Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     This month has been very busy for me and especially Mrs. MusicalDice. In fact, I wasn't even anticipating going anywhere this month. But when Mrs. MusicalDice expressed a desire to go out to Lake Charles in the middle of her busy work schedule, that was all I needed to hear. So we managed to squeeze in this trip from Monday to Wedbesday.

     This time, we stayed at Golden Nugget, fully comped. After a nice long rest, we went down to the casino to play. Things got off to a rocky start, as I first played blackjack, losing $437.50 at a rotten table. Then I played craps. Someone else was the shooter, and I played it very conservative, doing only the Pass line and a Come bet. Fortunately, this guy kept making his points, and after a while, I decided to branch out to some Place bets. But as soon as I did, seven-out. I won $28 at the craps table. I would have stayed longer, but I felt it important to at least lock up the win at the craps table, in light of the loss at the blackjack table. But instead of leaving the casino, I went to another blackjack table. Fortunately, this one was much better, and I won $482.50 at that table, bailing me out of a loss for the session. Overall, the first session for this trip started off with a $73 win. Cool.

     From there, we walked over to L'Auberge, where I then got into a blackjack game. In retrospect, I should have played craps first, but I usually play blackjack first because my win percentage is higher at blackjack than it is at craps. But unfortunately, I was at a real sh!tty table. After a long drawn-out battle, I lost $950. Damn!!

     There wasn't enough time to play craps before our dinner reservation at the Ember Steakhouse, so that's where we went, instead. The meal was very delicious, and we both had adult beverages. I was starting to feel the effect of mine, when we left the steakhouse. My initial intention was to go back into the casino at L'Auberge, and play craps, but we decided to go back to Golden Nugget. I figured we'd just crash and watch the football games.

     However, for some inexplicable reason, by the time we returned to Golden Nugget, I found the energy to play craps. This was at a different table, but also a $15 table. Things got off to a rocky start here, as my conservatibe Come betting wasn't working out here. I even tried a somewhat new strategy where I go all the way across for roughly twice the minimum on the Place bets, with the intention of regressing in some way after three hits. That didn't work either, and I had to buy in for $700 total. Then came my shoot. I was standing at Left End, and I decided to use the Hardway dice set, employing a shooting method I used a few times in Biloxi last month. In spite of the table being pretty bad, I still decided to go 5-5-5 on the ATS, and to use this regression strategy on myself. To my surprise, and everyone else at the table's surprise, this method of throwing the dice off at an angle so that they'd break up, seemed to work (I know, it defies logic as to why this worked). I started with 160 across. After three hits, which included a 4 and a 10, I took down the 4 and 10, assuring at least a small profit, and keeping the insides at the elevated dollar levels. I did put the 4 and 10 back up after getting a few more hits. After a while, after I rolled a 4, the dealer asked me if I knew what I needed to make the small. I immediately said "3." I wasn't even focused on that, rather on my shooting, making sure the dice stayed together until they hit the back wall. You can bet I did some major cheering when the next roll was, in fact, a 3. I got a $175 bonus for that roll. It was only then that I realized that I'd gotten my money back on this table. Shorty thereafter, the dealer asked me if I knew what I needed to make them all. I said "12." However, I didn't change my dice set or my throw (per some sage advice given by Big AZ in one of his videos on such matters). My next roll was, in fact, a 12. I HIT THEM ALL!!!! You can bet there was major cheering from all the players at the table (actually, only 3 or 4, because the table was so bad before my shoot). I got paid another $175 for the Tall and $880 for the All. That one roll made $1045!!! (I don't include the initial investments which were part of the payouts). When I did crap out soon afterwards, I not only discovered that I had shot 20 times, enough to make my Best Craps Shoots Hall Of Fame page, but I also made $1128, which not only completely bailed me out of that huge loss at L'Auberge, but it was also my best gambling session of this entire year!! This necessitated an update to my Best Wins By Year page. And to think that this craps session almost didn't happen at all!

     Afterwards, we went back upstairs to our room, and crashed, watching the football games. Mrs. MusicalDice was happy to see her Detroit Lions beat Tampa Bay, but we also saw our Texans lose to the Seahawks. For me, it was all good, for I was happy to end up $251 ahead for the day, despite the two blackjack table losses. Hopefully, I can continue winning tomorrow.

     The day started off late, as far as gambling goes. I first played craps at L'Auberge. It was a very choppy table, and I just wasn't getting a good vibe from the table (a bad-attitude dealer mainly). I made a little money from one shooter, lost it on a bad shoot of mine, and barely broke even on the next shooter. I left the table $5 ahead. I added $100 to that at the blackjack table. This session didn't last long due to a bad-attitude dealer. $105 ahead, regardless.

     From there, we went to the Horseshoe, where I got into a craps game. At first, I was standing at Stick Right 1, and things got off to a rocky start. Early crap-outs from me and other shooters, and I had to buy in for a total of $700. But eventually, the shooter standing at Stick Left 1, left the table, and I moved to that spot, my favorite spot at the craps table. I had an easier time shooting with the Crossed-Sixes dice set. I had a 9-shooter, a 12-shooter, and then a 24-shooter, good enough to make my Best Craps Shoots Hall Of Fame page. It was a long drawn-out battle, but I left the table $150 ahead.

     After a long rest, after a late lunch at Olive Garden, we played at Golden Nugget. I got into a craps game. I asked the guy standing next to me how the table was, and he said that it was just terrible. I started out with a $20 Pass line bet, and a $10 Whirl bet. The guy next to me was playing the Don'ts, and ran into four straight Seven Winners. Then a point of 10 was established. I then put $24 each on the 6 and 8. Lucky I didn't put any more than that out there, for the very next roll was Seven-Out. That was enough for me. I left the table right then and there, yes, only $2 ahead, but there were enough bad vibes there to convince me to not continue playing there.

     From there, my wife and I went to L'Auberge, where we first ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. After that, I decided to play once more. The craps table was full, so I played blackjack instead. There was a guy that seemed like a positive fellow, and the dealer kept busting, so that made my decision to play that much easier. I was hoping that the good vibrations would continue. Long story short: they did. The dealer busted on almost every hand I played, and I ended up winning $625. A second 500 Club on this trip! The guy didn't even give me crap for leaving the table when I'm ahead, the way some people would. He congratulated me on my win, in fact. Now why can't all the tables be like this?

     Yes I know, some of the wins today were ridiculously low, but I'm also a believer of not playing on tables where the mood is bad. I remember getting such advice from a video from the $5 Yo channel. One could also argue that that's why I didn't have any losses this day. Overall, I won a total of $882, and I'm currently ahead a total of $1133. I'll take that any trip.

     On this last day of the Lake Charles trip, I was hoping to make up for the losses at the blackjack tables, and finish ahead at both games. Would that happen?

     I started out at the craps table at Golden Nugget. There, my Come betting, followed by a few Place bets worked on this other shooter, so I won $81 at the table. I added $100 to that at the blackjack table, for a total casino win of $181. Now I'm less than $100 behind playing blackjack.

     My last casino session for this trip was at L'Auberge. I first played craps. However, the dice were definitely not nice, with all early crap-outs on everybody, even myself. Before things could get too much worse, I left the table $393 down.

     I did get $250 of that back at the blackjack table, for a net casino loss of $143. I did declare myself all gambled out for the trip at that point. I ended up with a net gain of $38 for the day, and an overall profit margin of $1171. I'm still happy with that. As for the breakdown: Nothing for poker, as I didn't get to play that game. I'll save that for the next trip. I ended up $1001 ahead in craps. amd $170 ahead playing blackjack. I'm all right with that.