The craps table is the world in microcosm. You can learn more about a person in five minutes at a craps table than you can in a two-hour conversation. The next time you play craps, watch your fellow players for a few minutes before you get too involved in the game yourself.

The “compulsive” player places all the numbers and has them working for him on every roll. He might start with “$32 across the board” or “$160 across the board.” When a number hits, he presses the bet. For example, if 5 hits, he wins $7 but bets $5 more on the 5 and takes only $2 profit. If 5 hits gain, he presses up to $15 or $20. If the shooter sevens out. The compulsive player comes right back with an across-the-board bet on the next shooter. The compulsive player must have action on every roll. He makes the wrong bet, place bets give up too high an advantage to the casino, and he over bets, by pressing up too much of his profits.

The “wrong” bettor bets with the house, on the Don’t Pass. He lays the odds that the shooter will not make his point. If the shooter makes two or three passes in a row, the wrong bettor lays off and waits for the next shooter. Oftentimes, the wrong bettor is ignored or shunned by the other players. They don’t like him because he bets against the shooter. But the wrong bettor is a smart player. He is playing near the casino minimum of 0.8% advantage.

The “timid” player puts one chip on the pass line. You know he doesn’t understand the game because he doesn’t make an odds bet. He makes no come bets or any other bets. He patiently waits for the shooter to make his point or miss out. Other players may have won hundreds of dollars on a hot roll, but this doesn’t faze the timid bettor. He happily picks up his single chip if the shooter makes his point.

The “high roller” is just the opposite of the timid player. Many of the high rollers in Las Vegas are Texas oilmen wearing cowboy hats and fancy boots. They play with stacks of $100 chips, betting uncounted handfuls of chips on the pass line and come, and always taking the odds. They are a stickman’s delight, as they love the proposition …

If gambling is seen as a vice, why isn’t capitalism? Both essentially play the game of chance, although with different kinds of dice. Well, there are several reasons why certain kinds of risk are better of than the risks we take when we gamble. Risks, for instance, that capitalism brings. Gambling is a zero sum game, while capitalism creates opportunities and advantages that others can use and society can benefit. Stock markets are essentially gambling as it represents chance plays on price fluctuations.

But it’s also different from a casino because market systems in stocks provide liquidity. Our forecast of the future is even a gamble, stock and currencies change, which allow risk-averse businessmen to evade these fluctuations. In addition, motivation for gambling and risks in business has differences: The businessman concentrates on what’s ahead of him; the gambler is concentrated on the present. Innovation is the tool for a businessman, calculation is for the gambler at best. The businessman works to fill in the need of others, the gambler works for him alone. So maybe capitalism and gambling pose the same game with chance, but with these reasons in mind, let’s just say gambling is the dark side of capitalism.

Before, we used gambling as a means to socialize and meet and challenge peoples from different walks of life. This often occurred as late as the last decade when table games were such a hit. There were blackjack, roulette, poker, and the baccarat. These are the games where we deal with differences. But now the faces change, we are now looking at our reflection, emanated by the mirror of slot machines. What we are looking at are icons that we desperately hope would align each other. We are looking at digital numbers perched just above our heads, and these numbers speak of what gambling has become or have descended into. We gamble nowadays solipsistically and autisically – a subtly dangerous game where we only think of are the numbers and not the consequences behind it. It is a mindless game and because of it, it is addictive. Slot machines are growing at a terrible rate. We are now gambling alone, which is making impaired gamblers so hard to find to provide treatment.

If you take out the social aspect of gambling, what you’re left with is total risk taking. The only benefit you get really is when you win. …

The craps table is the world in microcosm. You can learn more about a person in five minutes at a craps table than you can in a two-hour conversation. The next time you play craps, watch your fellow players for a few minutes before you get too involved in the game yourself.

The “compulsive” player places all the numbers and has them working for him on every roll. He might start with “$32 across the board” or “$160 across the board.” When a number hits, he presses the bet. For example, if 5 hits, he wins $7 but bets $5 more on the 5 and takes only $2 profit. If 5 hits gain, he presses up to $15 or $20. If the shooter sevens out. The compulsive player comes right back with an across-the-board bet on the next shooter. The compulsive player must have action on every roll. He makes the wrong bet, place bets give up too high an advantage to the casino, and he over bets, by pressing up too much of his profits.

The “wrong” bettor bets with the house, on the Don’t Pass. He lays the odds that the shooter will not make his point. If the shooter makes two or three passes in a row, the wrong bettor lays off and waits for the next shooter. Oftentimes, the wrong bettor is ignored or shunned by the other players. They don’t like him because he bets against the shooter. But the wrong bettor is a smart player. He is playing near the casino minimum of 0.8% advantage.

The “timid” player puts one chip on the pass line. You know he doesn’t understand the game because he doesn’t make an odds bet. He makes no come bets or any other bets. He patiently waits for the shooter to make his point or miss out. Other players may have won hundreds of dollars on a hot roll, but this doesn’t faze the timid bettor. He happily picks up his single chip if the shooter makes his point.

The “high roller” is just the opposite of the timid player. Many of the high rollers in Las Vegas are Texas oilmen wearing cowboy hats and fancy boots. They play with stacks of $100 chips, betting uncounted handfuls of chips on the pass line and come, and always taking the odds. They are a stickman’s delight, as they love the proposition …