Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     This isn't so much a strategy, but it's something that I started using on my last Lake Charles trip, in conjunction with a 6/8 strategy, where I'd bet 60 each on the 6 and 8, then regress the bets to either 30 each on the 6 and 8, or 66 inside (15 each on the 5 and 9, and 18 each on the 6 and 8). I employed what I now call the Four Strikes Law mainly to limit my losses--meaning, four strikes and I'm out, or leaving the table. A strike, in this case, means whenever a 7-out comes before a 6 or an 8 was hit. This way, I'd lose at most $120 times 4, or $480, which is almost my entire initial buy-in. I don't chase, nor do I re-buy, using this method. Playing this out in practice, I'd been successful in making at least a small profit about 90% of the time. Obviously, this is too short to put into a craps article, so that's why I'm putting it here as a blog entry. You may want to try it out! ☺

     Maybe this is going to become a tradition, my coming up to Atlantic City for a few days before going down to Bowie MD to visit my aunt, who has a birthday on St. Patrick's Day, and who is turning 96 this year. That's what I did last year, but after the hassle me and Mrs. MusicalDice went through to finally get to Atlantic City, we may want to consider visiting her first. For we flew to Philadelphia, having to change planes in Nashville. And after we landed in Philadelphia, then we had to catch an Uber to the train station, and take a train the rest of the way to Atlantic City (I was considering taking an Uber straight from the airport in Philly straight to our hotel in Atlantic City, but that would have been much more expensive).

     After our long and exhausting travel out here to Atlantic City, it was very advisable to rest and fuel up before I even consider gambling. So after we checked into our room at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, that's exactly what we did.

     After a few hours of much-needed R & R, we went to the Borgata's Food Court to get something to eat for dinner. We had a pizza that really hit the spot.

     Unlike most gambling trips of mine, this gambling trip didn't start at home base. After dinner, I played poker at the Borgata. I know my wife was questioning my reasoning for this, since I still looked tired. I said that I felt sufficiently fueled up to give 2/5 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em a try. Besides, 2/5 is my favorite stakes to play at, and they don't have this in Lake Charles anymore. To make a long story short, since this is craps blog, I won $242 at the poker table after an hour and a half. It was only that long, for I still was pretty tired, and it was also because of that, that was also the only gambling I did on Day 1. But given how I'd started on my last trip to Lake Charles, I'll definitely take this one win.

     This day didn't start off as good as we'd hoped. For one, we had breakfast at this restaurant at the Golden Nugget, and it was only sparsely populated. We'd eaten here twice last year, and I guess we'd forgotten that the service was spotty. We sure got reminded today! Not only was the service spotty, so was the food. I had what was some of the worst-tasting corned beef hash I'd ever had, and Mrs. MusicalDice had French toast that was under-cooked. It was so bad that she ended up throwing it up after we got back to the room! Not good!

     Another way that this day didn't start off good was when I played my first craps session of the trip. This time, it was Caesar's (the craps table at Golden Nugget wasn't open yet). There, it was like NOTHING went right. I was experimenting with a dice set that I once used, that someone else in the Texas Craps Shooters Facebook group used, and he said he did well. I used it from Stick Left 1, and I did okay with it the first time. nearly getting my money back, but after that, everything went to hell, with my crapping out immediately on subsequent rolls, and on other shooters who seemed to know what they were doing, I tried the $60 6 and 8, and got sniped there too multiple times. Not even the Ladder Come betting worked out. I left the table down $757. Boy, was I slapped back to reality!

     Then we went to Bally's, the first casino that I ever gambled at (dating back to 1993). My intention was to play craps there, but I ended up playing blackjack there instead, as the craps table wasn't open yet. The dealer had a bad attitude, and as soon as I got my money back, I left, up $25.

     I would have written off the Bally's portion of the day as a complete wasted of time, had we not had lunch at Johnny Rockets, which is by the boardwalk exit to Bally's. I had two hot dogs that were pretty good, and Mrs. MusicalDice had a burger that was good too. Plus we ran into a waitress, who clearly was enjoying the old school songs they play at Johnny Rockets. She told us of karaoke that they have at the Tropicana each night. I hope to build on this later.

     From there, we went to Harrah's, where we got onto a craps table. Mrs. MusicalDice, who doesn't play this game nearly as often as I do, decided to play too, after she saw that I was starting to have some of my numbers hit. Here, it was someone else who was shooting the dice. I decided to play it slow here, doing only the minimum on 6 and 8. It was also here that this day was given its name. For at one point, I had placed 8 $1 chios in the Come area, betting 2 on each of the Hardways. I opt for doing it this way, rather than throwing them in the middle, splashing the chips all around, and possibly messing up other bets in the middle. Most dealers don't mind my doing it this way, but this one dealer did, instructing me to throw the chips to the middle next time. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. MusicalDice had gotten 10 white chips for 2 red chips, and when the shooter made the point, and it was on the comeout roll, I threw the stick person two red chips for a $10 Whirl bet. Surprisingly, Mrs. MusicalDice made the same bet, but she threw the stick person her 10 white chips for that Whirl bet! Predictably, the dealer who admonished me about next time, throwing my 8 chips for my Hardway bets, had a big problem with what my wife did. Granted, Mrs. MusicalDice should have thrown 2 red chips toward the middle, instead of 10 white chips, but we were both like, you asked for it, lady. After the shooter crapped out, and it became my turn to shoot, I shot from the end, going back to my Yo-Yo dice set. Again, I played it show, and I basically broke even on my shoot. I ended up leaving the table $110 ahead. My wife, who colored up at the same time I did ended up down $8.

     From there, we returned to home base, the Golden Nugget, and finally, the craps table was open. This time, it was only me who played. It was a $10 table, compared to $15 to the other two tables. Again, it was someone else's shooting that got me into profits, and again, I was playing it slow at first. This table was more festive than the other tables, and I was reminded of why craps is my favorite casino game. As far as profits go, I won $96, but I was fine with that. I even declined to shoot, opting to color up instead. I was more in the mood for a rest. Mrs. MusicalDice felt the same way.

     After some hours of R & R, we went back to the Food Court at the Borgata. We both did something else, and we almost wished we hadn't, for the food was only so-so in both of our cases.

     From there, I once again decided to play poker at the Borgata. Despite the stakes being lower (1/3 No-Limit, this time, compared to 2/5 No-Limit last time), there seemed to be a lot more sharks, and I had a much longer more difficult session. Without getting into too much detail, there were two occasions, where I was playing hands, and sticking with them as long as I did because I was just trying to get it over with, resigned to losing for this session. But in both cases, my hand, miraculously, ended up the best hand! The last of these hands came on a double-board bomb pot (if you want to know what that was, email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I'll tell you all about it there), which got me completely out of the hole after 3½ hours. I left shortly thereafter, up $261.

     After all that's happened today, I am glad to say that I am only down $23 for the trip as a whole. I'll take that, given that it had started off a lot worse.

     We gpt off to a very late start this day, due to the late-night session I had at the poker table. I decided to try the craps table at Caesar's, thinking that things will be different today...Nope. The dice weren't nice there either. No experimantation this time, my shooting was just plain bad. I ended up down $349 at that table.

     I managed to get $147.50 of it back at a blackjack table, playing some fun side bets, matching the dealer's top card and betting on a 7 appearing. At this table, 7's were good, imagine that! My win at the blackjack table, minus the $.50 was a multiple of 7. Imagine that. The total session loss was $201.50

     It was so late by the time we finished lunch back at Johnny Rockets, that the craps table opened at Bally's. So that's where I next played craps. The table was sparsely populated, and for most of the time, I was the only shooter, and with my shooting still shot to hell, you know how this session went. I lost $665 here. To say the least, I was not a happy camper!

     We returned to the Golden Nugget. I played craps back at the table where I'd had the most fun so far on this trip, thinking things would turn around. Nope. Nobody's shooting was worth a damn here either. The smartest thing I did was cut it off before it got too bad. I "only" lost $261 here. At this point, I was down $1150.50. Bad, but not nearly as bad as my Lake Charles trip last month.

     We then went back upstairs to our room, where I took a much-needed break from gambling. My initial plan from there was to gamble obly once more, at the Tropicana, where they were having karaoke night. But after further investigation, we found out that not only does the lounge have a $45 per person cover charge, there was also a two-drink minimum, plus there wasn't even any mention of anything to eat there. Our reaction upon learning that was, "I don't think so!" Scratch that idea!

     Instead, we opted for dinner at Vic & Anthony's, which is in the Golden Nugget, similar to the one that's in the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles. Mrs. MusicalDice stated, and I agree, that this was the best meal we've had in Atlantic City. And it was just our usual steak and wedge salad that we have at Vic & Anthony's and the Ember Steakhouse in Lake Charles. But it was good.

     Because of our karaoke plans falling through, instead of going to the Tropicana, we went back to the Borgata. Now mind you, I had no intention of playing craps, under the circumstances, but all the blackjack tables were full, so reluctantly, I played craps again. I got in just after the player in front of me had crapped out. I placed a Pass Line bet, thinking I'd be the next shooter. I wasn't (thank god!), but fortunately, the next shooter had a good run. I even did the 6/8 strategy, placing each for $60, then reducing them to $30 upon the first hit. That worked, and subsequent hits on the 6 and 8 enabled to branch out to the 5 and 9, and then the 4 and 10 for 15 each. I was able to parlay some of the outside numbers up to quarter levels. The main feature of this guy's roll was the fact that he made at least 5 points, including three 9's. Yes, I was cutting up pretty good at that table. By far, this was the best craps session of the entire trip, as I won $335 at this table.

     I added another 20 to that, playing poker. This was at another 1/3 No-Limit table, and it took me almost two hours to even do that, grinding my way back from behind most of the time.

     Something interesting happened while at the poker room, that I feel I ought to mention. Apparently, all three nights I was playing poker at the Borgata on this trip, Mrs. MusicalDice, while waiting for me to finish at the poker table, was talking with an elderly woman, whose husband is a poker pro, and a regular at this poker room. I didn't know it at the time, but apparently, this woman's husband was at my table this time. At one point, the woman's husband had stepped away from the table, and mentioned to his wife that some blind guy was whipping his ass. He was very surprised to learn that the woman his wife was talking to, is married to that "blind guy." In all honesty, the most I was down at any point during this session was 110, and the most I was up at any time during this session was less than 70 (far from the wild fluctuations in my chip stack that I experienced the previous night). There was only so much "whip-ass" I could have had, but it made me feel good that I held my own against a poker pro. Also, if he thought he was going to run over the table, my response to that would have been "I don't think so."

     The Borgata casino session ended up a $355 win, knocking my deficit for this trip down to $795.50. Again, not nearly as bad as my last Lake Charles trip. Although I hadn't yet declared myself all gambled out, I don't anticipate there being any more gambling on this trip. We'll see...

     As I suspected, I didn't have any time for any gambling, as today is a travel day for me and Mrs. MusicalDice. Today was spent traveling from Atlantic City NJ to Bowie MD, where my aunt is. We're going to be there for her 96th birthday, this coming Monday.

     Not to worry. I'll be taking another gambling trip next month. The only question is, where? Stay tuned for an update. ☺

     This morning, I did some analysis on my gambling results for this year, and came up with some interesting findings. First of all, I am ahead for the year in two out of the three casino games I play. I'm ahead $329 playing poker with about an 86% win percentage (6/7). And I'm ahead $812.50 for the year thus far playing blackjack, with a whopping 90% win percentage (18/20). Do I think these high percentage numbers are sustainable? Hardly, given where they usually are (3 out of 4, or 75% is usually where my win percentage is, playing blackjack, and about 55% is usually my win percentage is, playing poker). Of course, I'm actually down over $3000 for the year as a whole, and that's because of the other game, craps, where my win percentage is only about 61% (17/28 -- 2 out of 3 on average, or roughly 67% is normally where that would be). Does this mean that I'm going to focus less on craps and focus on the other two games? Maybe, but rest assured, I'm not going to stop playing craps anytime soon. I just have to build a better mousetrap, as far as strategy goes, and practice shooting more.

     While Mrs. MusicalDice and I were going out to see my aunt, we decided that we are, in fact, going to Vegas April 21st to the 25th. More on that later. For now, it goes without saying I need to practice more playing craps, especially my shooting. Hopefully, my craps playing will improve from here.