Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     I was hoping to go to Lake Charles on maybe September 7th to the 9th for another gambling trip, and have those results in the blog. But as many of you are aware, Lake Charles Louisiana took a pounding from Hurricane Ida a few days ago. At this point, I don't know just yet when I'll be able to go back to Lake Charles. Just thought I'd let you know.

     Lately, my wife and I have been very busy with various projects. Plus, we were worried about how much the route we'd travel on was affected by Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas. But we decided to go this past Thursday until Saturday.

     We arrived at L'Auberge in Lake Charles in the afternoon, and after taking some time to unwind, we went to the casino floor.

     After winning $75 on a blackjack table, I went to a craps table. There, as in all my craps sessions, except the last one, I played at Stick Left 1, using my Hardway dice set (4/2-4/2). On this first session, admittedly, I was playing cautiously, or scared craps, as I sometimes call it. I did shoot a 13 on my first roll, but a lot of those rolls were rolls that I didn't have a bet on (4 and 10 came up a lot, along with a lot of horn numbers). I was surprised to come out only $15 ahead.

     I decided to play another round of blackjack before my wife and I went to dinner. I had a more substantial win there--$150, in fact. So we went to dinner $240 ahead.

     The weather was quite iffy the first day, so we had decided not to walk over to Golden Nugget, or go swimming yet, like we usually do. I spent the rest of the first day at the poker table, from 8pm until 1am. Without getting into details, I got my money back plus $26.

     I had to work on Friday, but it wasn't that busy of a day, so we managed to squeeze in some gambling sessions as well as some time at the pool.

     I'd won $125 at the blackjack table before coming back to the casino to play craps. I was thinking about playing my Two-Hit Blackout strategy, but I started out with two 7-winners on my shoot. I didn't feel comfortable putting out a lot of money on the inside numbers, and I'm already rolling 7's. So I played cautiously again, though not quite as cautious as the previous day. I did shoot a 20 this time, but again, a lot of non-productive rolls. Beside the three 7's on my shoot, there were also 6 horn rolls, and some 4's and 10's that didn't help. But I still ended up $104 ahead, plus that shoot was just good enough to make my Best Shoots page. Check it out.

     The weather was better this day for a walk over to Golden Nugget. There, I got into a craps session on a $10 table (the previous ones at L'Auberge were at $15 tables). There, at first, I did a scaled-down version of my Two-Hit Blackout strategy--meaning I'd only do 220 inside, instead of 440 inside, and then regress the bets after two hits. Such was my intention, however, on my first two shoots, I pretty much point-sevened-out both times. Then I decided to do my full Two-Hit Blackout strategy (designed for a $15 table), which involved putting $20 on the Pass Line, and 440 inside, regressing to 4 units all the way across. That worked for about 10 rolls. Fortunately, just before that last shoot of mine, there was a guy who was on a long roll, and I was betting on the latter part of it. Still, when I cashed out, after my last shoot, I was surprised that I'd gotten all my money back, plus a whopping $6.

     We went back to L'Auberge to rest for a bit before deciding to go back to Golden Nugget to get our wristbands, needed to use the big cloverleaf hot tub at the Nugget at night. I decided on a couple of quickies before also us eating dinner at the Nugget. At L'Auberge, I won a quick $100 at the blackjack table. However, at the Nugget, prior to dinner, I lost $412.50 at the blackjack table there. Damn! But we got the wristbands, and ate at Lily's, a nice Chinese food restaurant.

     We returned to L'Auberge to rest up before doing the late night hot tub thing at Golden Nugget. But before we got to our room at L'Auberge to rest up, I decided on another session first. I won $175 at the blackjack table. Then I got onto a $25 craps table. There, I used a modified version of my Two-Hit Blackout strategy. I did the same 440 inside for two hits, but upon regression, I did across for 5 units, instead of 4, because of the table minimum. However, I didn't put down any odds at first because that way, I made sure I had at least $100 in profit after regression. I built up my odds after the next two hits. That was all I could do, for I then crapped out. Still, I made $136 at the craps table, for total win of $311 for the session. That would turn out to be my best session of the entire trip.

     We went to the hot tub that night, and it was great. Got to talk to some interesting people, and I saw some nice eye candy. It was a very relaxing time. No more gambling until the next and final day.

     Boy did I get smacked on that final day! First of all, I lost $1000 at the blackjack table. Then after breakfast, I went to the craps table. I first did my old 220 inside regression strategy at the $15 table, with the intention of regressing down to three units across with 2X odds (netting a profit of at least $9 after regression), but I crapped out after one hit. Then on my next shoot, I decided not to B.S. around, and do my full Two-Hit Blackout strategy, doing 440 inside, etc. That ended in a PSO! I lost $672 for that session. THAT really stung!

     We checked out of our room, then went over to Golden Nugget. We decided that for our last meal before we head back, we would eat at this bar and grill there, like we did the last couple of times. But before all that, I played some blackjack there, and won $225. Then I played some poker there for 2½ hours. If I had more time, I would have played longer. I did all right at first, but one bad decision on an all-in, soured everything for the session, as I lost $384 at the poker table, for a net loss of $159 for the session.

     After eating a late lunch at the bar and grill at Golden Nugget, we returned to L'Auberge for my final session of the trip. First, I played craps at a $25 table. This time, unlike the previous craps sessions, I shot from the end, and I was using my Yo-Yo (6/5-5/6) dice set. Again, I didn't place odds after regression at first, ensuring at least a $100 profit. I rolled long enough to make $157. Then I played one final round of blackjack, falling behind at first, but getting it back plus $25. The time was drawing near for us to leave, so I stopped there, with the final session being a win for $182.

     Of course, I ended up booking a losss for the trip (of $1149.50). But at least I'm still ahead for this year ($1315), and it was a fun trip. Plus, as my wife pointed out, at least I ddn't blow my entire bankroll--the majority of it is still intact. She told me that some people who come to these casinos, have businesses, and they put them up for collateral, so they can gamble. My wife had also observed a woman who told her that she'd lost her mortgage payment on the slots. It is times like this that I am reminded to never gamble with money that I cannot afford to lose. Sometimes, one might argue, I play a little too cautiously, for in a way, I treat this gambling thing like a business (going on the philosophy that winning is the most fun), and I think that's how I've been keeping my losses to a minimum.