Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     Where my wife and I live, in Houston Texas, for the past week, nearly every day, it had gotten up to 100°. Even for someone like myself who enjoys hot weather, this is too hot. We went to Lake Charles, where the temperatures were "only" in the mid-90's. Regardless, we were happy to go, since we hadn't been to Lake Charles in nearly two months. We'd been really busy with other stuff, from which we finally had a break.

     After we checked in to our room at the Golden Nugget, and after resting for a while, surprisingly, I decided to play some first. The craps table was full, so I played blackjack first. After a rough start, I managed to get my money back plus $37.50

     After that, we spent a lot of time in the pool at Golden Nugget. Both of us really enjoyed this. We met and talked with a number of people, something my wife enjoys a little more than I do, but I had lots of fun too.

     We had dinner at Vic & Anthony's, still at Golden Nugget, and the steak dinner and the wedge salad were both delicious, along with the bread. It is nice to have a day that isn't focused on gambling, but just the same, I was getting anxious to hit a craps table.

     I finally got my chance just after dinner. Still at Golden Nugget, I got on to a craps table, standing at one of the ends. But I didn't shoot. No matter. There was a shooter at the opposite end, having a good roll, and I got in on that, using the In/Out/In strategy. I ended up $160 ahead, coloring up after the shooter crapped out.

     After that, we rested up in our room, then went down to the cloverleaf-shaped hot tub they have at Golden Nugget. Since we were staying here this time, instead of L'Auberge, like we usually do, we didn't have to pay a fee to use the hot tub. That was very relaxing, but unfortunately, it took a lot of energy out of me. I didn't realize this until I tried to play some more in the casino. The craps tables were full, and so were the blackjack table. My best shot for playing would be at the poker table -- in retrospect, I should have only focused on craps and blackjack. Anyway, there was a wait to play poker as well, and it was while I was waiting that I realized just how tired I was. I decided to leave the poker room before my name was called. When my wife and I got back to our room, we both crashed for the night.

     I ended the first day $197.50 ahead. Not bad. Hopefully, I can build on that tomorrow.

     After a so-so late breakfast at Claim Jumper, still at Golden Nugget, we walked over to L'Auberge, where I got into a craps game. Again, it was another shooter who made me the money. Using pretty much the same In/Out/In strategy as last time, I won $140, putting my profit margin at $337.50 for the trip.

     Then the bubble burst.

     This happened after we went to the Horseshoe. I got into a poker game, and was holding my own for most of the 2½ hours I played there. Just one hand, where I appeared to have a monster hand, but someone else had an unexpected bigger monster hand, completely busted me, when I was about to leave. If only I'd folded that hand pre-flop (it was too strong to fold pre-flop). I lost $500 at that table.

     We returned to Golden Nugget. While my wife shopped at a nearby Hobby Lobby, I got into a craps game. This time, it was like nothing was working at first. This time, I got to shoot the dice, but the first three times, I crapped out early. I made an adjustment, putting the dice in the Pass Line area instead of the Don't Pass area before beginning my grip and my toss. That appeared to do the trick, using the Hardway dice set. At one point, I was down to my final $60 of my $700 investment. With the adjustment I made, I shot a 17. Then the next time I got the dice, I did even better, but in both cases, I was using my In/Out/In strategy, which is prone to a lot of non-productive rolls, given that I'm only betting on 6 and 8 initially. On the second shoot, to the left of where I was standing, Stick Left 1, there were three or four people really cheering, when I made the first two points (10 and then 9) quickly. They were cheering me even as I was setting the dice. This was a great motivator. I love being on fun tables like this. After I made the third point, a 6, they were getting even more raucous, with one barking like a dog. When I made the fourth point, They were really cheering loudly, and I couldn't help leading a cheer of "Who Let The Dogs Out!" I haven't had so much fun on a craps table in a LONG long time! In the end, I shot 20 times, but I didn't quite get my money back. I lost $196 overall, but I look at it this way, I parlayed $60 up to $504 on my shoots. I can't be too upset at that. In fact, the second shoot lands on my Best Craps Shoots hall of fame page.

     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, my wife and I went to have a late lunch/early dinner at the Saugrass steakhouse at Golden Nugget. I only had a burger, but it was good. I had a strong margarita with that. Nothing like a good meal and a good drink to help you forget that you lost $556 that day.

     We then spent an extra long time out at the pool, and then the hot tub at Golden Nugget. We had lots of fun both places, but by the time we got back to our room, we both crashed. No more gambling this day.

     My wife was surprised when I told her that I wanted to play first and then go to breakfast. This was because I had little money in my wallet, separate from my gambling money. I thought I'd try to win the money at the blackjack table. This worked, for I won $75 there. This paid for breakfast back at Claim Jumper, which was much better this time.

     I tried to build on that win after breakfast, by playing at the craps table, the same one where I had those two good shoots yesterday. But absolutely NOTHING was working out this time. I left after a $469 loss at the craps table.

     After we checked out, we went to L'Auberge, where I first won $50 at a blackjack table, then went to a craps table. This time, I decided to do things differently. I was standing at the end on the left side, and when I shot the dice, I used my version of the 3V dice set (4/6-4/2). Again, I used the In/Out/In strategy, which took a while for things to get going, but I ended up with my best shoot of the trip, shooting 23 times. I ended up winning $166 at the craps table. I added $100 more at another blackjack table, for a total casino win of $316, my best win of this trip.

     Now why the hell did I play poker at Golden Nugget after that? Silly me! I played for 2 hours, and even though I played better at the Horseshoe yesterday, I will say that I lost less this time around, losing $304. I made sure I didn't totally negate the L'Auberge win I just had.

     The final assault occurred at the blackjack table back at L'Auberge. After a lot of up-and-down, I decided to leave $25 ahead, and declare myself all gambled out. That win was enough to pay for a quick meal at a deli inside L'Auberge. I had the money for a bigger and better meal, but we were running short on time.

     As a whole, I was down $715.50 for the trip. If I hadn't played poker, I'd actually be $88.50 ahead for the trip! I ended up with a net loss of $199 playing craps. I've done better, but I've definitely done worse. I think I'll only play poker on future trips when I'm sufficiently ahead. Hopefully, I can put this to practice the next time I visit Lake Charles.

     As a final note, going along with the theme of this trip, the bus that my wife and I rode back to Houston was almost unbearably hot! The AC wasn't working too good. Argh!!