Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog

     Mrs. MusicalDice and I plan to go to Vegas later on in the month. I thought a Vegas warm-up trip to Lake Charles to test out a new craps strategy and try out something new in terms of my dice-setting, grip, and toss, would be a good idea. It was with this in mind, why this Lake Charles trip was booked.

     This time, my wife and I stayed at L'Auberge for two nights, comped. Our room wasn't ready when we arrived. So I decided to play some.

     I first played blackjack and won $75. Then I went to a craps table, which was a $25 table. There, I decided to try the DC Hedge Fund strategy. I first put 60 on the DC, and it traveled to the 4. I then placed 30 each on the 6 and 8. One of the numbers hit, then a 4 was rolled, sniping the DC bet. I kept the 6 and 8 bets up long enough to get one more hit, before I took them down, before the shooter crapped out. On the next shooter, I placed a $75 DC bet. The next roll was a 3, which was a winner. I took the bet down immediately, and placed 30 each on the 6 and 8. Two hits resulted before the shooted crapped out. I decided to color up at that time. I won $95 at the craps table, for a total session win of $170. Not a bad start,

     Ny wife and I were then able to check into our room, where we stayed for the next few hours. We returned to the casino floor at L'Auberge prior to our dinner date at the Ember Steakhouse. First, I played blackjack, and made $100 at a choppy table. Then I played craps at the same table I played at earlier, only that the table was a $15 table. On more than one occasion, I used a $60 DC, and then bet minimum amounts on the inside numbers, and then, a 7 would come before any Place bet could hit, leading to minimum gains. I eventually left the table $26 ahead. Then, I played blackjack at another table, winning another $100. Then Mrs. MusicalDice and I went to dinner.

     After an exceptionally delicious meal, we decided to return to the casino room. I first went back to the craps table. Once again, it was a $25 table. Once again, I used the DC Hedge Fund strategy. My first DC bet was sniped. I then raised the DC bet to $150 (employing the Fibonacci part of the strategy). After the DC bet traveled to the 5, I placed 30 each on the 6 and 8. They hit a few times, and luckily, a 7 winner, won my DC bet. I didn't replace it, and the shooter soon crapped out. I ended up winning $120 at the craps table.

     After that, I played blackjack once again. At this point, I had played at 4 tables in thus session, and was ahead $346. I decided to try for a 500 Club, which was the sole purpose of playing at this 5th table. After a relatively long struggle, I ended up $225 ahead, for a total session win of $571. Not only was this my first 500 Club in 2½ months, this also was my best win so far this year.

     I ended up $741 ahead for the day. There would be no more gambling this day, for Mrs. MusicalDice and I spent the rest of the evening in our room. We watched the Houston Cougars suffer a heart-breaking loss to the Florida Gators in the mens NCAA finals game. Don't worry, we didn't have any money on that game, but we were really hoping the Cougars would win it, but they blew a 12-point lead, and the Gators won by 2. I hope I'm able to keep this profit margin throughout this trip, and not blow it, like the Cougars did to their lead. Also, I need to actually shoot the dice, which I didn't do at all this day. Tomorrow will tell...

     This day, we started off kind of late. After breakfast, we played at L'Auberge. I started off at the blackjack table. It was a big struggle getting my money back, but I did, winning $125.

     I then went to the craps table, which was a $15 table. I finally got to shoot, but had gotten into a bit of trouble, with my DC bets getting sniped (I was using the DC Hedge Fund strategy on other shooters). One thing I'd been practicing lately, is really keeping the dice together as much as possible when I release them. After I lock the dice in place, I grip them rather loosely. Also, I used a dice set, where if the dice stay on axis, there's only 2 ways to roll a 7, and the dice set concentrates on the inside numbers. Yes, I'm talking about the 3V dice set (in my case, I use 4/6-4/2). And I shot from the end. I ended up shooting 15 times, enough to get my money back plus $46, for a total session win of $171. Not bad.

     After that, my wife and I went to Golden Nugget, where I got into a blackjack game. This was only because the craps table was full, and I was on a waiting list to play poker. The blackjack table was a struggle here too, but I got my money back on two double-down hands in the same wound that I won, despite the dealer making a hand too. I won $100 at the table.

     After I finished playing blackjack, I went to the poker room, for the craps table was still full. When I got to the poker room, I saw a few more people on the waiting list, enough to open another table, but when I asked if they'd be opening up another table, the woman running the room was very snippy and nasty, in her response of no, not for about another 2 hours. This brought back the negative vibes I'd felt at this poker room, and the last thing I'd want is to be hassling with these people as far as why I need the cards on the board read to me (I'm visually impaired, remember). This sort of thing was why I stayed away from that poker room most of last year. I decided not to play there, and me and Mrs. MusicalDice left, and walked back to L'Auberge.

     The first thing I did, upon returning to L'Auberge, was get into a craps game. Here, I was standing at Stick Right 1, playing the DC Hedge Fund strategy. This time, it was a series of very small profits, as the shooters were crapping out before a Place bet was hit. The big surprise of this craps session was that when I switched strategies to a light-side strategy, anticipating that it was my turn to shoot, they skipped me! I technically didn't make a Pass Line or a Don't Pass bet on the other three shooters, so that's why I did that. I lost a portion of my meager profits because of that, and i left the table $24 ahead.

     I then went to the blackjack table. This was a struggle too, for I once again had to fight to get my money back. I, at one point, was ahead $125, and I was hoping to really make a move this time. But when the dealer had blackjack the next round, wiping out 80% of my profit, I decided to stop there $25 ahead, for a total session win of $49.

     It was then that my wife and I returned to our room, and spent a considerable amount of time there, so I can relax my brain. I was really not feeling this gambling thing at this time, for these sessions today seemed to be more a major hassle, even though I still ended up winning each one. Given that this trip was designed merely as a warm-up to Vegas, the last thing I wanted was for this to turn into a hassle.

     It wasn't until after a relatively late dinner at a Chinese restaurant, still at L'Auberge, that I decided to play again. The first thing I did was get into a craps game. By this time, it was night, and the table was by that time, a $25 table. And this session was even more of a hassle. For not only were a series of DC bets getting sniped on other shooters, when I shot the first time, from Stick Right 1 initially, I PSO'ed with that 3V dice set. I decided to move back to Right End. I also had to re-buy for an additional $500. Fortunately, I had a real good shoot, sticking with the 3V dice set, gripping the dice loosely, once I had them locked in place, and tossing them straight down the Come area. The first point I had was an 8, and I did equivalent to 220 inside (60 for odds behind the Pass Line), and took the bets down to half after two hits, one being the point. I ended up shooting 25 times, my best shoot in months, and enough to make my Best Craps Shoots Hall Of Fame. The roll was good enough to get a big chunk of my money back, but it took an additional 10-roller by me, as well as playing my DC Hedge Fund strategy on the other shooters, that FINALLY got my money back, plus $9. Hey, I'll take that over a loss any day!

     I then went to the blackjack table, where I immediately got into trouble again. At a couple of points, I was down to my last $50 before I started getting my money back. Here, I resolved that I wasn't going to re-buy at this table, and I had also resolved that if I'd lost at the craps table, or at this blackjack table, that I was going to just stop gambling for this trip, and retain whatever small profit would remain. For I am determined not to fall behind on this trip. Fortunately, I ended up $75 ahead at the blackjack table, for a total session win of $84.

     There would be no more gambling this day. I ended up $404 ahead for the day, and so far on this trip, I'm ahead $1145. I am very tempted to just declare myself all gambled out, for this is a substantial profit margin, yes, even with the baby steps wins I had this day. I am just drained mentally right now. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow. We'll see...

     After careful consideration, I decided that it would be best for me at this point to declare myself all gambled out right here and now. $1145 ahead is more than good enough for a trip that was only designed to be a warm-up for Vegas later on this month. I only wish that I could have played poker on this tripp, or maybe played craps either at Golden Nugget or the Horseshoe, but I am happy with I actually did, nonetheless. Hey, I had six casino wins and no losses. I even have a casino win streak of 7 in a row (including the last win at Atlantic City). Of course, between now and Vegas, I plan to peactice my dice grip and my toss a lot. Hopefully, I can get some more good shoots, as a result. Stay tuned for my Vegas results!

     There are two reasons why I say this Vegas trip almost didn't happen. First of all, the day we were leaving Houston to head to Vegas, the weather forecast was predicting thunderstorms, and for the time of departure, a 40% chance of rain. Now me and Mrs. MusicalDice were hoping the storms wouldn't start until after we left (which was supposed to be just before 8 a.m.) But NO!! It started raining and then thunderstorming at about 6:30, and it didn't start letting up until after 9:30. We were supposed to board the plane at 7:20. That didn't happen until 10:27. During the course of the thunderstorm, I thought the flight was going to be canceled, for that's what happened last May when we initially tried to go to Biloxi. But instead of getting canceled, our flight was merely delayed over 4 hours, as we also spent over an hour and a half on the runway before we actually got into the air. The flight made up for some lost time. We got into Vegas at 1:05 p.m. Las Vegas time, whereas we should have gotten there at 9:05 a.m. Las Vegas time. Incidentally, the second reason why I say this trip almost never happened, has to do with something that happened to me last week that I'm not going to mention here, but if you're curious as to what happened to me that almost caused this trip to not occur, please email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I'll tell you via email, what specifically happed. Now with all that out of the way, let's get into the trip itself...

     Obviously, one of the reasons for the above title has to do with the timing of the storm and when we were scheduled to fly out of Houston. Fortunately, it didn't apply to our room not being ready when we arrived (which sometimes is the issue at the Plaza). By the time we arrived, it was well after 1:00 in the afternoon, and we were able to check into our room. Normally, our first meal in Vegas would be lunch at Nathan's Hot Dogs in the New York New York casino on the strip. But we only had a very meager breakfast, and we were quite hungry, so instead, we ate lunch at Subway in the Plaza. Mrs. MusicalDice wasn't particularly happy with that. I was cool.

     As far as gambling goes, it started off at the craps table at the Plaza. I started off doing the DC Hedge Fund strategy, but I got sniped a few times. Fortunately, I had a decent roll from the end, using the 3V dice set, shooting 19 times, just barely enough to get my money back plus $33. Oh well, it's a win.

     It was the next two casino sessions where this day really earned its title. Mrs. MusicalDice and I later walked over to the Fremont for dinner at Tony Roma's. After dinner, which unfortunately included unusually lousy service, I decided to play craps, still at the Fremont. Now after having a nice shoot at the Plaza earlier, why wouldn't I feel confident about my shooting here? I bet 220 inside on my shoot, with the intent of regressing down after two hits. Guess what happened? Point-Seven-Out! And nothing else was working, as I was then getting sniped on my DC Hedge Fund strategy. The smartest thing I did here was leave only $394 down.

     We then walked over to Golden Nugget, where I got into a poker game. Unfortunately, this poker session was full of badly-timed hands. One time, I made a straight, which ran into a flush, a flush ran into a rivered full house, and the crown jewel of bad timing occurred when I had Pocket Rockets in my hand, but ran into a flopped set of 7's, which ended up busting me. I lost $500, ending the day $861 down. ARGH!!

     This day, we decided to go to the strip. But before we did, we had breakfast at a place I think is called the Hash House, in the Plaza. It was a good decent meal there that we had, and if you'd ever eaten there, you know, they serve big portions. Anyway, I played blackjack for the first time on the trip. This was still at the Plaza, and I lost nearly half my buy-in, before getting it back plus $12.50. Sounds like this day's going to be a struggle too, huh?

     We then traveled to the strip, first stopping at the Venetian. The first thing we did was take a gondola ride on the inside. I knew Mrs. MusicalDice would love it. We both did, for that matter.

     From there, we went next door to the Palazzo, where the poker room now is (it used to be in the Venetian, the sister property of the Palazzo). I was hoping that last night's poker disaster was just a fluke, and I could bounce back with a nice win. Unfortunately, the poker table I was at, playing 2/3 No-Limit Hold 'Em, was infested with sharks. Almost everybody seemed to be an aggressive pro. Apparently, I was the fish at that table, and I lost $936, my worst poker loss of the year. OUCH!!

     From there, we went to the New York New York casino. As what seems to be a tradition each year, I had two Nathan's hot dogs there (usually, this would be on the first day, but the flight delays plus other factors made that not feasible). The hot dogs were good as always, but they didn't taste quite the same. The reason for that was because I usually put mayo on my hot dogs, in addition to the relish, and this time, they didn't have any mayo. Really? Let's just say at that point and time, I was not a happy camper.

     Normally, after eating Nathan's hot dogs, I'd go next door to the Excalibur to play. But this time, I stayed at New York New York to play craps. Why? Probably for old-time's sake. For I hadn't played at this casino since the day I had my all-time biggest Vegas win (and until 17 months ago, my all-time gambling win, period). I had won $1756 at New York New York, but that was way back in 2002. Maybe I wanted to be in a place where I was a big winner, and maybe I can get that feeling again. So I went to a craps table, and at first I was holding my own, making little dribs and drabs on other shooters, doing my DC Hedge Fund strategy. But then I fell behind about $200, getting sniped on those DC bets. Then it was my turn to shoot. I was shooting from Right End, and I was once again using the 3V dice set. Not wanting to risk making the same mistake I made at the Fremont, I started off very slow, playing only the 6 for $12, and the 5 fpr $10, and the point was 8. Fortunately, I made the point, and was able to branch out from there. I made three more points, two of them being 9's, and the other one being a 10. I did my usual take-and-press methodology regarding the Place bets. You can bet that I was doing a bunch of cutting up at the table, and for the most part, the rest of the table loved it. The height of it was when I made the point of 10, and I rolled it hard. You can bet I yelled out "SNOWFLAKES!!" while there was a bunch of other cheering going on. As it turned out, I rolled 31 times, one of my 10 best rolls ever, and it certainly made my Hall Of Fame of Best Craps Shoots, and I ended up getting my money back, and winning $206 (would have been more, had this not been a $10 table, and if I hadn't started off slow). That win included a $25 tip I got from one of the other players, whom, apparently, made a lot of money when I rolled the hard 10. Let's just say I definitely needed this win!

     We then decided to return to the Plaza, for by this time, about 4 in the afternoon, it had gotten very warm, and we decided to go swimming. The pool was way too cold to get in, but we spent a fair amount of time in the hot tub. That was very relaxing for both me and Mrs. MusicalDice.

     We then went to dinner at the Pizza Rock, which is close to the Fremont Experience. As when we first ate here about 4 years ago, the pizza was good. This time, We both had alcoholic beverages, with mine being a strawberry margarita, which was very strong. We also watched what looked to be a disastrous Stanley Playoffs game with the Las Vegas Golden Knights against the Minnesota Wild. When we left the Pizza Rock, the Golden Knights were down 3-0.

     We then walked down the Fremont Experience black toward the Plaza, stopping intermittently to look at some of the many freak shows there (Mrs. MusicalDice is way more into this than I am). We also stopped at the Fremont and the Golden Nugget, hoping to find an open craps table or an open blackjack table. But none was to be found until we returned to the Plaza, at which point, I was able to get into a craps game. But by this time, that margarita had really kicked in, and I was getting really tired. So it was just a quick session where I was winning here and there, playing my DC Hedge Fund strategy. T decided to color up $76 ahead, instead of shooting, in fact.

     Yes, it was another losing day, down $641.50 overall, but let's just say, I feel a lot better after today, than I did after yesterday. Maybe this will mean that I'll have a winning day tomorrow. Let's hope...

     Before I start in on what happened on this day, let me first say that today is Bryan (founder of Hawaii Craps Shooters)'s birthday! He hit a huge milestone, in fact! What that milestone is, you'll have to email him at hawaiicrapsshooters@gmail.com, and ask him. Happy Birthday, Bryan!

     As what seems to be the case on most of these Vegas trips since starting this blog nearly 4 years ago, one day out of the trip is designated as Henderson Day. That's what this day was.

     My wife and I first traveled to the Green Valley Ranch casino, where we first had breakfast. Then I went to the craps table. I first started out playing the DC Hedge Fund on this one shooter, but soon realized that he was a good shooter, and after my first two Place bets kept hitting, I took down the DC bet, and played light=side, branching out to all the numbers, and taking and pressing like I usually do. And boy, were we cutting up! (not just me). I created this inside joke of the Power Of 3, because so many rolls that came from this shooter were 3's, but then, it expanded to mean multiples of 3. Such rolls of 6 and 9 especially benefitted me. The roll was so long that I was even able to parlay the 6 and 8 bets up to $90 each. They even hit once at that level. For both of those hits, I yelled out "BULL-LLACKOUT!!" I hadn't been able to do that at all this year, prior to this session. I ended up $505 ahead, for my first 500 Club on this Vegas trip (hopefully not the last).

     After that, we went to the Durango casino for the first time. I do admit that I had a bit of an agenda this day. I wanted to play at two new casinos in the Henderson area, and return to Las Vegas to enjoy an extremely popular lobster buffet at the Palms. We wanted to get there early before the line got too horrendous. So I think that's why I didn't stick around too long at the craps table. I played the DC Hedge Fund strategy until the seven-out, after which I left $27 ahead. I did add $112.50 at what was a very positive happy blackjack table. I ended up leaving Durango $139.50 ahead.

     The next casino we visited was the Sunset Station casino, which, like Durango, marked the first time I visited this casino. Unfortunately, craps didn't turn out so good. I kept repeatedly getting sniped on the DC, and the crap-outs would occur before Place bets hit. While my shooting wasn't bad (I was at Stick Left 1, playing the Hardway dice set) -- I did shoot 14 times at one point, it wasn't enough to make up for the losses. I left the table down $246. Fortunately, before and after the craps portion of the session, I had wiining blackjack sessions, winning $87.50 at the first table, and $212.50 at the second, much more positive table. This led to an overall win of $54 at Sunset Station.

     From there, our friend Marilyn (mentioned in some earlier Vegas trips), took us over to the Palms casino, where Mrs. MusicalDice and I had the lobster buffet. It was expensive as hell, with it being $80 apiece, but I have to say it was WELL worth it. You get to eat all the whole lobsters and lobster tails that you can within a 1½-hour time frame. The lobsters and the rest of the food was superb. And the line wasn't even that bad (we got there just before 4:00. Let's just say that me and Mrs. MusicalDice were both very happy satisfied customers!

     I also wanted to try the $5 craos table there at the Palms. Of course the table was full by the time, we finished at the buffet.

     We returned to the Plaza, and rested up for a while. Afterwards, we went downstairs to the casino floor. I got into a craps game, and basically ran into the same problem I did at Sunset Station. Here, I was determined to stay positive, meaning up for the day. So I quit after losing $344. How much did I end up ahead for the day? $354.50.

     We decided to return to the strip today. After breakfast at a restaurant in the Flamingo, I get into a craps game. I thought I'd try a different strategy, that being the old 60-dollar bets on 6 and 8, regressing to 66 inside on one hit. Unfortunately, the shooters (including myself) kept crapping out before a 6 or an 8 would roll. I left the table $445 down.

     What possessed me to return to the poker room at the Palazzo, is beyond me. Regardless, I got back on to a 2/3 No-Limit Hold 'Em table, with also interest in the 3/5 No-Limit table. Eventually, I do transfer to the 3/5 table, which was really the game I wanted to play all along (I had a chance to play that two days earlier, but I had already lost $936, so I declined at that time). I left the 2/3 table $228 down. I bought in for $1200 (the max) at the 3/5 table, and after about an hour, I was down about $100 when a new dealer came in, and when that happens at both tables, the players have the option to participate in a Pot-Limit Omaha double-board bomb pot. Each participant puts in $15, and they go straight to two flops. In my hand of four cards, I had an ace and a 10. On th the bottom board, there were two 10's on the flop. This kept me in the hand, even as an opponent was placing a bunch of money in the pot. I figured he had the top board won, while I was sure I had the bottom board won. I figured we'd split the pot. Solidifying my belief, an ace came on the last card on the bottom board. By this time, I was all-in. I figured if I lose here, I'd declare myself all gambled out, not quite losing as much as I did in Lake Charles in February. However, I did win the bottom board, and you can imagine my utter surprise to learn that I had made a straight on the top board, winning that as well!! (I wasn't even paying attention to the top board!) I ended up scooping up a $2377 pot, easily the biggest pot I'd ever won!! I soon left the table $1177 ahead, and a total session win of $949, easily my biggest win of the year, thus far. Who would have thought a second 500 Club would come my way, and at the casino where I had my worst loss of the trip??

     We returned to the Plaza, where we later had dinner at the Oscar's steakhouse. The dinner was very delicious (it better have been--it was even more expensive than the lobster buffet!). We both greatly enjoyed the dinner and each other.

     From there, we went to the Fremont, where I got into a craps game. Here, I went back to my DC Hedge Fund strategy. I only put $40 on the DC, covering 2 Place bets. I got sniped on the DC, but not before I got two hits on the Place bets. They hit a few more times, enough for me to end up $104 ahead.

     At this point, I was only down $540 for the trip. I figured that I'd try poker again, this time at the Golden Nugget. Maybe I could turn my luck around at this place, like I did at the Palazzo. No such luck. I got off to a better start, but I ended up busting out, losing $500 there too. Instead of risking totally negating my Palazzo win, and being down for this day, I stopped gambling here for the day, and for the trip. Yes, I am now all gambled out. I ended up $108 ahead for this day, and down $1040 for the trip. I didn't totally negate my Lake Charles win from earlier this month.

     The last thing we did was go to the Strat. It was my initial intention to play there before going up to the observation tower, but under the cirsumstances, we went straight up to the tower. We sometimes do this on our last night. It was very relaxing and romantic, however, I was exhausted both mentally and physically. So after returning to our room at the Plaza, I crashed. We both did. That's all for this day.

     This title came completely by accident. It came about when me and Mrs. MusicalDice had to wait a half an hour to get into the Hash-A-Go-Go restaurant (where we ate breakfast on Day 2). While my wife decided to hang around the restaurant, I chose to go into the casino to watch a craps game. There, I met a group of Hawaiians, including a couple, where the husband was playing craps, while the wife observed. They were friendly people. Somehow, the wife and I got to talking briefly about music, then I mentoioned Hawaii Craps Shooters, and she said that she'd seen Bryan and the crew sometimes, but she always shied away from the cameras. She liked the fact that I know so much about musical trivia (I commented about such songs playing like "Dedicated To The One I Love" by the Mamas & Papas, "I Wanna Go Back" by Eddie Money, and "Thunder And Lightning" by Chi Coltrane). She even asked me how did I get into music and craps. If you want to know the stort on how I got into music, check out the How I Got Hooked On Music article in the music section of this website. Regarding craps, I said that I first saw craps in the casinos, and I first played craps on a CD-ROM which was a promotion for the World Series Of Poker. I first played in a live casino in 1998 at the Showboat casino in Vegas, and from there, I was hooked. I even mentioned that I used to bowl, and the reason why I chose the Showboat as the first Vegas casino to gamble at, was because it had a huge bowling alley (106 lanes), and I was an avid bowler at the time. It was all a very interesting conversation, one that I don't have often. And I felt it was only right to name this day after it in some way.

     A few final words before I conclude this trip report: No, I didn't do any more gambling on this trip--I'd declared myself all gambled out last night. If it weren't for poker, I would have been almost even for this trip. I was down $987 total for poker. I was up $325 for blackjack, but down $378 for craps. I have a few things I have to think about about how I'm going to approach the craps and poker differently for the next trip. And that next trip is going to be in just 23 days. Me and Mrs. MusicalDice are going to be back out here in Vegas, beginning May 18th, which is our wedding anniversary! Hope you enjoyed this report, and stay tuned for more on this website! ☺