear. He then pulls in the dice with the stick and delivers them to the player for the next toss.

Whenever a “mark” gets a point, he has to keep rolling until his point appears again and he wins, or he rolls a 7 and he loses. In a bust-out joint, after a “mark” gets a point, the stickman will call out “7″ on his next toss — no matter what the real number was. All the shills down at the end where the dice landed will groan in disappointment, and reaffirm the stickman’s call. The “mark” loses, as he thinks he threw a 7. In reality, the “mark” was the only real player at the table and he was ripped-off.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SDSU hangs on for win against Fresno St

Next Article

100 Point Basketball Game

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader