Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     I just added a new term to the Craps Glossary. The term is called "Hot Potato! Hot Potato!" This isn't a new term for me. I've used it for over 20 years, but I rarely use it, which is why I kept forgetting to include it in the glossary. Anyway, here it is. Check it out! ☺

     For those who weren't around me last week, you may not know that I was battling a cold most of last week. In fact, as of this morning, I still had a little lingering congestion. In addition, me and Mrs. MusicalDice's longtime bus driver had told us that the buses going from Houston to Lake Charles had been relatively crowded, due to Valentine's Day, the weekend, and President's Day. Since today is President's Day, I should have guessed that the casinos would still be dealing with the aftermath of the extra people. It's for these two reasons why I call this trip Aftermath.

     The day didn't atart off so good. For one thing, as I'd later discover, I'd forgotten my keys once again! To make matters worse, when we got our breakfast order at a McDonald's very close to where we live, via the drive-through, they gave me only one Sausage McMuffin with no egg, when I ordered two of them. To make matters even worse, our Uber driver said that she was in a hurry because she had a reservation waiting, and she didn't have time to wait for us to get the order right. We already had our bags in the trunk, and we weren't about to get out and wait at McDonald's for another Uber driver to take us the rest of the way to the station where the casino bus leaves for Lake Charles. Had this woman completely read her manifest, she would have seen that this Uber trip was a two-part trip, and not just some quickie McDonald's trip! So I had to settle for just ONE Sausage McMuffin with no egg (in some places, called a Smurf). I was not a happy camper.

     This time around, we're staying at L'Auberge for three nights. When we arrived, the room wasn't ready yet. This may have been significant, for apparently, I cherish those times I'm able to rest up before gambling. But I didn't have such a luxury this time.

     The facy that I was off-kilter, really showed at both the craps table and at the blackjack table. First of all, at the craps table, I employed my Ladder Come strategy at a $25 table (all that was available, given that today's a holiday--something I'd forgotten). It worked out good for the first couple of times, then everything went south real fast, with either my Come bets getting sniped with crap rolls, or the 7 coming after the Come bets had traveled to point numbers. I did have one decent shoot of 11 from Stick Left 1, using the Hardway dice set, but unfortunately, most of those rolls were non-productive rolls (horn rolls and come-out sevens). I tried switching to my $60 6 and 8 strategy the next time I got the dice, with the intention of regressing down to 30 each with one hit. Not to be. PSO was the result of that roll. I lost $815 at the craps table, and the cards were no better at the blackjack table. I left there $625 down there. A $1440 session loss to start off this trip! I hadn't started off this badly in a long time! OUCH!!

     After that loss, the room was ready. I managed to get some rest before our dinner date at Ember Steakhouse. There, I ordered some extra bacon bits for our wedge salad, plus instead of margaritas, we drank moscato wine. I was hoping a little extra comfort food would get me back on track again.

     After dinner. we went to the Golden Nugget, and while I waited to play poker, I got into a craps game, standing at the end. And this was a $15 table. At first, my Come betting strategy got me into trouble again, but fortunately, when it was my turn to shoot, I was just able to get it back using my Yo-Yo dice set, shooting 13 times. I managed to win $36 at the craps table. At least it's a win, dammit!

     The big story of the day was what happened at the poker table for the hour and 40 minutes I was there. Without getting into too much detail, since this is a craps blog, I made quads (four of a kind) twice, making quad 6's on the river, and flopping quad deuces, having two of them in my hand. I ended up $150 ahead when I left, for my third straight poker win. A $186 session win. Yeah I'm down $1254 for the day and the trip, but at least I now have hope that MAYBE I can get it back.

     There would be no more gambling for me today, as it hit me after leaving the poker room just how tired I was. So we went back to L'Auberge, and I crashed in the room while Mrs. MusicalDice did a little people watching before returning to crash, herself. More tomorrow.

     For a brief moment, I thought I might have a shot at getting my money back, especially since I won $75 at the blackjack table, at L'Auberge. But then, I went to the craps table.

     I went back to my Ladder Come betting strategy, and again, I got clobbered. I even tried my 6/8 betting strategy for $60 each, with the intent of regressing down to 30 each on one hit. 7-out before that could happen, was what resulted. I managed to get part of my money bacj, but still left the table $383 down, for a total session loss of $308.

     Later, I went to the Golden Nugget, where I won $175 at the blackjack table. But that got blown to pieces when I played poker there. Whatever magic I had for the first three poker sessions this year, was clearly gone. I lost $954 at the poker table, for a total session loss of $779.

     Admittedly, a better strategy for me would have been to just take a break from gambling at this point, but after having a nice dinner at L'Auberge, I felt strong enough to try craps again. Another flaw in my strategy was my mindset. I was determined to only bet up to $100 a shooter (I was at a $25 table). betting on 6 and 8 without using regression. But scared craps is losing craps. Slowly, my chips dwindled, and after losing $752, I decided enough is enough.

     I really had Gargamel's luck with catching smurfs (they always escapes) today. Overall, I lost a total of $1839. Something clearly needs to change!

     By this time, things had gone so bad regarding gambling on this trip, that I decided that I wasn't going to do any more gambling until after my wife and I had dinner at the Chart House, adjacent to the Golden Nugget. So today was a very relaxing day with Mrs. MusicalDice. The dinner was good too.

     My initial plan from there was to play poker at the Horseshoe. But upon arriving at the Horseshoe, I discovered that they no longer have poker there. So Plan B was to play craps. But I had a different strategy in mind. I went back to the 6/8 strategy for 60 each with the intent of regressing to 30 each with one hit, then using subsequent hits to branch out to 5 and 9, then 4 and 10. In addition, I adopted what I called the Four Strikes rule, meaning that if I sevened-out four times without a hit on the 6 or the 8, I'd leave, minimizing potential losses to $500. It turned out, I had to endur one strike before I got my money back. Fortunately, I had a decent enough roll to get out of the hand (had one hit on the 6 or 8), but it was someone else's roll that got it back plus $85. Hey, at this point, I'll gladly take it!

     From there, we returned to L'Auberge, where I played blackjack. After a long struggle, I finally got my money back plus $25. Yes, I only won $110 total, but that definitely was an improvement on the first two days of this trip. One more day...

     I had already written this gambling trip as a loss, but I wanted to do a few more things before I declared myself all gambled out.

     After checking out, I played first at the blackjack table, winning $275. Then I went to the craps table, where, just like at the Horseshoe, I did the 6 and 8 strategy, placing 60 on each, and regressing down to 30 on the first hit. At first, it didn't start off good, with a seven-out coming before a 6 or an 8 could hit. Fortunately, I had a good shoot from SL1, using the Yo-Yo dice set. I shot 18 times, enough to get my money back, plus $140. My best craps session of the trip.

     I then tried to get a 500 Club, given that I was $415 ahead for the session thus far. I played blackjack again, but immediately, the cards went south on me. I lost 400 of it back, for a session win of $15. Damn!

     I then went to Golden Nugget, where I first played blackjack. After a struggle to get my money back plus $25, I played craps. I fell behind at first, but then got it back on 1 13-roller from the end, using the Yo-Yo dice set, with 4 of the rolls being 6's, and 5 of the rolls being 9's. I just barely got my money back, plus $20 at this table, for a session win of $45. I even commented to my wife that these wins today were coming in dribs and drabs.

     My final assault for this trip came back at L'Auberge. After struggling to win $50 at the blackjack table (after a Round 2 buy-in), I played craps, using the same 60-dollar 6 and 8, with the Four Strikes rule. Unfortunately, everybody was PSO-ing, including myself lastly. I left the table $443 down, and a session loss of $393.

     Final numbers for this trip? Not good! I ended up $333 down for the last day, and $3316 down for the trip. OUCH!!! My worst trip since the Reno trip last June. Also, for the first time since December 2023, I wasn't able to get a 500 Club this month. My next trip will not be until March 11th, when me and Mrs. MusicalDice will be in Atlantic City. I have to say that my putting a cap on how much I'm going to lose at the craps table may have been one of the smarter decisions I made, for the 6/8 $60 each, reducing down to 30 each is stil a good strategy, it's just that the dice won't always cooperate. But limiting my losses at the craps table will be good too in the long run. It'll keep me playing longer. You have to be in it in order to win at it. Until next time! ☺

     This morning, I re-formatted two of the craps articles--the Best Craps Shoots page, and the Links To Other Craps Websites page. I hope you like the new formats. ☺