Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     Over the past few weeks, since the last Lake Charles trip, I'd been pondering the question, why am I still doing this. I decided I really needed to change some things. Regarding craps, I decided to change the way I grip and shoot the dice. I decided to return to how I naturally grip the dice, which apparently, involves putting my middle and ring fingers in the front of the dice, my index and pinky fingers on the sides of the dice, and my thumb down the seam of the dice. Also, I've been working on some new strategies which I intend to use at the craps tables, next time I play craps.

     For this trip, we decided to go to New Orleans, not so much for a gambling trip, but more, a nice getaway to celebrate the anniversary of our being together (we met July 14, 2013). There is only one casino in New Orleans, which is Harrah's, but with this new perspective, let's see how I do there. Why am I calling this trip "Cool Change?" Because of the changes I'm making, going forward, plus, in light of the current heatwave going on in Houston, and how it's not expected to even hit 90° in New Orleans, I figured, like the old Little River Band song, time for a cool change.

     Each day we're in New Orleans, the weather has been predicted to be thunderstorming. It was cloudy when our plane landed, but just before we got to the B & B place we're staying at, it started pouring, and we were drenched getting inside the house! This was at about 12 noon. Fortunately, the room was ready, so we didn't have to wait. So that's where we stayed for the next few hours, until the storm passed.

     After a refreshing dip in the pool, we had a somewhat early dinner at Copeland's, where I had a Copeland burger, which still tastes great (BTW, the same people who own Copeland's, also owns the Popeye's franchise). It has been seven years since my wife and I had been to New Orleans. I'm glad some things don't change.

     The first gambling session of the trip wasn't until that night. And all that was available at the craps tables were $25 tables. I didn't feel right playing at that high of a level to start off, so I played poker instead. After 2½ hours, I won $44. Not much, but I needed to feel like a winner again, and this was good enough.

     My first craps session actually came the morning of the second day. I was determined to play craps after breakfast, thinking I'd be able to play at a lower min-bet table at that time...no luck there. It was still a $25 table. Oh well. I decided to stand at the end on the left hand side. I used my Yo-Yo dice set, combined with what I call my natural grip. I put 25 on the Pass line, backed up first with a $5 craps check, then a $10 C & E. The first point was 6, and I placed 50 on the 5 and 60 on the 8, with 1X odds for my point. My intention was, if any of those hit, I'd regress to 5 units on two Place bets. Yep, I was playing scared craps to some degree, but fortunately, I made my point, and I was able to regress. My next point was 4, but before that was established, two come-out yo's hit with the C & E bets on the come-out. So when I regressed down, I put 30 each on the 6 and 8. I later added the 5 to that for a quarter, after making the point of 4. The last point was a 9, and I had just pressed the 6 up to 60, when I crapped out. But I did manage to shoot 15 times, and I ended up $220 ahead. Well, all right now!

     I did add another $578 to that win at the poker table after almost 2 hours of play, for a grand total of $798 for the whole session. What a morale booster that was! Plus, I think this was my second biggest win this entire year. Plus my string of getting at least one 500 Club each month this year, remains intact. I'm going to try to get another craps session in before the end of this trip, but the urgency isn't so great anymore, given what I'd accomplished with this win.

     We went for a dip in the pool, once we got back, then went to dinner at a nearby pizza place on 1068 Magazine Street, just two blocks from where we're staying. The pizza and the garlic cheese bread were both superb. Then we socialized with some of the other guests when we got back, and hung out at the pool yet again. We're all kind of sad that the Greenhouse Inn, where we're staying, is going to be no more at the end of this month. There is no other place like the Greenhouse Inn in New Orleans. Anyone who is familiar with the Greenhouse Inn, knows what I'm talking about -- I'll leave it at that.

     After that, we made another trip to the Harrah's casino. I got into a craps game there. Still, a $25 table, and it would be a long time before I'd get the dice. Here, I'd have to use some of my strategies I've been developing these past few weeks, for other shooters. For the first shooter, I didn't bet at all, and I'm glad I didn't, for he PSO'ed. The second shooter, I was hesitant to bet on at first, for he was one of those that even though he was setting the dice, he was chucking them down toward the opposite wall faster than a random shooter! But he did make two points. The third point was a 9, and I decided to try to bet on him. I placed bets of $60 on each, the six and the eight, with the intention of regressing down after one hit. Well, after several rolls, those numbers didn't come up, and when he made his point, I took the bets down (something I didn't practice for such a scenario). But then, I put 25 on the Pass line, and place 10 on the C & E (I'd usually do a $15 Whirl, but they wouldn't allow anything less than 25 for that bet). The next roll was an 11. This elicited a "Can you say Yo-Baby, Yo-Baby, Yo!" from me (an expression I've been using for 20 years now). When the next point, a 6, was established, I placed the 5 and the 8 for the minimum -- the yo paid for it. I think I was able to add 9 for a Place bet, and put odds behind the Pass Line bet, before the guy crapped out. But I ended up making $155 off his roll. I decided to color up at this point.

     I did add another $100 to that win at the blackjack table, but then lost $316 at the poker table, booking a small overall loss of $61. I'm still $781 ahead for this trip, and most likely, that's where I'll stay, for again, this trip wasn't meant to be a gambling trip, per se, but rather, a getaway to celebrate nine years of us being together. If I don't gamble again on this trip, I can say that I made the most money playing craps -- $375 total, compared to a net gain of $306 at the poker table, and $100 playing blackjack. I'm happy for that, in addition to still being with my wife after all this time.

     Thursday July 14th was our nine-year anniversary of being together. We had quite a busy day. First, we went to the waterfront, did some walking, and got some beigners that my wife had been craving since our last visit about seven years ago, when we couldn't get them because the place was closed. The beigners were delicious, and my wife was very much pleased. Then, we went to the World War II Memorial museum, and that was nice. It made us appreciate what our soldiers had to go through just to fight to keep our freedom, which was very much in jeopardy after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The experience we had really made us appreciate how good we have it in the U.S., and how lucky we are to not have to fight in a major war (yet). We then had lunch at Dukie Chase, and the food was great, but the service was very slow. When we got back to the room, we both crashed, especially when a rainstorm ran through, and thwarted our plans to go swimming at 3:15 p.m., for that's how we met nine years ago this day. After resting for several hours, we went to Ruth's Criss Steakhouse, for a great anniversary meal.

     Apparently, the steakhouse was across the street from the Harrah's casino, so that's where we went for one final time on this trip. I first played craps at a $25 table. I was standing at Stick Left 1, and I was using the Hardway dice set with my so-called natural grip. I shot several times, shooting 7-11 times each time. But i was, for the most part, playing scared craps, and I struggles to get my money back, which I did, plus $42.

     I did add $100 to that win at the blackjack table, and $104 at the poker table. I ended up $246 ahead for the session, and $1027 ahead for the trip as a whole. I still can say that I won more playing craps than any other casino game on this trip -- $417 for craps, $410 for poker, and $200 for blackjack.

     Once we got back, we took one last dip in the pool (mind you, this is at about 11:30 at night). It was a nice way to cap off everything.

     No gambling on the last day, as our plane leaves a bit early to head back to Houston. As far as craps goes, the biggest takeaway from this trip is, find a grip and toss that comes most naturally, and is easily repeatable. This was a lesson I'd learned in bowling, and without it, I wouldn't have been able to average just over 200 for the last 8 years I bowled, nor would I have been able to bowl 15 perfect games. And also, just like bowling, it takes LOTS of practice -- in the days leading up to this trip, I'd spent a lot of time working on my grip and my toss, striving to keep the dice together as much as possible. As they say in French, c'est tout.

     After the results of my going back to my natural way of gripping the dice, I think I have the confidence to once again go back to some of my more riskier strategies, like the Two-Hit Blackout strategy, which would have made me more money on this last trip. But this also requires me to practice this grip and toss more, so I can better perfect my technique for the next time I'm at the craps table. But that's all right, for practice makes perfect, and that builds confidence, and that can only help increase profits at the craps table.