Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     This was the first time in almosf three months that my wife and I had been to Lake Charles. Me, I really wanted to finish this trip with a win, since the past few have not been that way. Coming to Lake Charles, I was determined to try some new things to try to turn things around for the better.

     Contrary to the title of this day, we were not in a rush to hit the tables. We rested for at least two hours before doing so (we'd gotten to Lake Charles early, due to the lack of Rush Hour traffic in Houston, and this time, our room was ready immediately). The gambling started at the craps table at L'Auberge, where we once again, have our two nights comped. I shot from Stick Left 1, using the Hardway dice set. I decided to experiment with a lower dice toss (Bryan from Hawaii Craps Shooters, coincidentally, had talked about doing the same thing). I shot a 10 the first time, noting how easy it was for me to throw them too hard. Unfortunately, I was playing only the 6 and 8, and none of them hit before I crapped out. Fortunately, my wife, who is a random shooter, got to shoot, and she made three quick points, en route to my getting my money back, plus $14. A win is still a win.

     I did add another $50 to that at the blackjack table. I didn't stay there that long, because I wanted to make sure my first session here was a win. Yes, $64 is still considered a win.

     From there, we went to the Golden Nugget casino. I first got into a blackjack game, where I won a quick $100. Again, I didn't stay there long, this time, due to a player who didn't know what he was doing (Dude, always at least hit a soft 17). Better to leave before he starts screwing up the cards.

     From there, I went to a craps table. Again, I shot from Stick Left 1, using the Hardway dice set. Again, I tiptoed into the game, so to speak, and despite shooting a 15 the first time around, I fell just shy of getting my money back. I did use my lower toss, shooting the dice a little softer, having them roll to the back wall under the spikes. But the rest of my rolls were mediocre, and I did have a PSO mixed in with that. I bought in for an additional $500, for a total buy-in of $1000. I tried my Fibonacci strategy with $25 Pass Line bets, but after going to level 3 before getting it back, I decided against going further with that. Things started turning around on another person's shoot. I decided to try this new strategy, I'd recently seen on YouTube by Crappy the Craps Man, where he starts off with $30 bets on the 6 and 8, and when those hit, place $15 on either the 4 and 5, or the 9 and 10, pressing them up, as 6 and 8 hit. But if one of the outside numbers that has a bet on it hits, take both bets down. I think Crappy calls this the Feed The Outsides strategy, where he places the 4 and 5 on hits of the 6, and places the 9 and the 10, upon hits of the 8. I used this strategy with two minor alterations: One, I fed the 9 and the 10 with rolls of 6, and fed the 4 and 5 with rolls of 8. The second alteration was, if I was able to build the outsides back up after taking them down the first time, I do not take them back down when they hit again, for I'd already made a profit by that time. This strategy proved very handy, as this shooter (even less marginally a controlled shooter than I am), went on a monster roll. As the numbers kept hitting, I pressed them up, getting to $90 on the 6 and 8, and $50 on the 9 and 10. I started playing the Hardway bets, and they hit 8 times, three of them being the Hard 10 (after which, I yelled out "Snowflakes!" after each hit). I even got to yell out "Bull-llack out!" three times, when the 8 hit at the $90 level (paying out $105). But probably what was the highlight of this craps session, was when the point was 9, and I also had $20 on the Pass Line, and the same amount for odds. The song "Rush Hour" by Jane Wiedlin (of the Go-Go's) was playing. I said to the shooter, "Make this a chart-position thing for this song," which was a #9 hit. I really was cutting up, when that 9 actually hit, and that made me a TRIPLE-winner! Made a total of $120 off the roll (not the most, since one of those Hard 10 rolls, actually made me $133 -- $98 for the Place bet, plus $35 for the Hard 10 bet). The shooter crapped out, as the song faded out. To my surprise, I'd gotten all my money back, plus an additional $692. A total casino session win of $792. I hadn't had a 500 Club in nearly six months!! And it's been even longer since I had a win this large at the craps table. Needless to say, I was all smiles, leaving that table!

     I wanted to kind of savor that big win at Golden Nugget, so when we got back to L'Auberge, we kind of chilled out for an hour and a half, until it was time to go to dinner at the Ember Steakhouse. There, the meal was especially good, with extra real bacon bits on the wedge salad.

     From there, we went to the Horseshoe casino (formerly Isle Of Capri). It was my intention to play craps there, then poker. But the craps table was full, so we went straight to the poker table. There I played 1/3 Texas Hold 'Em for two hours. I had somewhat of a different strategy for this table (which I'm not going to get into here, but if you want to know, email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I'll be glad to tell you what that strategy was). Anyway, I ended up $367 ahead at the poker table.

     Normally, at this point, I'd be trying to make another $133 to try to get to another 500 Club, but by the time I left the poker table, I was fast getting tired (I think the margarita I had with the dinner was really starting to kick in), and playing anymore tonight, wasn't even worthy of consideration. All things considered, it still was a great day, having won a total of $1223 for the day. I can only hope I can build on that for the rest of the trip. Meedless to say, when we got back to L'Auberge, we both crashed for the night.

     After having a somewhat late breakfast, the gambling for this day began at the craps table at L'Auberge. This time, I decided to play at the end. I thought I'd try the lower toss from this position, using my Yo-Yo (6/5-5/6) dice set. That didn't work out too well, for I crapped out at about the sixth roll. I also started getting into trouble, as for a while, the table was cold. At first, I was playing the Feed The Outsides strategy of Crappy the Craps Man, but the other shooters were crapping out early too. I started using the Fibonacci strategy on the Pass Line, as a way to try to get my money back. I continued to use it on myself, when I got the dice back. This time, I decided to abandon the low toss, and opted for a higher but more gentle toss of the dice. This seemed to work, for I almost got all my money back, shooting an 18, still using the Yo-Yo dice set. I got the rest of it back on the following shooter's roll, where he started with two seven-winners. That was all it took to get it back, and I colored up $25 ahead.

     Then, we went to a blackjack table, where quite unexpectedly, I had a quick easy round, winning an additional $500, for the second 500 Club of the trip! $525, not a bad way to start off the day!

     From there, we went to the Golden Nugget casino. We first got into a blackjack game. After winning an initial $50, then a few rounds in a row of breaking even, I decided to color up, when there was a discrepancy on how much I'd bought in--I thought I'd bought in for $500, when I'd really bought in for $600. No matter. I cashed out for $650, abd a $50 win there.

     Then, I played at a craps table there. Like at L'Auberge, I opted to stand at the end on the left side, and use my Yo-Yo dice set. This didn't work here, and I quickly got into trouble. After another short roll from that position, I moved to Stick Left 1, bought in for a second round of $500, and decided to go back to the Hardway dice set, the next time I got the dice. When I first arrived, there was only one other shooter. But after I moved to Stick Left 1, several more players came. Two of them, including the other original player, had decent shoots, and I was starting to get my money back, but I was still significantly behind when I got the dice, just after those two good rolls. I thought to myself, this is going to be a tough act to follow. Indeed, I was fully prepared to take the loss, which would have been the first of the trip. But nonetheless, I concentrated on setting the dice to the Hardway dice set, and really concentrating on gently lofting the dice, tossing them softly so that they gently hit the back wall. This seemed to do the trick. I ended up going on a long rally, making four points in the process. I also went back to the Feed-The-Outsides strategy, and was building the Place Bets up that way as well. I was already doing some cutting up, hitting a bunch of Hardways on the previous two shooters, and I was continuing to cut up on my shoot, culminating with a "Bull-llackout!" whem I rolled a 5, yielding a payout of $105. Apparently, my rolls were really helping out a woman, who was one of the new players, for I'd hit a number of horn rolls, which she'd had bets on. At one point, when I rolled a 3, apparently, I'd hit the small, which yielded this player a lot of money. She was so overjoyed that she tossed me a $50 tip. When I did crap out, I figured out, much to my amazement, that I'd shot a whole 30 times!! (364305 72) I hadn't had a shoot like that in over six months! I not only got my money back, but made an additional $414. In some ways, I was even more proud of this craps session than the big one I had at Golden Nugget yesterday. For one thing, that shoot of mine, was one of my ten best shoots ever. Check out my Best Craps Shoots page. I was able to update it for the first time since my Vegas trip last September.

     At this point, I was just $36 shy of another 500 Club, so I thought I'd try to win the rest of it playing blackjack again. Silly me! I hadn't had more than one 500 Club in quite a long time; what the hell made me think I was going to get one now? I lost $175 at that table before I decided to stop. No 500 Club this time, but hey, $289 is still a good win.

     We went back to our room at L'Auberge, where we chilled out for the next 3 hours or so. At this point, I was just over $2000 ahead for this trip, and I wanted to savor that. After that, we went to a somewhat early dinner, where we ate at a Chinese restaurant still at L'Auberge. My wife had chicken Pho, while I had orange beef. There may not have been as much gambling as on previous trips, but under the circumstances, that was quite all right.

     After dinner, we played in the casino, still at L'Auberge. I got into a blackjack game. I usually play $25 tables, and two hands per round. At L'Auberge, I have to double the bets if I play two hands. Fortunately, the dealer busted each of the first three rounds, and thanks to a double-down on the first round, I was up $350. I think I shocked my wife, when I decided to raise my bets to $75 for the fourth round. Needless to say, we were both very happy when the dealer busted again, and I made my goal. I colored up $500 ahead. There was my second 500 Club of the day, a feat I hadn't accomplished in 16 months, in fact!

     At this particular point, playing craps in this session was out of the question, for I sure as hell didn't want to blow this 500 Club (it was a mute point that the craps table was full anyhow). At first, I wanted to go to the Horseshoe from there, but ultimately, I decided against that too. For again, I wanted to savor this victory, plus the fact that I actually did even better today, than I did yesterday!! I won a total of $1314 today, and thus, am ahead a total of $2537 for the first two days. Can I add even more to that? The answer lies ahead in Day 3.

     By the time this day began, I was just determined to bring home at least a decent profit from this trip. For one thing, this blog and my ego are both in desperate need of a good win for a trip. But I wanted to play some more craps, and one more time of poker first...

     After checking out of our room, we went to the craps table. This time, I got a place at left end. When I shot the dice, I shot an 11 using the Yo-To dice set. It wasn't enough to get my money back, and in fact, I had to invest a total of $1000. Fortunately, one of the other shooters had a good rally, and using the Feed-The-Outsides strategy, I was able to get my money back. The highlight of this roll was when the point was 8, I had $20 on the Pass Line, $20 on odds, $30 on the Place bet of 8, and $3 on the Hard 8, and Hard 8 hit. I was really cutting up, yelling "Square Pair's there! Quadruple winer! Shut the front door!!" Made $106 off that roll en route to winning $155 total. I was just happy to get away from there with a win.

     Lastly, I went to the poker room at Golden Nugget. I won five small-to-medium sized pots, but then it was like the magic was slipping away. After 45 minutes, I decided to leave the table $70 ahead. At that point, I declared myself all gambled out.

     Yes, it was onlu 8 gambling sessions over the whole time I was at Lake Charles, but quite frankly, I'll take these 8 quality wins anyday. Yes, I only won $225 total today, but I'll take that over a loss anyday, especially since I ended up $2762 ahead for the whole trip ($437 poker, $1025 blackjack, $1300 craps). It's been a LONG time since I had a total win for a trip this large. That even beats any of my Vegas trips. Best of all, that more than made up for the huge loss I had in Lake Charles in January.

     One of my favorite parts of any trip, especially a profitable one, is when I'm able to bring the money on home, and put it away. And pretty soon, that's what I'm going to do. Later, everyone! ☺

     Obviously, I've had some takeaways from my recent big win at Lake Charles. One has to do with the way I grip my dice. Another has to do with the toss, which I mentioned in the blog. But the biggest takeaway has nothing to do with anything I do at the tables. Instead, it has to do with making time to spend AWAY from the tables, giving your mind a chance to rest and re-charge. I noticed on my last Vegas trip that toward the end, my mind wasn't that well-rested, and I wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have. Bryan, from Hawaii Craps Shooters, more or less, said the same thing, regarding the latter part of his recent Vegas trip. He spoke of how mentally tired he was, and all that got me to thinking about how much time I spent in between sessions, giving my mind a chance to rest and re-charge. You see, when you're a controlled dice shooter (or trying to be), you are really concentrating at the craps table. That is hard mental work, and your mind needs time to rest, just like your body does when it does hard physical labor. So, my advice to you, is to always give your mind a chance to rest and re-charge, especially after a long gambling session, for if you don't, your mind will be tired, you won't be thinking as clearly as you should, you won't be making the best decisions you can make, and it's more likely that you will lose. That's my $.02 on the subject. Good luck! ☺

     In recent postings, I'm sure you've noticed that I've mentioned Bryan from Hawaii Craps Shooters, whom I'd had the pleasure of meeting, and playing craps with in Las Vegas last month. Today is his birthday!He is still one of the most prolific, informative, and influential vloggers in the craps community. Bryan, we, at musicaldice323.com salute you and your awesome content, and Happy Birthday to you! And as you like to say, may the dice be nice! ☺

     This was the first time in a real long time that the weather was warm enough for me and my wife to go swimming, so naturally, we were both real excited about going to Lake Charles. And we decided to stay at Golden Nugget this time, where they have that nice cloverleaf shaped hot tub, which stays open late. The big question would be, would I have the same good fortune as the last trip to Lake Charles?

     In the days prior to this trip, my wife and I were both very busy doing various things, and neither of us got much sleep the night before coming out to Lake Charles. I think this fact greatly affected how things went on the first day here.

     Once we checked into our room at Golden Nugget, we took a nice long rest, probably not long enough. The gambling started off with blackjack, where I fought a long battle just to get my money back plus $35. But things went downhill fast from there. The craps table was full, so I played poker. Admittedly, I didn't play well, and lost $653 at the table.

     At least, the steak and wedge salad dinner we had at Vic & Anthony's (still at Golden Nugget) was great. And the bread and butter was great too.

     Silly me, thinking that after dinner, I could try to turn things around at the craps table, which finally was available. Uh-uh! I was playing at the end, and nothing was working. I pretty PSO'ed both times I shot the dice, plus the building-the-outsides strategy, which worked like a charm on the last trip, wasn't working this time, as nobody had a good roll. I ended up losing another $430, for a total session loss of $1048.

     We went out to the hot tub, still at Golden Nugget, and that was nice and relaxing. We had some great conversations with another couple about our age. My wife, being a people person, more than I am, especially enjoyed this. I did too.

     After the hot tub, I decided to play blackjack again, still at Golden Nugget. Bad idea, for the table was really bad, as for some reason, it tends to be late at night. I lost another $500, for a total day loss of $1548. OUCH!!

     In light of what happened yesterday, I decided that I wasn't going to gamble at Golden Nugget again, until I at least gave L'Auberge, and maybe the Horseshoe a shot first. Also, I decided that I was going to do things to make me feel like a winner again.

     We had a late breakfast, due to us making sure we had a good long rest this time. Afterwards, we went to L'Auberge, where I played blackjack. I quickly won #100. I didn't stay that long, making sure I logged my first casino win of the trip.

     From there, we went to the Horseshoe, where I got into a craps game. This time, I was standing at Stick Left 1. I used my Hardway dice set, and for a strategy, I combined the building-the-outsides strategy (I've yet to come up with a good name for this strategy), with the Fibonacci strategy on the Pass Line at the $25 level. I shot a 9, more or less breaking even. The following shooter had an even better shoot, and I used the same strategy with him. Here, there were less non-productibe rolls (which happens a lot with the building-the-outsides strategy), and I was able to leave the table $212 ahead. I definitely needed that.

     We returned to Golden Nugget, and it was only then that I played there again, playing blackjack, seeing that the craps table was full. I won $115 at the blackjack table.

     Unfortunately, I suffered one big loss this day, and that was at the blackjack table back at L'Auberge. I lost $950 on a horrible table. Damn! And just when I thought I'd have some hope of getting it all back!

     Once again, I was in the mindset of trying to feel like a winner again. I achieved this in a small way, when I returned to Golden Nugget, and played craps. This time, I was standing at the left outside hook, but I didn't wait to shoot. Using the same strategy that I used at the Horseshoe, I won a quick $48 off someone else's shoot. Good enough at the time.

     I added another $50 at the blackjack table for a total casino win at Golden Nugget of $98. Not exactly breaking the bank, but enough for me to feel like a winner again.

     We then had a late lunch/early dinner at Olive Garden, which is off-property. As always, the meal was great there. From there, we returned to the Golden Nugget and hung out at the pool for the next three hours. It was good to relax and get away from the gambling for a while.

     But I wasn't quite done gambling for the day. We then returned to the Horseshoe, specifically so I can play poker. I wanted to see if I could get a win at that game before the trip ends. But before we even got to the Horseshoe, I was starting to get tired. I did play poker for an hour, and won $55. Good enough. My initial intention was to play craps afterwards, but the craps table was full when I left the poker room, and I was starting to feel like I was going to crash anyway. By the time Uber picked us up and returned us to the Golden Nugget, I knew any further gambling that night was out of the question, for when we returned to our room, we both crashed. I ended up losing a net of $370, but still feel like I can still win. How much will I win tomorrow? Just wait and see...

     I'd already resigned myself to being down for the trip. But I wanted to play craps at least one more time, especially at L'Auberge, since I hadn't played craps there on this trip.

     After breakfast and checkout, I played craps at Golden Nugget. There, I shot from Stick Left 1, using the same combination of the feed-the-outside strategy along with the Fibonacci strategy from the Pass Line. That turned out to be a bad idea, for crap rolls on the comeout quickly got me into trouble, and this, despite having two very good rolls. The first roll I had, I used the Hardway dice set, and much to my surprise, shot 21 times (003 740 61), with unfortunately, a lot of those rolls being non-productive ones. 7 of those rolls were either horn rolls or 7's. I experimented with a new dice set for me, the 6/2-6/2 dice set, thinking that I'll have more productive rolls that way. I shot 19 times (330 421 51) with that dice set, but 6 of them were non-productive rolls. No real difference. I was still behind even after that roll! At that point, I was thinking this was probably going to be my last session, for if I lost my buy-in on that table, I was going to declare myself all gambled out, and done for the trip. Fortunately, another shooter had a good roll, and I just did get my money back, winning $83. My first roll was good enough to make my Best Craps Shoots page. I wasn't done yet.

     From there we went to L'Auberge, where I finally got to play craps there. I shot a 9 from Stick Left 1, using the Hardway dice set. I almost broke even. Fortunately, there was another shooter who had a good roll. I made $146. It was then that I declared myself all gambled out.

     The results of this trip are: I won $229 for the last day, reducing my total deficit for the trip $1689. Although I'm down for the trip, my spirits are still up. I did have 4 casino wins in a row at the end, plus, I actually ended up ahead playing craps! ($59 ahead). Of course, I lost playing blackjack and poker. But I'm happy that I had those two long craps rolls near the end, and I have a better sense of what works for mem, and what doesn't, regarding the game of craps. Maybe I should concentrate more on craps, for future trips, huh?