A live casino craps table is usually run by a team of four people. The “boxman” sits in the center of the table next to the stack of casino chips. His job is to control the game, make sure dealers don’t make mistakes, and protect the casino and players from cheaters and thieves. Two delivery men stand to either side of the boxman. They collect bets when the casino wins and pay bets when the players win. They also place players’ chips for non-self-serve bets (ie players can’t place their chips on the layout for certain bets, so dealers do it for them). The “stickman” stands in the center of the table in front of the boxman and calls the game. The stickman also retrieves and controls the dice after each roll.
A good stickman can add tons of fun to the game. If he’s good, he’ll use a large vocabulary of dice lingo to add humor and make the game more interesting. For example, if a die bounces off the table and lands on a player’s chip rack (that is, the wooden shelf around the perimeter of the table where players keep their chips), the stickman is required to say: ” Don’t roll”, and then retrieves the die for the boxman to inspect. The stickman then pushes the dice with his stick towards the shooter to get him to roll again.
A good stickman adds animated jokes to the game to make it more fun for the players. After all, the more fun players have, the better their mood, which increases the likelihood that players will place more bets (good for the casino) and tip dealers more (good for the team). To live the game, instead of boringly saying, “Don’t roll,” a good stickman might say in a loud, rhythmic voice, “Die in the woods, don’t roll right,” or “I can’t read her, she’s in the cedar.” The game is much more fun when the stickman spouts all kinds of slang and dice rhymes.
Over the years, dealers have come up with a lot of cute jargon for the results of a roll of the dice. The following are the ones I commonly hear when gaming. I suspect there are so many I haven’t heard of. Listen to them next time you play. The number 2 (that is, a 1 on one die and a 1 on the other) are called “aces.” Aces are more commonly known as “snake eyes”. They are also called “eyeballs.”
The number 11 (that is, a 6 on one die and a 5 on the other) is called “yo”, which is short for “yo-leven” (with an emphasis on the “yo”). The stickman says “yo-leven” to distinguish “eleven” from “seven” so players don’t misinterpret the call.
Number 3 is an “Australian me”. When a 3 appears (ie, a 1 on one die and a 2 on the other), the opposite number (ie, the number at the bottom of the dice) is 11, which is “down.” On dice, the 1 is opposite the 6, the 2 is opposite the 5, and the 3 is opposite the 4. So, when a 1-2 combination is shown, the opposite “down” side (i.e., the bottom of the dice) is 6 -5.
The number 12 is called “trucks” or “midnight”.
The 3-3 combination (ie a Hard 6) is sometimes called the “Brooklyn Woods.”
The numbers 2, 3 and 12 are called “craps”. Note that when a shooter establishes a point and then rolls a 7, it’s called a “seven out.” A seven out is not a dice game. Remember, a die is the number 2, 3, or 12, so when the shooter rolls a 7, don’t show your inexperience by yelling in disappointment, “Oh man, he screwed up.” The correct whine is, “Oh man, he made seven.”
The number 8 is sometimes referred to as the “Decatur Eight”.
Number 9 is sometimes referred to as “Jesse James” (he was shot with a .45 and the 4-5 dice combination is a 9). The number 9 is also called “Study 54” when the 5-4 dice combination is shown (the 5-4 combination is a 9).
The 4-4 combination (ie a hard 4) is sometimes called “Little Joe.”
The 3-2 combination is sometimes called “OJ” (OJ’s jersey number was 32).
The 5-5 combination (ie a Hard 10) is called “the queen’s delight”.
Combination 1-4 is occasionally called “one-eyed chicken in the brush”. I have no idea what that means, and neither does the dealer when I asked him. He said he learned it years before from another dealer and has repeated it ever since.
Hearing Stickman bark funny dice lingo makes the game more fun. It also makes players interact more, which generally increases their enjoyment. Imagine the shooter rolling the dice and they show a combination of 1-4. Imagine the stickman softly saying, “Five.” Now instead, imagine the stickman yelling, “One-eyed chicken in the weeds!” The players laugh and begin to ask each other: “What did he say?” Your questions then lead to more conversation and interaction, adding to the fun for everyone. The casino values a good stickman because happy customers are more likely to be repeat customers.