Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     Usually, when we go on these trips, I'm the only one who plays, since gambling is more my thing than my wife's. However, this time, Mrs. MusicalDice decided to bring some gambling money to play as well. This ought to be real interesting.

     We checked into our hotel room at the Golden Nugget casino. After some much-needed rest and relaxation, we started to play.

     We first played craps at Golden Nugget. I got to play at Stick Left 1, and I had a couple of shoots using the Hardway dice set. I shot an 8 and a 12. This was at a $10 table, and I was playing very cautiously, given that lately, my shoots haven't been too good overall. I'm experimenting with a different grip, with my fingers all the way down on the dice, locking them in place before tossing them. I was using the three-finger grip. It worked satisfactorily. Only thing was, I was betting on other shooters as well, including my wife, who is a random shooter. She's really a novice when it comes to craps, so sometimes I had to explain things to her. Bottom line: I cashed out $4 ahead. My wife, who colored up at the same time I did, ended up down $23, as she wasn't playing as many Place bets as I was, nor was she playing the Knockdown strategy (which I only did with the 6 and 8). Besides, I only wanted to get my feet wet at that point.

     Afterwards, we went to L'Auberge with the intention of playing craps there first. But the only live table available was a $50 table!! NO THANK YOU!! There was also one of those so-called modernized tables with the monitor screens with the glass surface, but I can't play on that. Later for craps, I guess.

     I did play blackjack at L'Auberge (my wife doesn't play blackjack). I won a quick $100 on a choppy table. From there, we decided to return to Golden Nugget.

     When we returned to Golden Nugget, the craps table was full, so I decided to play blackjack there. I thought I was doing well by avoiding a drunk player on one table, but instead, I ran into a horrible table, losing $462.50. I was hoping for better than this!

     We ate dinner at Vic & Anthony's, still at Golden Nugget. The steak dinner and the wedge salad were both delicious. We each had one adult beverage. From there, we decided to go to the Horseshoe.

     My plan, coming to the Horseshoe, was to first play craps, and then poker. We first got to the craps table, and we both got in on a shooter that was doing well. Apparently, my wife took a chance or two more than I did, that paid off, for when we both colored up, after that shoot, I was ahead $53, while my wife finished up $69 ahead! That kind of surprised me.

     The big story at this casino, however, was, while I played poker, my wife played the slot machines, and was repeatedly hitting bonus rounds. Apparently, she had w real good run of luck, for after I finished playing poker, 1½ hours later, winning $112 in the process (and a session win of $165), my wife showed me this big wad of bills from repeated cash-outs. That wad of bills was for just over $1000, and she had another two tickets to cash in, which was for another $400+. Overall, she had won at least $800, and probably closer to a grand at the slot machines! People were getting jealous of her repeatedly hitting bonus rounds. Me, I could be nothing but proud of my wife.

     My wife was still ecstatic when we returned to the Golden Nugget. But we were both rather tired, so we didn't do any more gambling on this day. Back at the Horseshoe, I had said that my wife was really lucky, but she prefers to call it blessed, instead of lucky. So when we returned to our room, I said to her, "Mrs. MusicalDice, you are truly blessed." As for me, I finished the day down $193.50, but our spirits are definitely up. That's all for Day 1.

     Maybe, but as you'll soon find out, I had to go through some hell before I got there...

     We ate breakfast at the Claim Jumper, in Golden Nugget. At one point, my wife was listening to a woman chewing her husband out in the booth next to us. While Mrs. MusicalDice didn't catch all of the conversation, from what she told me, I figured out that the husband had gambled and lost way too much money, so much so that the wife had to pay for breakfast, and to say the least, she was not happy about it. I remembered this incident throughout the day, for I think it had some bearing on some of my decision-making later on. BTW, Mrs. MusicalDice happily paid for our breakfast before I could say anything (I paid for the other meals later on).

     After breakfast, we went into the casino. I first played blackjack, and I was hoping to win back enough to get out of hole I was in, which was less than $200. I was up $75 at one point, but ended up down $387.50. I did get $45 of it back at the craps table, afterwards. Here, I shot from Stick Right 1, using my Hardway dice set. That didn't turn out so well, as I crapped out after 3 rolls. Fortunately, it was another shooter that got my money back, with me playing the Knockdown strategy. I did hit 4 Hard Sixes along the way. Of course, the session still ended in red ink, with me losing $342.50, leaving me down $536 for the trip thus far.

     With the proceeds of what my wife won at the Horseshoe last night, she decided to have a facial and deep tissue massage. During that time, I'd decided I was going to play at L'Auberge first, then return to Golden Nugget, and play poker until my wife's appointment finished. That was my plan, anyhow...

     The craps table was full at first, so I played blackjack at L'Auberge. This turned out to be an even bigger disaster than it was at Golden Nugget! I lost $950 at that table! And blackjack is the game that I have the highest win percentage at. What GIVES here?? Anyway, I did play craps afterwards, and I got a spot at Stick Left 2. But I got off to a rocky start there too, with some shooters crapping out early. Fortunately, I was able to get into black ink, only at the craps table, on my shoot. I opted to use my Yo-Yo dice set from my position, concentrating on my three-finger grip, with my fingers all the way down on the dice, and I shot 23 times. I was playing my Knockdown strategy the entire time, and even though I never got the 8 paid for (I didn't roll a single 5 or an 8 on my roll), and I had a bunch of non-productive rolls (I had 7 horn rolls, and 3 sevens), I just did manage to eek out a $15 craps win. That roll was enough to make my Best Shoots Hall Of Fame page. Check it out.

     At this point, I was pretty much resigned to this trip being a losing one. Still, I tried to get some of it back at the blackjack table, and MAYBE get at win at L'Auberge. Well, the second blackjack table was much better than the first, and at times, it looked like I'd have a shot at making up for the loss at the first blackjack table. But when the cards started turning cold, I decided to leave the second table $200 ahead. So overall, I "only" lost $735 at L'Auberge. $1271 down for the trip at this point.

     When I returned to Golden Nugget, I tried to get into a poker game, but there was a waiting list. I got on that, and decided to head to the craps table. Under the circumstances, I wasn't about to have my head taken off yet again at the blackjack table. I thought of that couple that was sitting in the booth next to me and my wife at Claim Jumper. I figured that playing craps was the better decision, and I am glad I made that decision. BTW, I have a cardinal rule to always come home with SOME of my gambling money. In the 10 years that me and Mrs. MusicalDice have been coming to Lake Charles together, I have never violated that rule.

     Far and away, the big story of this trip was the craps session I then had at Golden Nugget. This started out rocky as well, with my having to invest $700 (instead of the usual $500) before things got going. This time, I was standing at Right End. When I shot the dice, I used the 3V dice set (in my case, the 4/6-4/2 dice set). With that, I used a different strategy where I placed $20 on the 5 and 9, and $30 on the 6 and 8. It's a variation of Crappy the Craps Man's Collect The Greens strategy, with the 5 and 9 added by Jeremy from Color Up (he only puts $10 on these numbers). I pressed the 9 a couple of times with the non-green proceeds from rolling 8's, and I even hit the 9 once, prompting me to start the 10 for 15. However, I crapped out after 8 rolls, before I could break even for my roll (just needed one more hit). Fortunately, there was another shooter, which I think I'd seen shoot the dice good before at this table. This time, he went on a SUPER MONSTER roll! I started off with 44 inside, and gradually parlayed the numbers to at least 8 units apiece. And the numbers KEPT hitting! And eventually, I started playing the Hardways, and on 10 different occasions, THEY hit! You can imagine that I was doing some major cutting up. That turned out to be an understatement, for the roll lasted EIGHTY MINUTES, as I would later find out. There were two occasions, in fact, when the shooter rolled a Hard 8, which was also the point, and I had #20 on the Pass Line, and 90 for odds, and a $5 Hard 8 for a bet, and when it hit, I'd yell out "SQUARE PAIR'S THERE! SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!! BULL-LLACKOUT!!!" On those two rolls, each of them won me $173 (20 for the Pass Line bet, 45 for the Hard 8 bet, and 108 for the odds). On two other occasions, the shooter rolled a Hard 10, and I yelled out "SNOWFLAKES!!" winning me $113 on each of those rolls (I had 40 on the Place bet for 10, plus I had 5 on the Hard 10, paying off 78 and 35 res[ectively). All in all, I had two Hard 4's hit, one Hard 6, three Hard 8's, and four Hard 10's. I was yelling and cutting up so much that I nearly screamed myself hoarse (trust me, I wasn't the only one yelling and screaming at that table). But it was one heavenly craps session. And my wife got to see the tail end of it, having finished what she said was a heavenly facial and body massage. At one point, the shooter rolled a seven-winner. At that point, I thought of how far down I was, prior to this session, and how my greens were compleley filling up the bottom part of my rack. I figured that I must have made at least $1300, enough to get me out of the hole for the entire trip. So I made the most controversial decision of all, and took down ALL my bets at that point, and colored up--good thing I did, for the guy crapped out just a few minutes later. It turned out that after I tipped the dealers $20, I had colored up for an even $2500. I had won $1800 at that craps table, which not only was it my biggest win at any one craps table, it took down a 21-year record for my best win at ANY casino!!!! WOW!!!!

     From there, we went off-property and had a nice relaxing dinner at Olive Garden. It was at that point that I declared myself all gambled out for this trip. Yes I know, I still have one more day here in Lake Charles, but after how far behind I was, and the miraculous comeback I'd just had, I had decided not to risk falling behind again. I'm $529 ahead for this trip, and that's where I'm going to stay.

     The rest of the evening was spent with the two of us reflecting on our respective heavenly experiences, which we both said was as good as sex...only kidding! ☺ It's also worthy to note that this record-breaking win I had, occurred on poker vlogger Ben Deach's birthday! (I met him 4 weeks ago on the Reno trip). Oh, I should mention that while I rested in the room, my wife went downstairs to people watch, and play a little slots. She won an additional $400 or so. Clearly, Mrs. MusicalDice was the big winner on this trip, but I can be nothing but proud of my wife.

     One of the first things I said to my wife was, "I'm locking up this win, and looking forward to putting away the gambling money when we return to Houston this evening." I meant it, when I said that I'm all gambled out. But as I said, I'm going back home $529 ahead for this trip, which twice made up for the loss I had here in Lake Charles last time.

     Although I'm not happy about my blackjack results, I am very happy about the other two games. I've won four times in a row, playing poker, something I haven't done in a long time. Plus, I had absolutely no losses at the craps tables on this trip, instead, racking up five craps wins in a row, totalling $1917. Yes, four of the wins were for very small amounts, but hey, I'll take that over a loss anyday. Also, I'm happy about the fact that I may be on to something when it comes to how I grip the dice when I shoot. Maybe on my next trip, I'll try some of the riskier strategies on my shoots, since it seems likely that I'll once again have longer rolls. We'll see...

     Watch for a new craps article or two, one being a strategy I briefly did on this trip. That's all for now! ☺