Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     The main purpose of my trip to the east coast was not to gamble, but to see my 94-year-old aunt who has been very influential in my life, and who lives in Bowie, Maryland. My wife and traveled out to Bowie on December 3rd, and stayed until December 8th. We decided to go up to Atlantic City at least once to gamble.

     Like last time, we took an Amtrak from the New Carrollton train station (the nearest station to Bowie MD) to Philadelphia, then transferred to another train (now part of New Jersey Transit), which took us the rest of the way to Atlantic City. BTW, if you're able to drive, and you'd want to go to Atlantic City, I'd recommend flying into Philadelphia, then driving the rest of the way to Atlantic City. It's only an hour's drive, and it's a lot less nerve-racking than how we did it, for neither me nor my wife drive.

     The first casino we played at was Bally's. Apparently, we got there too early for the craps table to be open (it doesn't open until 12 noon, and we got there just before 11:00). So instead, I played blackjack, and won $75. Nice way to start.

     We then went over to Caesar's, and I got into a craps game, shooting from the end. I used the Yo-Yo dice set, and I shot two different times, shooting a 9 and a 10. That table was definitely a mixed bag, for some shooters were up, some were down, and I did some low-risk strategies, even on myself--more on that later. Bottom line: I ended up $34 ahead. Still just trying to get my feet wet at this point.

     The big story of this casino session was Mrs. MusicalDice winning over $500 on a slot machine, playing the Buffalos (from an off-the-cuff suggestion from me, after we watched a Bror Frederick video). Well damn, I've never gotten a 500 Club in all the 30 years I've been coming to Atlantic City, and here, my wife gets one on just the third trip! I'm not jealous, I'm very happy for her.

     By the time we returned to Bally's (I was determined to play craps there), it was time for lunch. We had pizza at this place on the upper level. The pizza was great, but the prices were atrocious. $47 for just two slices apiece plus two drinks??

     When I got to the craps table at Bally's, it was then that things started to go south. Once again, I shot from the end. At first, I used the Yo-Yo dice set again, but after a roll of 6, and a PSO, I switched to the Crossed Sixes dice set (6/2-6/4 in my case), but that only yielded a roll of 8. And nothing was working on other shooters either. I left the table $231 down. I did win $10 of it back after a long up and down battle at the blackjack table, leading to a session loss of $221. I went from being $109 ahead to being $112 down. Ugh!

     We then went to Golden Nugget, with the hope that I'd be able to make the money back there. I nearly did at the blackjack table, winning $97.50 there. Only $14.50 down at this point.

     But it was quite a different story at the craps table. Yes, I shot a 13 from Stick Left 1, using the Hardway dice set, but there were A LOT of non-productive rolls, meaning horn rolls, and 4's and 10's when I didn't have bets on them. At one point, I was one away from hitting the tall (needing only the 9), but then I sevened-out. I admit to betting entirely too much on other shooters, and I ended up $405 down at the craps table, leading to a total session loss of $307.50.

     The last casino there was time for, before my wife and I had to return to the train station to get back to Maryland, was the Borgata. I had never lost at this casino before, but unfortunately, that changed too. I played blackjack, since so far on this trip, I hadn't lost at that, but I quickly lost $412.50 at the Borgata.

     I stopped gambling at that point. I ended up down $832 for the trip, which matches the area code for my phone number! BTW, my highest 3-game bowling series is also 832 (this occurred 20 years ago at the Reno Hilton, before my eyes went bad) -- if you want details on this, email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I'll be glad to give you the details.

     I have a few take-aways from this trip. One is to not put a lot of money out there initially on other shooters. And two, since my shooting, overall, wasn't terribly bad, I think I need to switch to the kinds of strategies where I can get out of the hand in a short amount of rolls, which will involve risking more money initially, but then after a few rolls, regress down, and get into profit zone. One more take-away is, the next time I come to Atlantic City, I need to stay overnight for a few nights (like I now do with Lake Charles--I initially only did day trips there, with similar results). For I found myself taking bigger risks trying to get un-stuck quickly, and that is definitely a mistake. On that last point, my wife and I are tentatively planning another trip to Atlantic City around mid-March of 2024, just ahead of visiting my aunt in Maryland for her 95th birthday, which is on St. Patrick's Day. But on our Atlantic City trip, we do plan to stay a few nights.

     One final note: 2023 marked the first time I played at Atlantic City, Reno, and Las Vegas all within the same year. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that again next year, and get at least one 500 Club in each month. Those are my goals for next year. In the meantime, I have one more Lake Charles trip planned for later on this month. Stay tuned for it! ☺

     My wife and I decided to go to Lake Charles for one final time this year. After all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holidays, and after we got our Christmas shopping pretty much out of the way, we both needed some time away. So that's what this trip was intended to be. However...

     We checked into our hotel room at the Golden Nugget casino -- fully comped this time. This time, there wasn't a whole lot of time for rest and relaxation, for I had a Zoom meeting early in the afternoon with a recruiter about a potential new software development contract. After that, my wife and I went downstairs to the casino.

     Unfortunately, the trip didn't start off as good as hoped. I played craps first. I managed to get a spot at Stick Left 1, and I shot a 5 using my Hardway dice set. I've been working on not using a pendulum swing, and I felt like I tossed the dice good, except for the fifth roll which I knew was too hard. It was on that roll that I sevened-out. The other shooters were hardly any better, and I admit to betting too much on them. I did use my Two-Hit Wonders strategy, which for me in practice, has had a 90% success rate, but after three straight PSO's, I abandoned that strategy, and had to go to a second buy-in of $500. I got a little of it back before I decided that enough was enough. I left the table $450 down.

     From there, we walked over to L'Auberge. The craps table was full, so I played blackjack. I ended up winning $175 there. I thought of trying to take things further, trying to make up for the craps loss, but I felt it was important to at least get a win under my belt first. So that's how I left it at L'Auberge.

     We returned to Golden Nugget, where I first got into a blackjack game. I ended up $27.50 ahead, chipping away 10% of my deficit at that point. It all helps.

     I then returned to the craps table, this time, standing at one of the ends. The shooter was at the other end, and I decided to try the Greenback Strategy, placing 30 each on the 6 and 8, and 20 each on the 5 and 9. I collected greens on each of the six hits I got, while using the residuals either for Hardway bets, or to press or place adjacent numbers. For example, I had two hits on the 8, each paying $35. I pressed the 9 by 10 on each of those hits. It would have been nice if the 9 had hit, but that wasn't to be. I did end up $50 ahead at this table. It was my initial intention to stick around long enough for me to shoot, but it was getting too close to my and my wife's dinner reservation at the Ember Steakhouse, which is at L'Auberge, so I left after that shooter crapped out. A total session win of $77.50

     Our dinner reservations at the Ember Steakhouse were for 5:00, but then I remembered the other Zoom meeting I was to be part of, which was to start at 6:00. If we were staying at L'Auberge, this would have been feasible, but on second thought, we decided to postpone our dinner reservations until after the Zoom meeting was over. The second Zoom meeting was a family Zoom meeting, where we were celebrating the birthday of my Aunt Elizabeth, who turned 87 today. It was a truly wonderful tribute, and I was amazed at all the people my aunt has touched. I even sang a piece of "The Wonder Of You" by Elvis Presley in light of at, when I got a chance to speak. We thought the meeting would last at most an hour. It actually lasted more than TWO hours, and the Ember closed at 9:00, so we had to high-tail it over there to get a table there. But we made it, and the meal was delicious.

     Afterwards, we discovered that the tables at L'Auberge were full, so we returned to Golden Nugget. Same story there too, and I didn't have the energy to either try to get into a poker game at Golden Nugget, or head over to the Horseshoe to try to get into a game there. So instead, Mrs. MusicalDice and I decided to call it a night. I was down $197.50 for the day, but I was glad to have knocked off more than half of my initial deficit. Hopefully, tomorrow, I can knock off the rest of it, and get into black ink.

     There is no better way to describe what happened this second day of this trip. I felt like I'd completely run into a brick wall, with my gambling results.

     After breakfast at the Claim Jumper in the Golden Nugget casino, I played craps, hoping to further chip away at my deficit. But quite the opposite happened. The table was ICE COLD!! I even switched to a Don't strategy, but NOT EVEN THAT worked!! My shooting wasn't too hot either, and I ended up $718 down. ARGH!!!

     I thought some rest and relaxation would be enough for me to do good at the poker table, which was where I went to for my next gambling session. I swear to GOD, this will be THE LAST TIME I play at the poker room at Golden Nugget! The management and staff have such f**ked-up attitudes, plus they couldn't have made it more clear that they didn't want to deal to me, and read the cards on the board when I'm in the hand (I am visually impaired). For I sat in one of the middle seats, and they put the cards on the board as close as possible to me, but at times, I had to strain to read the cards. PLUS, they put an extra person at the table, making as cramped and uncomfortable as possible. And of course, I ended up losing $698, snapping a win streak of four poker sessions in a row.

     I made sure to play craps at L'Auberge. I was hoping the tables there would be good, but it wasn't happening there either. The table was ice cold AGAIN!! I PSO'ed on my first roll when I had a substantial amount of money out there. The next time I had the dice, I rolled at least a 5, but there weren't enough productive rolls to get me out of the hand. From there, I basically played $30 bets on the 6 and 8, hoping the math would swing back in my favor, and I'd be able to do something, once I got two hits on those numbers. Only problem was, each time, the 7 came before I even got ONE hit. When I got down to my last red chip, after several early crap-outs, I decided that enough was enough. I left $545 down at that table.

     I said to my wife after we had lunch and took a breather back in the room, if I don't win at the Horseshoe, then I am DONE for this trip. So that evening, I played at the Horseshoe--poker, not craps. The vibes in the poker room were 180° different than at the poker room at the Golden Nugget. As always, the dealers and staff were very accommodating. In fact, some of the staff at the Horseshoe, used to work at Golden Nugget, and none had a nice word to say about Golden Nugget. Hmmmm...Anyway, all the good vibrations in the world couldn't change my luck, however. I lost a huge key pot, and I never recovered from that, losing $815. I declared myself all gambled out at that point.

     No more gambling for me on this trip, even though I did have enough for one more buy-in, plus some, but I always make sure to return home with some gambling money, rather than none. It's easier to build on something, than to build on nothing. My wife and I still had a great time while we were in Lake Charles, for we always love to have a little getaway. But as far as gambling, it was the worst outing I had in over two years. The good thing is, I kept my total loss for the trip under $3000. And overall for the year, I lost a lot less than I did last year. And I'm sure that the game that I lost the least at was craps. I have to find the silver lining somewhere in all this, right? Seriously, I think 2024 is going to be better. I have a goal that each month next year, I want to get at least one 500 Club. Will it happen? Wait 'til next year, and you'll find out. In the meantime, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! ☺

     Today, I came out with two new craps articles--the Field Constructor Strategy, and the 4X Strategy. Would these strategies have helped me on my last trip to Lake Charles? I probably would have lost less, if nothing else, for I'd use the Field Constructor strategy on other shooters, and I would have lost less overall, using the 4X strategy, especially on my rolls. Anyway, feel free to check out these new strategies. Also feel free to let me know what you think, by emailing me at musicaldice323@gmail.com.