Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     I have to admit, my last trip to Lake Charles, from a gambling aspect, was not fun at all. There were at least two occasions that I was getting really upset from losing, and I realized, upon returning from that trip, that I have to find a way to make this fun again, or I may as well not do this again. So I set out on this trip to Lake Charles, three weeks later, to make this trip fun.

     After making sure I was sufficiently rested from that three-hour bus ride from Houston, which could be exhausting at times, my wife and I went down to the casino at L'Auberge, where we stayed. Unlike previous times, where I'd give her some money to play with, so she can shoot the dice, my wife came with her own bankroll, and at the craps table, we both bought in for $500. This table was a $25 table, and I was not up for trying any risky regression strategy, especially early on, when I hadn't even gotten a feel for the table. Good thing I only played the 6's and the 8's because I really struggled, shooting the dice. My wife had the better shoots, and she is the epitome of a random shooter. We didn't exactly bet the same--I would stick to the 6's and the 8's, while she'd have only one place bet out there, and she'd change it from time to time. Somehow, when we cashed out, we both cashed out for $510. Only a ten-dollar profit, but it was enough to get our feet wet.

     As far as craps goes, the biggest story of this trip occurred when my wife and I walked over to the Golden Nugget. There, the craps table was a $15 table, but there was only one spot open on Stick Right 1. My wife let me take that spot. It was going to be a while before I was to get the dice, but I decided to bet a little on some the other shooters--part of my way of having fun again. I was betting 6's and 8's on those shooters who were setting the dice, but for the first three shooters, that was not working at all, for they all crapped out before a single 6 or 8 was rolled. Still I didn't panic, for I was barely 100 in the hole. Then a thirty-ish black female, became the shooter in the right hook, two spots from me. And when I placed my sixes and eights, immediately, they started hitting, and after the third such hit, I branched out from there to the other numbers. And they were hitting too. Then I pressed them up, on every other roll. I even was playing the hardways, something I usually don't do on my own shoot, but after I did on this shooter, six hardways hit, and I was really cutting up, much to the shooter's amusement, as well as her boyfriend's amusement, and the amusement of my wife, who was watching from a nearby vacant blackjack table. After one particular hardway hit, I pressed 6 up to 90. That hit three more times, each of which, I was yelling out "BULL-LLACKOUT!!" meaning that I could get a black chip for a payout, since those rolls each yielded $105. I felt like I hadn't had this much fun at a craps table in a long time. It brought to mind something I used to say a long time at a craps table: "Doesn't matter who's shooting, as long as I make the money." I ended up making $893 at that table, and I didn't even shoot the dice. That was the biggest win I ever had at Golden Nugget (previous best was $701 from 5½ years ago). This win reminded me why craps is my favorite casino game.

     We then returned to L'Auberge, where I won a quick $100 at the blackjack table, putting me into four figures as far as profits goes. Then my wife and I had a delicious steak dinner at the Ember Steakhouse at L'Auberge. Afterwards, I decided to play some poker, which I did for 2 hour, winning $226. From there, we went back to the craps table. Again, I struggled with my shooting, and my wife had somewhat better shoots. But my bets were hitting a little more than hers were. She lost $85, while I won $67. Then I played blackjack, where I won another $300, for a total casino win of $593. I finished the day $1596 ahead. Not a bad haul!

     After having breakfast at L'Auberge, my wife and I returned to the craps table. There, things got off to a rocky start, as we both struggled with our shoots. I ended up losing $244, and my wife, aboyt 100. Fortunately for me, I made mine back at the blackjack table, winning $312.50, turning the session into a $68.50 win.

     My first session loss occurred at the poker table at Golden Nugget where I lost $178 after 2 hours. fortunately, I won $225 at the blackjack table back at L'Auberge. It wasn't until after we had a late lunch off-property, that we returned to the craps table at L'Auberge. This time, again, my wife and I both struggled with our shoots, but we had a little better luck with our betting. I ended up $18 ahead, while my wife won $58. I think the main difference was that on two occasions, I had $20 odds bets that didn't hit, that she didn't have. From there, I won another $150 at the blackjack table. Then I decided to play poker in the poker room.

     I'm going to try to keep this next part as brief as possible, since this is a craps blog, not a poker blog, but I feel it is important that I mention this, because this session at L'Auberge, ended up easily being my biggest win of the year. Apparently, this poker room on Monday nights, has a free-roll contest where if you choose a slot that coincides to the last digit of the football score of both teams playing, at the end of each quarter, you win $250. And that also applies for the final score. Whatever. I entered at the last minute, during the first quarter of the game between the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills. Again, whatever, I was there to play poker. After a little over 2 hours, I was over $400 ahead, and it was getting late, and my wife and I hadn't eaten dinner yet. As for the sports betting aspect of this, nobody won for the first three quarters, and it was down to the two-minute warning, and people were mentioning that some guy with the initials JSS could possibly win the whole thing, if the score remained 14-10 New England. I then said that MY initials are JSS. In other words, I was the one about to win the whole thing! About the same time, my wife came back (after winning $200 at the craps table, while I played poker) to get me, so we can have dinner, but I and another person had to explain to my wife that I had to be there until the time ran out in order to win the prize money. Se we stuck around until the clock ran out, then I ended up winning the whole prize pool--$1250 in all! Again, the whole sports betting thing made me no nevermind, since I was there to play poker, and apparently, I had profited $450 at the poker table, which by itself, brought my current session at L'Auberge to a profit of $618. I would have been happy with that, but then I had this other money to deal with. I only ended taking $875 of the 1250, due to state and federal taxes they had to take out. Again, the whole thing made me no nevermind, since I didn't come to the poker room to try to win a free-rolling sports betting contest, which I had to be seated at a poker table to win--it was interesting to see how quickly that poker table completely emptied out, once I was declared the winner, plus it was interesting to see how mad some of the others were at me for winning it. Come on, guys, it's not that serious! But it was very nice to put that extra $875 in my pocket, boosting my session win at L'Auberge up to $1493, easily making this my biggest win at L'Auberge (my previous best was the $950 from this past July), and also easily my biggest win of the year. You can bet that when my wife and I had dinner at a Chinese restaurant on-property, shortly thereafter, I was on an incredible high, having won $1608.50 for the day, being up $3204.50 for the trip!

     Something else I have to say here, in light of the last paragraph: I am not a sports bettor, and I never will be (for an explanation on how I reached this conclusion 10 years ago, email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com). Upon returning home, I learned that many poker players are also hard-core sports bettors. That's just not me. As I said, my favorite casino game is craps. Plus, the whole sports betting thing was just like a pick-two thing for me, and the two digits I chose were completely at random. Now how about this for a pick-two: My three biggest wins on this trip all ended in 93 ($1493, $893, and $593). Crazy, huh?

     Of course, I had to come down from my euphoric state the previous night, didn't I? After my wife and I ate breakfast at Starbuck's in the Golden Nugget, we both played on the craps table. There, the betting worked out pretty badly for both of us, but in the two rolls I had, where I shot a 7 and a 9, I re-discovered a dice grip, which I had started out this year, before switching to another grip. To me, the four-finger grip, with my pinky and index fingers on the outer corners of the dice works best for me. I discovered this too late to save this session, for I lost $272. Although my wife lost less than that, she declared herself, all gamvled out. I would play one more session before I'd declare myself all gambled out.

     I would have continued the last session, if my wife and I didn't need to check out of our room at L'Auberge. But after we did, we retuendd to the craps table--only I played, for my wife was already all gambled out. At this table, I shot from the end, using my Yo-Yo (6/5-5/6) dice set, and my four-fingered grip, and I shot an 18, making points of 5 and 9, and rolling hardways of 4 and 10. Of course, I would have made more than just $144 if I was betting my Two-Hit Blackout strategy. But since my shooting had been at best shaky lately, I decided against that. Maybe next time, now that I've gotten my grip back.

     I tried to build on the craps win, playing blackjack, but ended up getting smacked (I think the cards are always bad at mid-day at L'Auberge, come to think about it). I stopped, losing $662.50, once it really started not being fun anymore. I didn't want to go back to how I was when I stopped gambling on my last trip. So with a net loss for the session of $518.50, I declared myself all gambled out.

     Even with the two losses I suffered on the last day, this trip still ended up being the most profitable of the year, for I ended up $2414 ahead for the trip. That was enough to pull me out of the hole for the year, for I'm now ahead $666.50 for the year, which was, more or less how I started this year. I would never have thought after the last trip, that I'd pull myself out of the hole for the year with just one trip. Maybe this should be the last gambling trip I do for this year...? Anyway, my main goal was accomplished, learning how to have fun again on these gambling trips. I am still smiling now, as I write this. ☺

     Just this morning, I wrote a Python program that enumerates my Lake Charles trips, and outputs how well I did on each one. The program does the same thing for my Vegas trips (I keep records of my gambling results in a database). When I finished the program, and ran it, I was surprised to learn that this last trip to Lake Charles was actually my 100th trip there--and that's over the span of only 8 years. Compare that to 26 Las Vegas trips in 23 years. Just a thought. ☺

     My wife and I went to Lake Charles because we were told when we booked the two nights there that they were complimentary. However, when we got to L'Auberge, we were told that they could only give us a reduced rate, due to limited availability, but to check back when we check out, to see if they could comp those nights (I think based on my play). Since we were already there, and since I'd recently gotten an increase on my credit card limit, we agreed.

     All through this trip, I had to struggle with limited availability on the games I wanted to play. Often times, the craps tables were full, and the only blackjack tables that were available were either the $50 tables or highter, or the ones where blackjack only pays 6-5 instead of the usual 3-2. Because of the post-Christmas crowds, I had to get in where I could fit in. I didn't feel comfortable starting off at at $25 craps table, so I started off at a $25 blackjack table, and lost $975. The cards were horrible!

     After going to the Golden Nugget, and not being able to get into a suitable game, because everything I wanted to play was full, I went back to L'Auberge, and reluctantly got onto the $25 craps table. I didn't get to shoot, plus the table was very choppy. I stayed on just long enough to win $10. That's it.

     My wife and I had dinner at the Ember Steakhouse at L'Auberge. As usual, the dinner was delicious. We made a point of having extra bacon bits in our salad, because these were real bacon bits, and they were the best part of the salad. Nothing like a relaxing dinner to re-charge the battery.

     Instead of facing another crowded $25 craps table, I decided to play poker. Without going into too much detail, I'll say that I was there for 4¼ hours, and I won $315, making this the biggest win I had on the entire trip. Got into some exciting hands. If you want to know the details, email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com and I'll give you the details. I won't do that here, since this is a craps blog.

     I was hoping to chip away at the deficit from the previous day ($650 in all). In the morning, I got on to a craps table, which was a $15 table, still at L'Auberge. I played there, and ended up $31 ahead. I basically used the same strategy I used yesterday, just betting on the 6's and the 8's until they're paid off, and I can branch out to the other numbers. But the table, once again was too choppy, and I didn't get very far.

     Then I went to Golden Nugget, and finally was able to get into a craps game--only that things didn't go good. I crapped out immediately on my first shoot, shooting from Stick Left 1, and using my Hardway dice set. Yes, I was probably rusty. Then I switched to Stick Right 1, and experimented with a new way of tossing the dice from that position--instead of standing, facing the left wall, standing facing the dealers, and basically tossing the dice across my body. I used my Yo-Yo dice set for this experimant. I shot 6 times with it, not making much, if any, for I wasn't using any regression betting strategy. In retrospect, I probably should have stayed longer, to see how I'd do with that dice set on subsequent turns, but I was losing too much, for the table was pretty cold for everybody, and also, I wanted to get into another poker game. So eventually, I left the table $357 down. I did manage to get $55 of it back at the poker table, for a total session loss of $302.

     As far as craps goes, the biggest story of this trip, occurred when I returned to L'Auberge, and I got on to a $15 table. There was one shooter ahead of me that made me a little money. This time, I was determined to shoot the dice, and I was standing at the Right End, where I used my Yo-Yo dice set. I ended up shooting a 16, but I didn't feel ready to try my regression strategy, sticking to minimum bets on the inside numbers. As a result, I only ended up $116 ahead, but hey I'll take it at this point. Afterwards, I thought to myself, if I was in Vegas, it would have been a lot easier to get on to a craps game, and practiced more. Maybe then I'd be able to use my Two-Hit Blackout strategy again. But I was too far behind to feel comfortable doing that, and the last thing I needed was another disastrous outing like the one I had in mid-November.

     Apparently, a profitable trip for me was just not in the cards--literally, for afterwards, I played poker again, at L'Auberge. Whatever magic I had the previous night, just wasn't there, and I lost $318. To make matters worse, I tried to make it up at a blackjack table, playing the game that gives me the highest win percentage. But I stil had yet to have a winning blackjack session on this trip, for I lost an additional $875, for a total loss on the session of $1193. My total deficit for the trip at the end of Day 2: $1998. Not good!

     I felt I had something to prove regarding blackjack, so at about 5:30 in the morning, I went down to the casino, and got on to an uncrowded blackjack table, and finally had a winning session, winning $125. I felt like maybe I was going to get back on track. I wanted to get into a craps game, but at that time of the morning, the only craps game available was a new electronic craps game, recently acquired by L'Auberge, which I don't trust to save myself. Later for that.

     My wife and I then had breakfast, then checked out of our room. It turns out that both nights were able to be comped--well damn, I dropped nearly 2 G's there, so those nights had better be comped!

     Afterwards, I went to Golden Nugget, while my wife did some shopping. I played some blackjack, and won $100 there. I got onto a waiting list to play poker over there, and in the meantime, played some craps. I didn't get the chance to shoot the dice--there were too many people in front of me. And the table was cold at first. Then came this one player who looked to be a controlled shooter. I was determined to lose at most $100, since that was what I'd won at the blackjack table. I had only enough for one Place bet, which I put on the 8. Fortunately, the shooter soon rolled an 8, enabling me to place the 6. Then he started hitting that too, and I soon had the inside numbers all covered. The shooter hit enough of them to get my money back at the craps table, plus an additional $85 before I had to bee-line it to the poker room to grab my seatt. There, I won $41 after an hour, for a total session win of $226 at Golden Nugget.

     After a delicious but long lunch at Saugrass (which is in Golden Nugget), my wife and I returned to L'Auberge for one final assault. I was only able to get into a blackjack game. It was a struggle, but finally, I ended up $125 ahead (again today). I wanted to play craps, as there finally was a spot open on the craps table, but by that time, it was too close to the time my wife and I were due to leave Lake Charles on the bus to head home to Houston. So I declared myself all gambled out at that point.

     On the last day of the trip, I won $476 altogether, but ended up $1522 down for the trip. I couldn't stay ahead for the year either. But still, I did have fun, and maybe this experience will encourage me to try other places besides Lake Charles, where I'd have more choices and availability to play the games I want to play. Plus, out of that $1522 loss, only $115 was due to craps. I even was $93 ahead, overall, regarding my poker playing. Go figure.

     Well, as I'm sure you've already figured out, I ended up behind for the year. The exact amount I ended up down for the year, was $855.50. But how this breaks down, is a bit surprising. I ended up slightly ahead for two of the three different casino games I played this year. Specifically, I ended up $90.50 ahead for blackjack, and $92 ahead for poker. Of course, that means, I ended up down $1038 for craps--mainly due to that disastrous trip I had in mid-November.

     As for win percentages, for all three games, the win percentages were pretty good. In blackjack, my win percentage for the year was 81.3%, bringing my overall win percentage up to 77.4%. For craps, my win percentage this year was 74.7%, bringing my overall win percentage up to 69.2% for craps. For poker, my win percentage this year was 56.5%, bringing my overall poker win percentage up to 55.0%. Overall, it wasn't a terribly bad year, but of course, I'm going to try to do better for 2022.