Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     Last night, I saw a video uploaded by Hawaii Craps Shooters (and BTW, they put out awesome content). I am really excited about this particular one, for it is really informative about dice shooting. Bryan's special guest, Howard Rock 'N' Roll goes into how important the toss is to dice influence (he, like Beau Parker, the Dice Coach, does not call it dice control). Here's the link: Hawaii Craps Shooters / HowardRockNRoll In the video, you'll see Bryan along with Mar and Cory, taking Howard's class, and Hpward working with each of them on their grip and their toss. Watching that really made me think about how I'm gripping and tossing the dice, and for anyone serious about dice shooting, it will make you think too. I think the video is so important that I decided, strictly on my own, to provide a link to it. Good luck! ☺

     My wife amd I flew out to the D.C. Area to see a beloved aunt of mine who is 92 years old, and in an assisted living home. I wanted to make sure to see her, just in case...Well anyway, while we're out here, we decided to take a couple trips to Atlantic City. This is my wife's first time in Atlantic City, and it is my first time back there in over 10 years.

     We rode into Atlantic City on Amtrak, a train ride that took almost 4 hours. When we got there, we took a shuttle bus out to the Bally's casino. For me, it all began there 28 years ago--that's where I'd placed my first bet in a real live casino--on a roulette table. No roulette today, however. I have quite a different game plan these days.

     After winning $100 at blackjack, I went over to a craps table, and stood at the end. Where the dice were, it would take a while for them to come around to me, and time wasn't my most abundant resource today. Fortunately, the shooter that held the dice was pretty good. I eventually tip-toe'd into the game, placing the 6 and the 8 for $12 apiece (it was a $10 table), and when those hit, I started branching out to the other numbers. I was able to get all the numbers covered, and press most of them up to 3 units before the shooter crapped out. I ended up $103 ahead. It may not seem like much, but up until that time, my biggest win in Atlantic City was only $121, and that was at Bally's the last time I was there in late 2010. So I'll gladly take this $203 win.

     Prior to this trip, I wasn't even aware of the Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City (I knew of, and playes at the ones in Lake Charles and Las Vegas). After finishing up at Bally's, that's where my wife and I next went, with me having my Golden Nugget players card. This time, I went to the craps table first. This table was a $15 table, and I got to shoot the dice from Stick Left 1, my favorite position to shoot. Since this was my first time shooting the dice in Atlantic City, although I was tempted to use my Two-Hit Blackout strategy, I couldn't do it. How was I to know I was going to shoot an 18 using my Hardway (4/2-4/2) dice set? I ended up winning $105 before crapping out. I made 4 points (4,6,9,and 10) along the way, but little else as far as hitting box numbers. I played only the inside numbers at first, which didn't help, for five of those 18 rolls were 10's. Next time I come to Atlantic City, which will be on Saturday, I'll have more time, and will take more risks. But I ended up winning $317.50 at Golden Nugget, due also to a $212.50 win at the blackjack table.

     After a quick $25 win at Caesar's (another casino I'd never been to before in Atlantic City), my wife and I had to head back to the Amtrak station to take the train back into the D.C. Area (New Carrollton MD was the actual stop). I ended up $545.50 ahead for the trip, bringing my profit margin up to $1860.50 for the year as a whole. Not bad at all.

     Stay tuned for Part 2 of this trip, which will be on Saturday 10/23. Hopefully, I can build on this success.

     Today, my wife and I returned to Atlantic City for another longer day, and more of a chance to enjoy the sights and sounds (and more time to play). The Amtrak train schedule is much different on the weekend than it is during the week, and we took full advantage of that. Instead of just 4 hours, we had 11 hours to work with. How did I do this time? I'm about to tell you...

     Like on Thursday, the adventure started at Bally's. This time, I started at the craps table. I shot from Sticl Left 1, using the Hardway dice set. I used a two-hit regression strategy, but only 220 inside, instead of 440 inside, as per my Two-Hit Blackout strategy. It was a 15-dollar table, so when I regressed, I went down to 3 units across with 2X odds. I rolled 10 times, enough to make $133 by the time I crapped out. I made an additional 200 at the blackjack table, for a total win at Bally's of $333.

     After quite some time on the boardwalk and on the beach, where my wife took lots of pictures, we ducked into the Wild Wild West casino. There. I played craps, shooting from the end, using my Yo-Yo (6/5-5/6) dice set. Unfortunately, more went wrong than right. Here, I tried the Two-Hit Blackout strategy, and point-sevened out the first time I got the dice. The second time I shot, I rolled 10 times, which partially made up for the last shoot, but then I point-sevened out again when I got the dice for a third time. I left the table after losing $635.

     From there, it was next door to Caesar's for the next part of this adventure. After having lunch at a Chinese noodle restaurant, I played craps at a 25-dollar table. Again, I shot from the end. From the beginning, I was not getting a good vibe from the dealers at the table. Worse yet, when I tried to do a 15-dollar Whirl bet, part of my strategy when I play at other 25-dollar tables, they wouldn't let me do it, stating I had to bet at least $25. I only play the Whirl bet to hedge my Pass Line bet on the come-out. Why bet $25 to hedge a 25-dollar bet? Anyway, I skipped the Whirl bet, established a point of 10, and did 440 inside, attempting my Two-Hit Blackout strategy, with the intention of regressing down to five units across after the two hits, not taking odds at first (my adjustment for a 25-dollar table, using this strategy). However, after just one hit on the inside numbers, I crapped out. I left that table down $325. The only reason why I was able to salvage a win at this casino was because of an epic back-and-forth battle I then had at the blackjack table. In the end, I won $350 there, for a net win at Caesar's of $25.

     From there, my wife and I walked up the boardwalk, taking quite some time to take pictured. Eventually. we got to the Resorts casino. where I got into a craps game. This time, I shot from Stick Left 1, and using the Hardway dice set, I shot 12 times, using pretty much the same betting strategy that I used at Bally's, not feeling ready yet to try my Two-Hit Blackout strategy again. Here, I had more non-productive rolls than at Bally's, and I only made $90 at the Resorts. Still, that was enough to chop my overall deficit for the day by about one-third (-$277 down to -$187).

     By this time, it was getting into the evening hours, and I was looking to get into a poker game. We next went to the Hard Rock casino, where I'd once played poker back in late 2010, the last time I was in Atlantic City, prior to Thursday, and back when this casino was known as the Trump Taj Mahal. But much to my surprise, they don't have poker there now. So instead, I played blackjack at the Hard Rock first. They have plexiglass there, which was a big turn-off, for since I'm viaually impaired, I need the dealers to read to me their top card, and it's harder to hear them through the plexiglass. I did manage to win $47.50 before I went to the craps table. They have plexiglass there too, but only at the positions closest to the stick man. At first, there was someone shooting the dice from the right end, and someone else standing at the left end, whereas I was standing at Stick Left 1. I was totally prepared to shoot from that position, but after the shooter crapped out, the player at the left end left the table, and I immediately moved to that position, where there was no plexigkass to get in the way of my shooting the dice. There, I dared try the Two-Hit Blackout strategy. using my Yo-Yo dice set. I felt like I had something to prove to myself, given what happened earlier. I made an adjustment to how I was releasing the dice, and I did just well enough to regress down to 4 units across after the two hits. But shortly thereafter, I crapped out, but I made $135 at the craps table, for a total Hard Rock win of $182.50. My deficit at that point was only $4.50.

     I did manage to play poker at the Borgata, which seems to be the mecca for poker players in Atlantic City. I'm proud to say that after only 45 minutes of play at 1/3 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em, I won $230. I know none of this is relevant to craps, but this I have to mention because of what happened next.

     There was a long line of people waiting to cash in their chips at the cashier. It was rather warm inside the Borgata, due to it being really crowded. While my wife and I were in line, we heard this loud thud in front of us. Apparently a woman. waiting in line, dressed unusually warmly, had passed out and fallen to the floor. The security was able to revive her (she had no pulse initially), but my wife told me that they handled things all wrong. For the woman had gone into a hypoglycemic shock, due to low blood sugar, and collapsed. While they were right to give the woman orange juice initially to get some sugar into her, they kept giving her orange juice, when they should have given her water instead, for the woman, who was sweating profusely, was also dehydrated. My wufe, a trained nurse, offered to help the situation, but the security said that they got it. Needless to say, my wife was pissed off! What pissed her off even more that it wasn't until after I had cashed in my chips, and we were stepping out of the casino to catch a cab back to Bally's, when we finally saw the paramedics arrive. And this was at least another 20 minutes later!

     What was almost lost during all the excitement, was the fact that I had finally pulled myself out of the hole, and was up $225.50 at that point.

     Our initial plan was to walk back up the boardwalk to an eatery we had come to earlier, when we walked up to the Resorts casino. My wife had gotten a funnel cake earlier, and we wanted to try the pizza there. But when we arrived at the boardwalk just outside Bally's it had started raining, so we ducked into Bally's, and fortunately, found an indoor eatery similar to what was outside. After we ate, we decided to get souvenirs at the gift shop, still in Bally's. once that was done, I tried to get into one final craps game. But the table was full, so I, instead, played blackjack, and won another $200. That finished the gambling. I ended up $425.50 ahead for the day, and $971 ahead for the two trips to Atlantic City. That increased my profit margin for the year up to $2286.

     Despite a long four-hour layover in Philadelphia, which turned into five, because the train was late, we were both quite happy, having done what we'd set out to do. Unfortunately, there was little time to rest, once we got off the train at New Carrollton, and got back to our hotel in Bowie, for we had to get ready to check out, and visit my aunt one last time, before flying back to Houston. You can bet we're going to crash, once we get home!

     At least for now, I anticipate having a little more time to go to Lake Charles, and travel more because my contract ended yesterday. I have a Lake Charles trip planned starting Wednesday next week. Stay tuned for those results!