Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     In many ways, this trip to Reno Nevada, is a trip back to my roots. Why? In my early days of gambling, even before I started playing blacljack or craps, I gambled in Reno, for at the time (1996-2000), I was living in the Bay Area (first Cupertino--just outside San Jose, then Fremont). Back then, it was strictly slots at first, then I sparsely played blackjack. It wasn't until 1998 that I even started playing craps. Another way this trip is back to my roots was the fact that for about 8 months (late October 2002 - late June 2003), I actually lived in Reno. Overall, those were dark and reckless days, but some of my biggest wins occurred during this time. I had been back to Reno only a few times since I left in 2003, and not since 2011. I wanted to see how Reno has changed, and how I'd do with a whole new perspective on things since those days. Plus, this is the first time my wife has seen Reno Nevada, and I thought I'd give her a chance to see it as wekk,

     That's exactly how long it's been since I was last in Reno. For the last time I was in Reno was on November 6th, 2011. Back then, I was still living in Jacksonville Florida, and I had just broken up with this woman whom I realized was just using me. It was the last relationship I was in before I met my wife, which didn't happen until nearly two years later. And back then, there was no thought of my setting the dice, or any of the strategies I have up on this website. My, how things have changed!

     Anyway, we checked into the Nugget casino in Reno (technically Sparks). The room was surprisingly nice for the price. We first took time for some much-needed R & R, for the trip up here from Houston was very tiring and exhausting

     After having lunch, still at the Nugget, my wife and I went to the craps table. It was one of those tables where only one side was open, and the length was shortened artificially. The left side wasn't opened, but the right side was. I played there. I shot the dice first, playing my Knockdown strategy on a $10 table, doing 44 inside. Unfortunately, I only got one of my numbers paid for, hitting it twice, before crapping out on the fourth roll. Fortunately, on the end was another dice setter, who had much better luck, and thus my other numbers got paid for, after raising them to four units. Once everything was paid for, I was taking and pressing my bets the way I usually do. The shooter rolled a lot of 6's, and I was able to raise it to a 90-dollar bet, where it hit twice, and I was able to yell out "Bull-llackout!" I hadn't been able to do that in quite a long time, and it really felt good to be able to say that again. I think the first time I said that was in a Reno casino, although I'm at a loss as to where I first said it. Anyway, when the shooter crapped out, I left the table $593 ahead. I basically started this trip the same way I ended the last trip (my last session in Reno in 2011 was a 500 Club at El Dorado). Nice way to start off a trip!

     However, it didn't take long for me to get smacked back to reality. After the Nugget, we decided to hit some of the downtown casinos, where I'd did a lot of my playing in my early days of playing in Reno. We first visited El Dorado, which back in the day was my favorite Reno casino. But whatever magic I had was completely gone, so I soon found out. No craps tables were open, so I played blackjack, and i quickly lost $500. From there, we walked over to Silver Legacy, and the EXACT same deal there! No open craps tables there, and I played blackjack there, and lost another 500. What GIVES here?!

     My initial plan was tp play in downtown, then go down to the Atlantis, which is south of downtown, play there, and from there, go across the street to Outback Steakhouse, where I planned to treat my wife to a nice steak dinner. But we finished in downtown way too quickly, and I just wasn't feeling it anymore, as far as downtown goes. In fact, our Uber driver remarked that 20 years ago, downtown Reno used to be a real happening apot, but now, not nearly as much anymore, as many of the downtown casinos have since closed, and apparently don't have craps as often as they once did. It was only then that I thought of going to the Peppermill next.

     The Peppermill was the next casino my wife and I visited. This casino was where I have my biggest Reno win ($1451 almost exactly 21 years ago, just prior to moving to Reno in 2002). It also was where I had my first triple-digit gambling win (winning $110 at the craps table back in 2000--back then, I was a real low-roller).

     Fortunately, there was a craps table open here, and I played on it. I didn't even shoot this time, but caught a decent rally from another shooter, while using my Knowkdown strategy for 44 inside (another $10 table), not even having to raise any of those bets before they were paid for. Along the way, I got to one of my bucket-list items taken care of. You see, the Peppermill was also the casino where i'd first heard the term "Snowflakes." This originally occurred in 2003 when I was at one end of the craps table, and the only other player was an eccentric poker pro (I learned that a year and a half later) named Paul Magriel. He had all this money on the Hard 10, as 10 was the point, and he also had all this money on the Don't Pass. He was the shooter. and every time he shot the dice, he'd yell out the word "Snowflakes!" Back to the present, I got the chance to tell this story, while at this table, for on two occasions, the shooter rolled a hard 10, and I had a bet on it, and I yelled out "Snowflakes!" (unlike Paul Magriel, who said that every time he shot the dice, I only do that if I have a bet on the Hard 10, and it hits). I asked the dealers if any of them remember Paul Magriel, but these were newer dealers, and none of them remembered him. Unfortunately, Paul Magriel died five years ago, before I got a chance to return to Reno and thank him for that special craps term. But ANYWAY, this craps session was profitable, with me winning $103.

     It still was pretty early, and I felt, a good way to pass the time was to play poker at the Peppermill (I was initially planning to wait until Thursday--Day 3 to do that). And when I got there, I put myself on the list for a $2 blind game, and a $5 blind game. I ended up getting on the latter game, buying in for $1000. Given my poker results earlier this year, this looked like a real foolhardy move that I did. Indeed, I quickly discovered that not only was the game including a $10 winner's straddle, so effectively, I was playing a 5-10 No-Limit Hold 'Em game, a level that I hadn't played in 12 years, just prior to my last trip to Reno, and the fact that I had one of the shortest stacks at the table, and that a lot of these players appeared to be pros, one can EASILY see why this appeared to be a REAL foolhardy move on my part to play at this table. Ah, but HOLD THE PHONE! I did manage to win two pots, the second of which came when I had Ace-Ten, and I flopped a full house. I had two opponents, and I slow-played the hand enough to get a good chunk from one opponent, and to bust the other opponent. After scooping up that large pot, and after 40 minutes of play, I left the table $900 ahead!!! I even added another 100 to that because my Aces Full Of Tens, was the high hand of the hour, and I got a bonus for that. That $1000 win at the poker table exactly made up for those two earlier blackjack losses. My total win at the Peppermill was $1103, which not only was my third 500 Club at this casino, my TWO biggest Reno wins were both at the Peppermill!! Not only that, I was back out of the hole for this trip, and I'd gotten my second 500 Club on the same day--something I hadn't done in six months.

     By this time, it was after 6:00 PT. We next went to the Atlantis. I tried to get into a craps game, but the table was full. I opted for blackjack instead. Fortunately, this was a relatively easy session, and I won $120.

     However, the big story at this casino was my wife, whom I'm going to refer to here as Mrs. MusicalDice. While I was cashing in my chips, Mrs. MusicalDice decided to play a Wheel of Fortune slot machine, and when I got back to her, she was in the middle of a huge bonus round. After that, she cashed out for $770, and had only put in $20. Mrs. MusicalDice won a whopping $750 at the slot machine!

     We really had a lot to celebrate when we made it to the Outback Steakhouse. For one, this was a belated birthday present from me to Mrs. MusicalDice, whose birthday was actually September 27th. Also, her $750 win at the Atlantis was a reason to celebrate, as well as my being $816 ahead for the day (even with the losses). We greatly enjoyed the food, and the service was superb. Hats off to you, Tina!

     By the time we returned to the Nugget, we both crashed. For it was after 10 pm CT, and we'd both been up since 1 am CT getting ready for this trip, and heading out here to Reno. Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as exciting and profitable.

     Our intentions for this day, was to spend it up in Lake Tahoe, which is about 50 miles from Reno. We took an Uber out to Lake Tahoe. Along the way to our actual destination, the Harvey's casino at Stateline, which we were told was adjacent to the lake, my wife got a number of great photos of the lake, as we passed by it.

     When we got to Harvey's, we got some info on some activities we could potentially do. Unfortunately, we came during the off-season (the summer and winter months are when Lake Tahoe is the most active). The activities that were available were either not until the evening (we arrived at about 10:00 in the morning), and/or was expensive as hell. Argh!

     Worse yet, the action at the casinos were equally dead. There were no table games open at Harvey's. We had to walk next door to Harrah's to get the first table action.

     I did get onto a craps table at Harrah's, standing at the left end. I did place bets on a shooter that appeared to be doing well. But he crapped out before I was able to get my money back. I used the Knockdown strategy, which included raising the bets of the numbers that didn't hit, when it came to my shoot, which immediately followed. I used the 3V dice set (4/6-4/2 in my case), and I shot 8 times, just enough to get my money back plus $21. Mrs. MusicalDice tried a slot machine at Harrah's during my craps session, but only succeeded in losing $60. Next!

     The only other casino action I got was at the Golden Nugget casino in Lake Tahoe (formerly the Horizons casino). I played blackjack at the only table open at that time. It was a 6-5 payout for blackjack (instead of the proper 3-2 payout for a blackjack), plus each round cost me $2 a hand for an ante (and I usually play 2 hands at a time). I did win $56 there, but I wish I hadn't played under those conditions. My wife, meanwhile was trying to get get more info on Lake Tahoe, and what there was to possibly do there in the middle of the day, but was getting nowhere.

     After going to Bally's (formerly Caesars Tahoe), and not seeing a single table game open, we decided to leave Lake Tahoe, and head back to Reno. We had been at Lake Tahow for at least two hours, and contrary to what we were told, the lake is NOT adjacent to the casinos at Stateline. I had driven out to the Lake Tahoe casinos on several occasions when I lived in Reno over 20 years ago, and I was really taken aback by how dead it was when me and my wife went up there. Obviously, we were very disappointed, and kind of tired from walking around.

     When we returned to Reno, we stopped at the Atlantis casino, one of my favorite go-to casinos when I lived in Reno, as well as the closest casino to where I lived at the time. Anyway, we first had lunch at the Manhattan Deli, a somewhat upscale deli, featuring automatic carts helping to bring the food to the customers. The lunch and the service was great.

     From there, I got into a craps game. This time, I was standing in my favorite position, Stick Left 1. Given that, you would think I was destined for greatness this session, right? Wrong! My Hardway dice set, was not working out, with a bunch of early crap-outs. I switched to the Crossed Sixes dice set (6/2-6/4 for me), and I also experimented with a very low throw to the back wall, to try to avoid hitting the spikes with the dice. Overall, this was more successful, with one of my shoots being 20 rolls (see the update to my Best Shoots page). However, the damage had already been done by that time. Nobody else really had a good rally, and eventually, I took the hit, losing $375 after a long exhausting session at the craps table.

     When we returned to the Nugget, we got in some badly needed rest and relaxation. Afterwards, we went swimming in the indoor pool they have on the 5th floor at the Nugget. The pool I found to be semi-warm and quite refreshing, while my wife spent the entire time in the hot tub. I soon joined her, and I think the hot tub did both of us a lot of good, for we had some aching muscles after Lake Tahoe earlier in the day.

     Before we called it a day, we visited one more casino, the Grand Sierra Resort (formerly the Reno Hilton). The first thing I did was get into a craps game. This time, I stood at the right end. It was a $15 table, and I played my Knockdown strategy with a shooter at the opposite end. Fortunately, he had a nice roll, long enough for me to win $365. Got all my money back at the Atlantis, except for ten dollars! I didn't even shoot this time, but quite frankly, I don't care who shoots, as long as I'm one of those making money at the table.

     We then had a late dinner at an asian restaurant. The food was delicious. Then I decided to play poker at a 1/2 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em table. I know, in previous trips, if I played poker and won, the next time I'd play poker, I'd usually lose. I was determined not to let that happen, and I was also determined to get another 500 Club. This time, I was successful on both counts. Without getting into too much detail, I won $248 at the table, busting two players, playing a tret-deuce hand, commonly known in Reno poker rooms, as The Skinny! Yes I got danb lucky again. This led to a win at Grand Sierra of $613, a net gain of $315 for the day==even with the loss at the Atlantis, and a total profit thus far on the trip, of $1131.

     An interesting side-note on the breakdown on my profits for the first two days of my trip: Day 1 saw a net win in craps of $696. while my blackjack playing resulted in an $880 loss, while my poker winnings for the first day was $1000. On Day 2, I managed to profit from all three games. I only played blackjack once today, resulting of a $56 profit for the day. With craps, even though I lost at the Atlantis, I still mabaged to profit a whopping $11 for the day! Again, the big winner today was poker, profiting $248 for the day. Go figure!

     Given that this day was the last full day for us in Reno, we decided to take care of bucket list items we wanted to do. For my wife, she wanted to shop at Hobby Lobby--she'd discovered the previous day that there was one in Reno, near where I used to live. For me, I wanted to meet poker vlogger Ben Deach, who often played poker at the Peppermill on Thursdays.

     So while my wife shopped at Hobby Lobby, I played at the Peppermill. I first played at the craps table, once again doing my Knockdown strategy. All the numbers got paid for, except 5, even though I raised it up several times. My shooting was not good at all, no matter what I did. And other shooters didn't help either. When the 5 was at the $150 level, and the shooter crapped out, I left the table $284 down. I then tried to get the money back at the blackjack table, but ended up losing an additional $200. I did manage to take care of another bucket list item while at the blackjack table. I do like collecting half-dollars, and for at least a year, was just three shy of making a roll of them. In Nevada casinos, when I get a blackjack on an odd number for a bet (e.g. $25 would pay $37.50 on a blackjack). I collecteed six half-dollars before I left the table.

     Then I went to the poker room, and I played in the $2 No-Limit Hold 'Em game, not willing to risk getting my head taken off at the $5 No-Limit Hold 'Em table. Near the end of my two-hour session, I went over to the other table, where Ben Deach was playing. We had a great conversation about poker, his vlog, music, and sports, since Ben Deach is passionate about sports, and he's also a sportscaster in Reno. My wife, by this time, had returned, and she got to meet Ben as well. He is a funny guy, pretty much the same as in his poker videos. I cashed out $46 ahead at the poker table. I was hoping the good feelings I had, would translate to getting the $438 I lost at the Peppermill back.

     Our next stop was the Atlantis casino. After having lunch at the Manhattan Deli again, I once again went to the craps table. Once again, I tried the Knockdown strategy, but the results were even worse. This time, early PSO's came before any number was paid for. Lastly, I shot the dice with the 3V dice set that I used in Lake Tahoe. I only succeeded to get one number paid for before I crapped out. I decided at that point that enough was enough. I left the table $410 down.

     At that point, I declared myself all gambled out. Now I was hoping to later hit the El Dorado casino, and play craps, for it was there that I first said "Can you say Yo baby, yo baby yo!" back in 2002. I was hoping to play at some of the other downtown casinos that I used to play at when I lived in Reno 20 years ago. I was hoping to play at the Baldini's casino, a sports-themed casino, while the Thursday night football game was on. But all these bucket list items will have to wait until a future Reno trip. For the biggest bucket list item was that to stay ahead for the trip. And that, I did, for even with the two losses on this day totalling $848, I still was ahead $283 for the trip. That even made up for my loss on my last Lake Charles trip. And this time, it was poker that kept me ahead. Go figure!!

     Since I'd already declared myself all gambled out, there would be no gambling on this day. However, I do have a thing or two to say before I wrap up this blog entry on my trip to Reno. The old me, the one who lived in Reno over 20 years ago, would have chased to try to get that money back, regarding those losses. There were times that chasing worked back in the day, and it was how I ended up having my longest win streak ever (34 gambling wins in a row in mid-January of 2003), but ultimately, it got me into a lot of trouble that the new me refuses to risk getting into again. I consider myself a wiser, more careful and disciplined gambler. One thing every gambler needs to know is when to stop. I have a much better idea on when to stop than I did 20 years ago. Yea, I only finished $283 ahead on this trip, but I'll take that over a huge loss anyway. Besides that, this actually was the second Reno trip in a row that I did finish ahead (on my previous Reno trip in 2011, I'd finished $162 ahead, after clawing my way out of a hole, following an initial loss at El Dorado).

     My wife and I returned home to Houston, and I was able to put my gambling money away. This is one of my favorite parts of any gambling trip. I feel that it is due to my discipline that I was able to stay ahead for this trip, and as a result, I have enough money to think about planning another major gambling trip--this one, I hope to be in Atlantic City, before the year is over. Stay tuned! ☺

     For the past three days, since I'd returned home from Reno, I thought I had a net loss at the craps tables, and that the only game I was ahead at for the trip, was poker. Well after really sitting down to do the math, I found out, much to my surprise, that I actually ended up ahead at the craps tables for the trip. It turns out, I actually finished a whole $13 ahead for craps! For poker, I was ahead $1294. The big losing game was blackjack, in which I finished $1024 down. That's how I ended up with a $283 profit for the trip. Kudos to anyone who had read this blog, and had already figured this out. ☺