Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     I'm sure some of you are aware that "Storm Front" is the name of a Billy Joel album -- the one that contains the top ten hits "We Didn't Start The Fire" and "I Go To Extremes." But my reason for calling this trip to Lake Charles "Storm Front" has more to do with the title track, for here, the singer talks about heading out to sea in the face of an impending storm. This is actually a pretty good analogy of me and my wife's latest trip out to Lake Charles, for the weather has been predicted to be thunderstorming each day we're there. But regardless, we're going. Some of you may be aware that we had just come back from about a week of visiting relatives, first in Cleveland Ohio (my relatives), and then Flint Michigan (her relatives). To quote a track from Billy Joel's "52nd Street" album, we've given everybody so much time. Now we need a moment that's ours. Above all, that's why we decided to go to Lake Charles, despite the predicted thunderstorms.

     Only 17 minutes into the ride from Houston to Lake Charles, it started raining, and it was pretty much off and on the entire 3-hour trip. But there'd be no doubt that we made the right decision to come out to Lake Charles.

     We checked into our room at L'Auberge, where we plan to be for the first night. We plan to be at Golden Nugget for the other two nights. After getting some much-needed rest, we decided to go down to the casino floor.

     After winning $150 at the blackjack table, I decided to play craps. I got off to a rocky start, first placing Come bets, but losing more money than I won doing this. I thought the table was going to be a cold table, so on this one shooter, I did a Don't Pass bet, and laid three times the bet, on the point of 9. But when the shooter immediately made the 9, I figured I'd better switch to the light side. The next point was 8, and I placed 60 on the 6, and 60 for odds ($20 on the Pass line). Fortunately, the point was made, and from there, I reduced the bets on 6 and 8 to 30 apiece, and with subsequent hits on the 6 and 8, I branched out to the other Place bets for 15 each. The roll was long enough to press each Place bet up to quarter levels. I also kept a close watch on my profits. When I realized that I'd made at least $350 in profits, I pulled down the Place bets, just ahead of the seven-out. It turned out, I made $399 at the craps table, for a total session win of $549. I started this trip off with a 500 Club! Way to start!

     This would be the only gambling session for the day. For after we then went to the Ember Steakhouse to have dinner, the weather was so rainy and yucky, that we wouldn't even consider going anywhere else, and I felt that to return to the casino at L'Auberge after the 500 Club, it would be like returning to the scene of the crime. So that was it for the day. More tomorrow.

     We got off to a late start this Wednesday morning. In fact, it was so late that we only had time to have breakfast and pack our stuff because check-out time was fast approaching. After check-out, I played blackjack, still at L'Auberge, where I won a quick $100. We then went over to the Golden Nugget casino where we were to spend our next two nights.

     Our room at Golden Nugget wasn't ready yet, when we arrived, so I decided to play craps. At first, the table was really cold, and I lost most of my initial buy-in of $500. I then bought in for a second round of $500, and then switched to a dark-side strategy I'd only very recently developed. With this strategy, I'd play the Don't Pass and Don't Come bets, laying enough for a 1X payout on the 6 and 8, 2X on the 5 and 9, and 3X on the 4 and 10. This strategy worked out surprisingly well, for the table was just that cold. This girl dressed up like a guy was also playing the dark-side, and I had fun joking with her about chart positions and songs. Oddly enough, I had thought of the song "On The Dark Side" and its chart peak of #7, but we'd only say that number in hushed voices amongst ourselves. Then the actual song started to play! And that seven-out came when the point was 4, and I had $90 laid on that, as well as a Don't Come that traveled to the 10, and I had the same amount laid on that. After that seven-out, I'd gotten a significant chunk of my money back, but it was then my turn to shoot. Of course, I switched to the light side. I was shooting from the left end, and using the Yo-Yo dice set, I shot 10 times, ALMOST enough to get my money completely back. Then the girl standing next to me got to shoot, and I placed $40 on the Pass line, part of another new strategy I'd only recently developed. She rolled a 10 to establish a point. After quite a while, and my thinking that my efforts to try to come back were all going to be in vain, the shooter rolled 10 the hardway! Needless to say, after I got paid, I colored up and got the hell out of there! Yes, it was only a $16 win, but given how I was teetering on the edge of disaster earlier, I'll definitely take that.

     This dark-side strategy, was also appropriate for the weather, given how dark and gloomy it still was in Lake Charles, and how it was predicted to be for our entire stay there. Fortunately, bu the time the craps session ended, and I colored up and cashed in my chips, our room was already ready. Mrs. MusicalDice, in fact, had already gotten the keys, and our stuff was already in the room--don't you just love her?

     After a late lunch, off-property at Olive Garden, we went to the Horseshoe casino. This was mainly so I could play poker, which I did first. After an hour, I won $330 primarily due to flopping a sneaky two-pair with the Six of Spades and the Deuce of Spades, which turned into a full house on the turn. I'm still ahead for the year playing poker, can you believe it? In fact, my win percentage for this year, coming into this trip, has been slightly higher for poker, than it's been for craps! (62% to 59%) Who would have thought that?

     I did get into a craps game, still at the Horseshoe. As before, I was standing at the end. Also, as nefore, I ran into the same girl I played with at Golden Nugget. She greeted both me and Mrs. MusicalDice joyously. But then she had to go to the ATM to get some more money. More on that later. In the meantime, I played on the $10 table, putting $25 on the Pass line, in a strategy similar to when I'd placed $40 on the Pass line at Golden Nugget, on a $15 table (a new strategy I will soon be putting into a new craps article). Here, I lost the $25, and had to increase it to $50, and won that. With the $25 profit, I placed 12 each on the 6 and 8. Unfortunately, neither hit before the seven-out. I was still $1 ahead, therefore, when it was my turn to shoot. I put the minimum on the Pass line, and placed 24 each on the 6 and 8 (actually, the point was 8, and I put 25 for odds there). I immediately rolled another 8, and reduced those bets down to half, getting me out of the hand (if I was thinking, I would have placed 48 each on those numbers, not just 24). I ended up rolling 11 times, expanding to the 5 and the 9 before crapping out. I ended up $51 ahead at the craps table, and $381 ahead for the whole session at the Horseshoe. After that win, for the first time in quite a while, I could say that I was over $1000 ahead for the trip.

     A few things I feel I have to say here: It has been well over a decade since I went to an ATM to take money out to continue gambling. I always come to the casinos with a set amount of gambling money. Once that money is gone (or sufficiently low in my case), that is it. I'm done. All the ATM fees charged on each withdrawl, makes using the ATM at a casino a complete waste of money. Mrs. MusicalDice told me that she'd seen a guy at the Horseshoe on five separate occasions, take out $2000. I hate to see how much extra in fees he was charged! Also, Mrs. MusicalDice witnessed two women fighting over a slot machine. Apparently, one woman left the slot machine to go to the ATM to get some more money, and while she was gone, the other woman played that slot machine, and started winning, and that made the first woman mad. Folks! It's not that serious! Once you get up from a slot machine, that's it. You forfeit your machine, period. Also, the girl whom I'd played with twice today at the craps table, when she returned to the craps table, she tried to play the ATS when I was shooting. She got into a bit of an argument with the dealers and the pit boss when they refused to allow it, although she argued that since nobody else was playing the ATS, she should be allowed to play it. Problem was, I had already rolled a pair of 8's by the time she'd returned to the table. You can only bet on the ATS immediately after a 7, and the ATS has been reset. And the band played on.

     We then returned to the Golden Nugget, but didn't play there again until a few hours later. I first got into a craps game there. This time, the guy to my right was on what looked like a good roll. I waited until he was on the come-out for me to buy in. I took a risk and placed 60 each on the 6 and 8, once a point was established. Fortunately, one of them hit, and I reduced the bets down to 30 each, with the idea that future hits on these numbers, I'd use to branch out to the 5 and the 9, and then the 4 and the 10. I was able to do all that, then get a few more hits before he crapped out. At that point, I was $82 ahead. Then it became my turn to shoot. I was in the inside corner when I shot the dice. Not my best spot, to say the least. Indeed, I only shot 6 times, playing with just the profits from the previous shooter, reducing my profit margin down to $33. I then colored up.

     I did manage to add $100, winning it at tbe blackjack table, for a total session win of $133, and a total day win of $630. For the trip thus far, I am now up $1179. Not let's hope I can keep this going for the rest of the trip.

     This marked the first time since starting this blog in 2021 that I put out new craps articles in the middle of a gambling trip. I put out articles about the Min-Line Strategy and the 1-2-3 Don'ts Strategy today. Normally, I'd wait until after a gambling trip to put out such articles, but given that I've been using these strategies to varying degrees of success on this trip, I felt it was best to put the articles out now. So a good portion of the day was spent putting these articles together, and uploading them to the site. It was because of this, that I called this day a writing day, as opposed to a reading day in college, particularly before final exams.

     As far as gambling goes, it started at Golden Nugget after I'd finished the first article. I played blackjack first, where I struggled LIKE A DOG to get my money back plus $12.50. It was also a struggle at the craps table, for my Min-Line strategy wasn't working out (to be fair, I didn't use all 5 levels--I stopped using the strategy after losing the third level bet using $40 units). I then switched to the 1-2-3 Don'ts strategy, taking advantage of how cold the dice had become. I got my money back plus $34 at the craps table. A total session win of $46.50. I';; still take that over a loss any day.

     After lunch and after I wrote the second craps article, we went to the Horseshoe, primarily so I could play poker again. But there was no poker game forming at the time (Que paso?). So from there, it was to the craps table.

     In some ways, even though this wasn't the winningest craps session of the trip thus far, this was the most satisfying. Why? Because this time, it was my shooting that got me out of a hole, after initially getting off to a rocky start. The Min-Line strategy was showing its weakness again, and I was partially recovering from that when it was my turn to shoot. I shot from the Left End, and once again, used the Yo-Yo dice set. When it came down to the Place bets, I placed $60 each on the 6 and 8 (once again, I think the point was 8, and I used the 60 for odds). Fortunately, it hit, and I then reduced the 6 and 8 bets to 30, and with the next two subsequent hits on those two numbers, I branched out to 5 and 9, and then 4 and 10. In fact, when I got to over $100 ahead, I started transposing this game into Twin Towers (a strategy I used here at the Horseshoe on the last Lake Charles trip, winning nearly $500 in the process). I built the 6 and 8 towers up to $60 each, but I crapped out before either could hit at that level. No matter. I shot 18 times, my best shoot of the trip so far, and I still managed to win $113. I'll definitely take that.

     Only one more gambling session did I have this day, and that was just after we left the Horseshoe, and then went to L'Auberge. I played blackjack there, and came very close to getting a 500 Club there--I would have made it if the dealer had busted instead of making a winning hand. Instead, it was only $150 that I won at that table. I'm still all right with that. Eight casino wins in a row. Not bad!

     Although the weather was still gloomy, the rain let up long enough for us to go to the hot tub at Golden Nugget. Mrs. MusicalDice especially found that relaxing. Plus she loves conversating with people more than I do, and she also got to do that at the hot tub. I also enjoyed both aspects of the hot tub as well, don't get me wrong.

     By the time we left the hot tub, it started drizzling again. We had then planned to go to Lillie's, a restaurant in the Golden Nugget, but it was closed. But we did manage to go into Vic & Anthony's for a great steak dinner. Plus the service was superb. I didn't mind the extra money it cost (especially since I was so far ahead for the trip).

     We did go into the casino after finishing up at Vic & Anthony's. I wanted to see if I could possibly play once more. But everything was full except for a $25 craps table. Even though I could afford it, with my profit margin for the trip, I decided against it. For the meal was starting to kick in, and I was starting to get tired. It was also about 10:00 at night by that time. I'm usually in the bed by that time.

     So that concluded the day. I ended up $309.50 ahead for the day, and $1488.50 ahead for the trip thus far. Can I add to that tomorrow, the last day of the trip? Stay tuned!

     I was determined to finish this ahead. I may have been less willing to take as many chances on this last day because of that.

     Just after breakfast at Golden Nugget, I played blackjack. I fell behind at first, and it took a while to battle back, and end up ahead a minimum $2.50. I would have played craps, but my wife and I still had to check out. So that's what we proceeded to do after we got back to our room and packed up our stuff.

     We then went to L'Auberge, where the tour bus eventually would pick us up and take us home to Houston. I decided to have one last gambling session. I played blackjack with the intention of playing craps afterwards. But after a real drama-filled blackjack session, during which I was in danger of losing my buy-in at times, and after I finally got my money back, plus $50, I declared myself all gambled out. I could have then played craps, but the table didn't look good (the people didn't seem happy), and I didn't feel like going through any more drama.

     At the end of it all, I ended up $1541 ahead for the whole trip. That breaks down to $330 ahead for poker, $565 for blackjack, and $646 for craps. Now, 10 gambling sessions may not seem like enough for the amount of days I was in Lake Charles, but I'd rather have 10 winning sessions in a row, rather than a bunch more sessions with lots of losses. This has really been an enjoyable trip to Lake Charles Louisiana, and I'm glad to have been able to share this with you. Until next time! ☺