Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     The sole reason for this trip being titled what it is, is because my wife and I actually should have been here on Monday the 13th. We had planned to be out here in Biloxi Mississippi from the 13th to the 16th, but our flight out of Houston got canceled due to thunderstorms in Houston, which shut down both Houston airports for some hours. But we made it out here today. Upon seeing how small our plane was, I'm even more glad our Monday flight was canceled, for that plane wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell in that powerful thunderstorm that hit Monday.

     We got to our hotel room at the Golden Nugget casino in Biloxi. The room is very spacious. Of course, the re-scheduling is costing me through the nose because we didn't get fully comped, and especially since we're staying Friday and Saturday nights, we had to pay extra. But I look at it this way: This is a wedding anniversary trip for us -- me and Mrs. MusicalDice will be married exactly 5 years on Saturday May 18th. We weren't planning to be at a casino for this wedding anniversary, but that's the way it turned out.

     Unlike most of these trips, we didn't arrive until very late--almost 9 p.m. After we checked into our room, we were both hungry. So we ate dinner in a burger place in Golden Nugget. I thought the meal would give me some extra energy, after feeling tired as well when we arrived.

     However, the first gambling session of the trip may have shown that I was still tired, and was not playing my best. At the craps table, I first started out at Stick Left 1. I tried the Hardway dice set. I had a so-so roll the first time out (a 7-roll, I think). I didn't risk a whole lot of money at first. Then on my second roll, I risked more, only to be shot down by an early seven-out. I tried switching to the Yo-Yo dice set, and that resulted in a PSO. Then I switched to Left End, sticking with the Yo-Yo dice set. I actually shot a 16 that time, but I didn't risk much, plus the shoot wasn't enough to make up for earlier. The next time I got the dice, I tried 176 inside in a Split The Sisters strategy. I got the first, but forgot to reduce the 5 and the 9. The next roll was a seven-out. The rest of the craps session was filled with mediocre rolls that wasn't enough to get me out of the hands. I ended up losing $415 at the craps table. Blackjack wasn't really any better. I lost $387.50 there for a total session loss of $802.50. Not the beginning I'd hoped for, to say the least.

     After returning to our room, I watched part of Mel from Craps Hawaii's trip report, and after hearing how badly he started out -- assuming Mel is a much better dice shooter than i am, and to hear that he started off worse than I did, I don't feel so bad now. But I do need some sleep. More later.

     The one thing we were both determined to do this day, was go swimming, since we really didn't get a chance to do that at all until now. The weather was nice and warm, and we were going to take advantage of that.

     But before we did that, I played craps, still at Golden Nugget. This time, it was a $10 table, and I did 88 inside for two hits, then regressed to 44 inside. This was on my shoot, from Stick Left 1, using the Hardway dice set, and I had a real nice shoot, from Stick Left 1, easing up a bit on the release, while keeping the throw low to the table. I shot a total of 26 times, winning $247. I really needed this win after what happened last night. You'll see this roll on my Hall Of Fame page of My Best Craps Shoots. I was really hopeful that I could erase this red ink on this trip.

     After the win, we did go swimming. The pool at Golden Nugget was real nice and kind of warm, the way we like it. We got to talk to some people, and they were pretty nice. Mrs. MusicalDice likes the socializing and people-watching aspects of such trips more than I do, but it was great (got to see some nice eye candy too LOL).

     After we finished swimming, we took a bus that hops from casino to casino, over to the Beau Rivage casino. My initial intention for coming here was to play poker. But they didn't have a suitable poker table open at the time, so I played craps. Whatever magic I had this morning appeared to be gone, for I had a lot of short rolls, and badly timed bets. At one point, I tried what was intended to be a variation of the 2566 Iron Cross strategy, where in this case, I'd play it like I was on a $10 table, putting $20 on the field, $50 on the 5, and $60 each on the 6 and 8, with the intention of regressing down to half the amount on the Place bets, and putting $15 on the field (it was a $15 table), once I brought in $100 from the initial setup. Unfortunately, the next roll after I did the initial setup, was a seven-out. Admittedly, from there, I just plain-old didn't play well, trying a number of crazy bets, not betting as much I would initially on any of my regression strategies, but playing in such a manner that it would take a longer time to get out of the hand. The best thing I could have done was leave the table and re-group. I eventually left the table $870 down for the session. OUCH!!

     From there, we returned to Golden Nugget, for we had a dinner reservation at Morton's Steakhouse, which is in the casino. I got some much-needed rest before we had dinner at Morton's. The dinner was delicious, and the service was superb. Mrs. MusicalDice thought I was still upset over my loss at Beau Rivage, but I was actually deep in thought, thinking about how I was going to attack the craps tables from this point on. No more playing scared craps--yeah those strategies that I was betting conservatively, yet betting a lot to cover all the numbers, was still scared craps, in my book. So I was thinking of a strategy I could use that I can cover all the Place bets, and regress down to a level where I'd still cover all the Place bets. I was even thinking that I would have won more money this morning if I had played such a strategy. Most importantly, I decided, f**k it, if I lose, I lose, but I'm going to play strategies where I'm putting more out there, with the intention of getting out of the roll sooner, and covering all the Place bets.

     I got a chance to try this strategy after dinner. At first, the craps table at Golden Nugget was a $10 table, and I used a strategy where I did an across strategy, putting 2½ times the amount I normally would for a $10 table (in this case, I did 135 across). I got enough hits to regress down to 54 across after two hits. I did this on my roll, and I soon crapped out. I thought I'd gotten my money back, but I was $7 short, for prior to my shoot, I'd bet a little on a shooter (min bets on the 6 and 8, plus a line bet), and he sevened out. Once I realized that I was still short, I decided to keep playing a little longer. The table changed to $15, and when I got the dice again, I played with $20 on the Pass line, then when I established a point of 6, I put 260 across, then after two hits (an 8 and a 10, I think), I regressed to 104 across (4 units on everything). I shot 12 times, enough to get my money back plus $87. It was at that point that I colored up. I had to make sure I felt like a winner again.

     At least I could say that I lost less on this day ($536 total, compared to $802.50 for Day 1). $1338.50 of red ink. Not good, but I still have 3 days left here in Biloxi. It is still possible to erase this red ink. And with this new strategy and perspective, I feel I have a better shot at climbing out of the hole. We'll see.

     On this day, we got off to a late start, and had breakfast at the same restaurant where we had breakfast yesterday. The highlight for Mrs. MusicalDice wasn't the food, but the fact that she got to see dolphins, for the restaurant has a view of the Gulf Of Mexico. She loved it, and got some pictures.

     Afterwards, we went to the Palace casino. My plans was to have a quickie here, and head over to the IP casino where they were putting together a poker game. So I played a quick easy round of craps at a $10 table, doing 135 across for 2 hits, regressing to 54 across, when I got the two hits. I only rolled 7 times, using the Yo-Yo dice set from the end, but it was enough to win $18. On to the IP.

     At the IP casino, I got into a 1/3 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em game. Now, since this is a craps blog, I'm not going to go into great detail about the poker session, only that after 2 hours, I'd succeeded in getting my money back, and I was in this hand against this woman, and I had Ace-King in my hand, and the flop included two kings. I was betting into this woman, who called my bet on the flop, then raised me on the turn card. I checked on the river card, and she went all-in for roughly $300. Although my hand was still very strong, I couldn't be sure that I had the winner because of the way it was played. I reluctantly called, and I discovered that my opponent only had Pocket Queens, which didn't look so strong with kings on board. I was actually very surprised that I won that hand, and I was so happy that I went "BOOYAH!!" much to the displeasure of my opponent who said "Why are you so happy? You knew you had that hand." My response was "No I DIDN'T know I had that hand." (I thought she had flopped a full house which would have beaten my trip-kings). Bottom line: I left the table $428 ahead after 2½ hours, primarily because of that win.

     By this time, it was getting late in the afternoon, and we hadn't had lunch yet. I wanted to try to get a 500 Club here in Biloxi, so after I cashed in my poker chips, we looked for either a blackjack table or a craps table, in hopes of my having a quick win to put me over the 500-dollar mark for a win at the IP. It was a craps table that I got to first. Someone else was shooting, and I don't know what possessed me to place a 75-dollar Field bet, but that's what I did, and fortunately, a 9 (Center Field) was rolled, and I won $75. That was it for the craps session--the shortest craps game I ever played. That made my total win at the IP casino, $503. BTW, when that 9 was rolled, I yelled "BOOYAH!" again. Nobody else understood the reason for my elation, but that was okay (my wife understood after she did the math).

     Unfortunately, I gave back most of those winnings that night at Golden Nugget. Here, it wasn't a matter of my shooting bad, but rather, my forgetting my own advice on betting on other shooters. My rolls would never be enough to make for other shooters crapping out early, and the tables were crowded. I ended up $390 down for the session, but $131 ahead for the day. At least I could say that this was the first day on this trip that I ended up ahead (I'm still down $1207.50 for the trip).

     As I've previously stated, Mrs. MusicalDice and I didn't even intend to be in Biloxi for our anniversary which is today, but we found ourselves here, and decided we were going to have a great, regardless of what the weather had in store (it was predicted rain and possible thunderstorms for this day).

     After a very nice breakfast buffet at the Palace casino (recommended by someone we met when we went swimming on Day 2), I played craps. As was the case yesterday, I played from the end, but this time, I had a better roll, using my Yo-Yo dice set, and quickly getting out of the hand with the 270 across strategy for 2 hits, regressing down to 108 across. I made $155 at the table.

     From there, we went to the Hard Rock casino. Mrs. MusicalDice had a ball taking photos of all the music memorabilia all on the walls, and I was there to identify who each of those people represented were. From there, I played blackjack first, a game I hadn't played since Day 1. I got off to a rocky start, but I staged a comeback beginning with a double-blackjack (I was playing 2 hands), on my way to a $25 win. On to craps.

     The reason why I played blackjack first was because the craps table was full, and a new one hadn't opened yet. But by the time I finished at blackjack, the new craps table had opened, and I went there, standing at Stick Left 1. It was a rockier start here than at the Palace. That was because I wanted to get a feel for the table before putting a whole lot of money out there. I'm glad I did that, for I crapped out early at first. But I decided to go for it the second time, and I barely got out of the hand before I crapped out. The next time, also using the Hardway dice set, I managed to get a 13-roller, enough to get my money back, plus $150. A total session win of $175. Nice.

     The last major casino to hit was Harrah's, and so that's where we went next. The first craps table I was on, I didn't even realize that it was a crapless table. I shot once playing at the end. I had bet a little on a previous shooter, and he crapped out before I got it all back. On my shoot, again, getting a feel for the table, I played it slow, not putting that much out there. I shot 10 times, and I was very close to getting it all back when I crapped out. However, by that time, I was informed that I was on a crapless, and I had a Whirl bet that had hit for a Yo. I didn't get paid on the Pass line, for 11 became the point, and I immediately crapped out. However, since the Whirl bet was a push on a 7, my Whirl bet was still up. The next shooter rolled a 3 first, and that got me enough to get my money back, plus $12. I left the table once the Whirl bet fell on the next roll.

     From there, I went to a traditional craps table, standing at Stick Left 1. Here, I didn't wait to get a feel for the table, before putting the big money out there, and I wish I had waited, for when I did my 270 across, I got the first hit, but not the second hit. I crapped out at that point. Even though I subsequently had a 16-roller, I never did recover from that loss, for I was gun-shy about putting that kind of money out there again just yet. I ended up losing $276 at that table, for a net loss at Harrah's of $264. At least I was still $66 ahead for the day.

     That was all the gambling I did for this day. The rest of our 5-year wedding anniversary was spent with some R & R in our room, then out in the hot tub, still at Golden Nugget. That night, we went to this bar and grill place called the Sand Bar, and that's also where they had karaoke. I started off with singing "Piano Man," since karaoke was due to start at 9:00 on a Saturday (the dee-jay was late). From there, I also sang songs like "One In A Million You" and "My Girl," the former is our theme song, and also was in the top ten the week Mrs. MusicalDice was born, and the latter, which was in the top ten the week I was born. We had a blast, although toward the end, the loud booming hip-hop dance music (which they played A LOT of) was getting too loud for my liking. Maybe I'm getting too old for this, but as my wife pointed out, they play the music louder than they do at the places we go to back home in Houston. We had a great time at the Sand Bar, but by the time we left, I was glad we left.

     After all the excitement of last night at karaoke, Mrs. MusucalDice and I decided to sleep in. In fact, we slept so late that the first thing we did was check out, and check our luggage with the bellhop. Then we went to lunch off-property at Olive Garden. That was, because if I was to do any more gambling, it would be better not to do it on an empty stomach.

     We returned to Beau Rivage. There, I chose to play blackjack, since that game I can usually get in and out quickly--important, since we had limited time before our flight back to Houston. But I fell behind in this game, and it was a lengthy struggle to get it back, which I did, plus $50. Good enough.

     There was only time left to return to Golden Nugget (I originally wanted to do Harrah's before returning), and I only had time to play one more craps game. It was on a $10 table, and I was the only one at the table. I shot from Stick Left 1, using the Hardway dice set. Despite my 2566 Iron Cross strategy being shot down at Beau Rivage, I had to try it again before leaving Biloxi. This time, it was met with success. I was able to get out of the hand with two hits (rolling a 5 and a 6). I got a few more hits on the non-field numbers that made me the most money before crapping out on the 11th roll. I finished $77 ahead, for a total day win of $127, and a net loss for the trip of $1013.50.

     Overall, I'd recommend Biloxi as a gambling trip, but ONLY if you DON'T have to fly into the airport in Gulfport/Biloxi. It is a small airport, and only small very cramped airplanes fly into there. Our trip back to Houston was a hellified adventure in itself, which I'm not going to get into here, but if you're interested in finding out what happened, you can email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I will tell you all about it. Until next time!

     Greatland Tours, the bus company that takes me and my wife to Lake Charles, apparently had adopted a policy at the start of this year that if you don't have proof that you're staying at L'Auberge, when you have luggage, they charge you $30. They almost charged us that fee last time we stayed at Golden Nugget. But this time, Mrs. MusicalDice hit upon the idea for us to stay at L'Auberge the first night, and then Golden Nugget the other two nights. That way, we can stay at Golden Nugget and avoid the penalty (why can't we go back to the days when Greatland took people to Golden Nugget as well?). Nice cover story, huh?

     We checked into our room at L'Auberge, and fortunately, we didn't have to wait for our room to be ready this time. Unfortunately, just as we were preparing to go swimming, it started rainig, and soon thunderstorming real bad in Lake Charles. So we decided to head to the gaming floor.

     Also unfortunately, the stormy weather reflected my shoots at the craps table. I couldn't get ANYTHING right, no matter where I shot (even from SL1), or what dice set I tried. And I even tried some of my regression strategies, but got sniped with early seven-outs before I had a chance to regress. Eventually, I lost $936 at the craps table.

     I did win $50 of that back at the blackjack table, but seriously, an $886 loss is not the way I want to start off a trip.

     It was still thunderstorming when we next went to the Horseshoe. I played craps there only because I had forgotten that the poker room was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Unfortunately, the same thing happened here that happened at L'Auberge, with early seven-outs on my shoots, only that I stopped sooner, ONLY losing $717. ARGH!!!

     By the time I finished up at the Horseshoe, it had stopped raining. We returned to L'Auberge, and ate a very tasty dinner at the Ember Steakhouse. I was hoping a rest and a change of pace would get me back on track.

     However, when I then went to Golden Nugget to play craps, I still wasn't shooting worth sh*t. I was still crapping out early. The only difference was, I didn't put as much money out there. My loss this time was "only" $421. Definitely the worst start to a trip in a long time! Down exactly THIS YEAR, in terms of dollar amount!!!

     I finally did get a session win when we returned to L'Auberge, and I won $100 playing blackjack. So I ended up down $1924 for the day.

     One of my other hobbies is writing fictional stories. Ironically, several years ago, I had written about a female dice shooter, who was off kilter on a trip, doing badly, and it turned out that she was pregnant (she didn't know that until just afterwards). So why was my dice shooting so off kilter? I know I'm not pregnant! I don't know, but I know things had better improve tomorrow, or I'm going to be all gambled out much sooner than I'd like.

     I decided not to do any more gambling until I'm able to play poker at the Horseshoe. If it seems that I'm changing focus, maybe I am. I'd previously warned that this might happen.

     However, no gambling would come down the pike until the afternoon. Both of us slept in this morning. It could be that I was tired yesterday, and I needed the rest. I don't know. But anyway, we checked out of L'Auberge, and checked into Golden Nugget. Very nice rooms at both properties. I only wish the weather was as nice. It was still rainy off and on out in Lake Charles.

     When I did resume gambling, it was at the poker table, at the Horseshoe. I lost a sizeable pot early on, and it took me about 3 hours to get my money back, which I did, plus $50. It was enough to make me feel like a winner again.

     I felt like a winner enough to once again put the big money out there on my shoot. This time, it was at a $10 table, I was using the Hardway dice set from Stick Left 1, and I did 135 across for 2 hits, regressing down to 54 across. I also had a bet on the ATS (5-5-5). Much to my surprise, I hit the small, with the last roll being a 6. Made $170 off the roll, plus another $14 for the Place bet. Turns out, that was more than half of the $326 I won at the table. Also, much to my surprise, I discovered that I'd rolled 20 times, enough for this roll to make my Craps Shoots Hall Of Fame page. I was long overdue for a roll like this!

     However, returning to the craps table late that night, still at Golden Nugget, may not have been the best decision I made.

     The big difference was the fact that it was a crowded and loud party table. Ironically, that's one of the things I love about craps, but trying to concentrate on setting and tossing the dice in this environment was not working. Worse yet, Mrs. MusicalDice decided to play too, and although I love her to death, she really doesn't know how to play, for she really has no concept why I make the bets I make, and what the logic behind these bets are. I kept having to tell her what to do, and why I make certain bets, while not slowing the game down. But it turns out, Mrs. MusicalDice lost less than I did because she didn't make as many Place bets as I did, that got shot down, due to early seven-outs, especially on my shoots. Maybe I should have played like my wife! I lost $455 at the craps table while she lost only $146.

     I managed to win $27.50 back at the blackjack table, for a total session loss of $427.50. Overall, I was down for the day $51.50. Not nearly as bad as yesterday, but the only reason why I didn't declare myself all gambled out already was because I felt like I wanted to play another poker session first.

     Just like the previous day, I decided not to do any more gambling until after I got to play poker at the Horseshoe.

     This time, the weather was finally nice enough to go swimming, so after breakfast, that's what me and Mrs. MusicalDice did. We spent most of the time in the cloverleaf-shaped hot tub. Very nice and relaxing. And no kids this time, unlike at Biloxi. But the water was so hot that we spent a lot of the time sitting on the edge of the hot tub.

     But when we did make it to the Horseshoe, I discovered that the poker table was already full, and I was 6th on the waiting list. Ultimately, I decided, f88k it, I'm going to play some craps. So I got onto a $10 table, standing at the end on the left. Once again, I got into trouble early, crapping out early, using the Crossed Sixes dice set (for me, that was 6/2-6/4). Worse yet, I was doing a Fibonacci betting system on the Pass line, starting out with $10 bets, then progressing up to 20, 30, 50, and then 80, as each bet lost. Then it became my turn to shoot, and I continued what would be the next in the Fibonacci sequence, which would be 130 on the Pass line. I decided to switch to the Yo-Yo dice set, and focus on my landing zone, straight nown the Come. My first roll was a 4 to establish a point. At this point, I bought in for a second round of $500. I was not a happy camper at this point. I have $130 on the Pass line, tied to one of the hardest points to make, plus I still had to make Place bets and odds bets!? I felt like I was really on the edge at this point. I had already resolved that if I lost here, I'd declare myself all gambled out. After placing $20 for odds, and $24 each on the 6 and 8, I shot. And quite surprisingly, it wasn't an early crap-out this time. As the 6 and 8 got paid for, I slowly branched out to the other numbers, and after I had all the numbers covered, I decided to try a new strategy I'd been playing with for the last week or so on my computer. This strategy entails pressing 6 and 8 with winnings from the other numbers--4 and 5 would feed the 6, and 9 and 10 would feed the 8. I call this strategy the Twin Towers strategy, but I only played it after I got everything paid for. I ended up building up the 6 and 8 bet up to 90 apiece, and they each hit once at that level. I got to yell out "Bull--llackout!" twice--something I hadn't done in quite a while. And by the way, I did make the 4. Normally in my Fibonacci strategy, I'd then lower my Pass Line bet down from 130 to 80, but since so many bets had hit up to that point, I lowered the Pass Line bet down to 20, the starting level for all my other bets. I really had a long shoot this time, so long that my name was being called for the poker game! I can't be at two places at the same time! I had to tell my wife to let the poker room know that I'd be over there as soon as I finished my shoot at the craps table. I was not quitting now. It turned out that I'd shot 32 times at that craps table! Not only did this easily make my Best Craps Shoots Hall Of Fame page, it tied for the best craps shoot I ever had from the end, using this dice set, plus this was the best craps shoot I had in nearly three years!! Oh and yeah, I even won $435 at the table, in spite of my very rocky start.

     Fortunately for me, the seat was still open for me, when I got to the poker room. I wanted to try to win at least $65 to get that 500 Club. It took 1½ hours of playing quite tight, and grinding out, but I made my goal, winning $123 at the poker table, leading to a session win of $558. This was the biggest win I had here in over 5 years, and the first since they changed names from Isle Of Capri, to the Horseshoe.

     Apparently, I wasn't the only one playing on the edge at the Horseshoe. While I was playing poker, Mrs. MusicalDice played on a slot machine, and she would tell me later that she was on the edge of losing all her gambling money, when she got a hit for over $400 to get her money back.

     Once we returned to Golden Nugget, our initial intentions after we had a late light dinner, was to go back to the hot tub. However, we were so mentally and physically exhausted from what happened at the Horseshoe, that we both fell asleep, and didn't wake up until about 10:00. The hot tub closes at 10. Back to the gaming floor.

     Again, trying to be a "controlled" dice shooter in a loud atmosphere, like it was, wasn't going to work for me. I had early crap-outs, and that led to my losing $369 at the craps table. Unlike yesterday, I wasn't going to let this session negate the beautiful one I had earlier in the day.

     I managed to win $42.50 back at the blackjack table, for a total session loss of $326.50. This time, I ended up $231.50 ahead for the day. Why couldn't I have started off like this?

     After checking out of our room at Golden Nugget, and heading back to L'Auberge to wait for the bus to take us back to Houston, I decided to gamble once more. First, I played at the craps table. This time, I stood at Stick Left 1, and used the Hardway dice set. This time, I played very cautiously, not putting a lot of money out there. After my up-and-down (mostly down) results with shooting the dice, who could blame me? Anyway, I shot 12 times, almost getting the tall (only missing the 8), when I crapped out. I only ended up $6 ahead. But that was okay. It was then that I reached an epiphany that this was how I should have played at the beginning, and not put so much money out there at the start. Only if I'm ahead playing craps, should I try those high-risk regression strategies.

     I did add $125 to that win, for a total final session win of $131, and a total loss for the trip of $1613. Yes, it was worse than what happened in Biloxi, but after the first day, I actually did win money overall. Plus I plan to take this new perspective into my next trip, which will be in Reno in 2½ weeks. Plus, on the positive side, I still am ahead for the year in terms of poker ($706 to be exact). More later! ☺