Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog
June 6, 2026 -- FIVE YEARS TODAY
I am vert excited to say that it's been exactly five years since I launched this musicaldice323.com website. Of course, I had a few pages already written, but it was on June 6th, 2021 that I started publishing these pages. And look at how it's grown since then! And I thank each and every one of you, who has taken the time to read my articles and blogs, both on the music side, and the craps side. And I plan to keep this website up for many many years to come. To all my readers, I sincerely thank you! ☺
June 8-12, 2026 -- VEGAS TRIP IX -- BELATED ANNIVERSARY TRIP
Mrs. MusicalDice and I would be be in Vegas for our wedding anniversary, which was on May 18th. But a prior committment to be in Fayetteville Tennessee prevented that from happening. We decided to make this trip our anniversary trip.
Day 1 -- Bingo!
After we checked into our room at the Golden Nugget, and after a long rest, we decided to play. I first played craps, deciding to play slow, placing a Don't bet, covering two Place bets. The table was semi-cold, and I managed to win $33 this way. Just getting my feet wet here.
I then went to the poker room, and played poker for the first time in nearly three months. This was a 1/2 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em table. At first, I didn't get much to play, but then came the hand where I had two black 10's. I raised to $15, and someone else, who initially limped in, weny all=in for about $80, and I called. One other player called as well. The flop came out a 7, an 8, and a 9. I bet $100, and the other caller went all-in. Reluctantly, I called. The turn card was a queen, and the river card was a jack, making me a straight, and busting the two other players. You can say that that jack was the bingo card. After an hour, I left the table $498 ahead, fpr a total session win of $531. Nice way to start off a trip!
Mrs. MusicalDice really wanted to play bingo on this trip. We found a casino that has bingo, which was the Palace Station casino. I played craps first, shooting from the end. I used the Yo-Yo dice set, shooting 12 times. I started off slow, but managed to win $62.
I then played blackjack, thinking it was going to be a quickie win before going to the bingo room. Not quite. I stopped 15 minutes before bingo was due to start. I was down $112.50.
For me, bingo was nothing but a wasted exercise. For me, being visually impaired, cound only follow along with the paper bingo cards, instead of on the computer. But the pace of the games went so fast, there wss no way for either of us to keep up with the peper bingo cards. The computer did everything. Next time we play here we'll know. Mrs. MusicalDixe said she had fun, regardless.
After that fiasco, I went back to the blackjack table, determined to win back the money I lost earlier. This table was the quickie game I was hoping for at first. The moment I did make up for the loss, I left the table $125 ahead. A total session win of $74.50, and a total day ein of $605.50. Not bad!
Day 2 -- The Grand Stand
After having breakfast at the Hash-A-Go-Go at the Plaza casino, O went to play. I first played at the craps table. I was the only one there most of the time, but yet and still, I chose to stand at Stick Right 1. This was because I wanted to try out a new toss, an under-handed toss. Results were decidedly mixed. Yes, I had one roll where I shoy 15 times, but the early 7-outs outweighed that roll. Moreover, Stick Right 1 is not a comfortable spot for me to be shooting from. I left the table $291 down.
I managed to win 110 of it back at the blackjack table, but starting the day off with a $181 loss was not how I wanted to start off the day. But as I told my wife, "At least I'm still $424 ahead for this trip."
The next gambling stop was at the Fremont. Once again, it was craps that I played. I didn't shoot at all this time, but managed to catch a pretty good roll off someone else. I started off slow, but eventually parlayed my bets up to quarters, and was starting to employ my press-by-a-quarter nethod, when he crapped out. Fortunately, I made all but 9 of the $291 I lost at the craps table at the Plaza. I even was cutting up some en route to my $282 win at the Fremont. Yeah, I did a little grand-standing here. Little did I know that this was only the opening act.
We had lunch at the Food Court at the Venetian. Afterwards, I tried to get into a poker game next door at the Palazzzo, but found out that they were having a big tournament there, and cash games weren't available until after 6 p.m. My wife and I had a dinner reservation at that time, so that was no good. Instead, I played 1/3 No-Limit Hold 'Em at Caesar's Palace (where they finally re-opened the poker room). I won $76 there after an hour of play.
As we were leaving the Palazzo to head to Caesar's Palace in our cab, we saw a most curious sight. There was this woman standing near the fountains outside the Venetian, cradling what appeared to be a dead bird. The woman was kissing on it and all. Mrs. MusicalDice rolled down the window and asked the woman about it. The woman claimed that the bird was a pet of hers. I wouldn't have even mentioned this, had it not been for the fact that Mrs. MusicalDice later saw us and our cab in an article on the Channel 8 News! Turns out that the woman had actually gone into the water by the fountains, plucked out one of the baby ducks in the water, and did some major harm to the duck. Shortly after Mrs. MusicalDice had talked to this woman, the woman was arrested for animal cruelty. Very strange indeed!
Our dinner reservation was at Komodo, a Chinese restaurant in the Fontainebleu casino. There, we had the house specialty, Peking duck, and it was delicious. The service was topnotch. We'd definitely go back again. Mrs. MusicalDice also got a thrill out of watching how they cook the Peking Duck.
But instead of gambling at Fontainebleu, the next place I gambled at was nacl at was back at the Plaza. For an explanation as to why I didn't play at Fontainebleu, and why I chose to play once again at the Plaza, after I'd lost there this morning, feel free to email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com. I went straight to a craps table, where I stood at the Left End. I more or less broke even with the first shooter. I became the second shooter. Here, I decided to go to the Yo-Yo dice set, focusing more on gripping the seam of the dice with my thumb and middle finger, while barely gripping the the sides with my index and ring fingers. This seemed to have worked like a charm, for as I would eventually discover, I'd end i[ having my second longest shoot ever! As far as betting goes, I started off doing 176 inside, plus the Pass Line bet for 20, reducing the bets down to 88 inside after two hits. From there, I did basically a take-and-press method, eventually parlaying all the inside numbers up to 15 units, where as they hit, I'd win $105. You can bet I was really cutting up, especially since at least 4 times, I got to yell out "BULL-LLACKOUT!!" I even made my point a total of 8 times!! The others at the table really enjoyed my antics. After I crapped out, I discovered that I'd shot a total of 42 times!!! That was easily enough to make my Best Craps Shoots Hall Of Fame page. As for how much I won, I won an even $1000. It would have been even more if I'd been using my quarters method that I used at the Fremont. But my shooting lately had been pretty sh!tty up to this point, so that's why I played things slower here. This win was easily my best win at the Plaza, and my first 500 Club here in 14 years (oddly enough, it was here on that same trip that someone first talked to me about setting the dice, saying that I'm too good of a player to just throw the dice like I didn't know what I was doing).
After we returned to the Golden Nugget, Mrs. MusicalDice asked me if O wanted to play here this evening. I told her that I was planning to at first, but after that huge win at the Plaza, I decided not to, instead calling it a day, so I could savor the moment a little longer. I won $1177 today, and so far for this trip, I'm ahead $1782.50. It's beel a long time since I'd done this well. Will it continue tomorrow? Stay tuned...
Day 3 -- Reality Check
After having breakfast at the Green Valley Ranch casino, I played craps. Let's just say that whatever magic I had last night was completely gone. I lost $427 at the craps table after a series of early seven-outs. I was the only shooter most of the time.
I then tried to get it back playing blackjack, but ran into trouble there too. I eventually got my money back plus $17.50. Total session loss of $409.50.
From there, I played at the Sunset Station, while my wife did some shopping. I first played blackjack there. I got off to a very rocky start. I slowly got my money back plus $25.
From there, I played craps. At this table, I didn't shoot at all. Instead, it was another shooter that I capitalized on. I started off slow, but eventually covered all the numbers. Ultimately, I won $210, for a total session win of $235.
My wife and I decuded to go to the Palms casino early. We were determined to do the lobster buffet, even though I was not able to make a reservation. In person, we were able to make a reservation. This was done long before people started lining up for the buffet. This gave me time to play craps.
However, once again, I was slapped back to reality, with a very cold craps table. No matter what I did, it was the wrong thing to do. I left the table $567 down, as the time drew near for people with reservations to line up for the buffet.
The buffet was delicious, as expected. Perhaps unexpectedly, however, despite two days left on this trip, I declared myself all gambled out. Yes, I was still ahead by $1041, but I decided to stop there, since it's not every trip that I finish with such a large profit. Analysis will come later.
One more thing I have to mention is the fact that it got up to 107° today. Now that is just effing hot!
Days 4 & 5 -- Saving Up For The Next Trip
The fact that just five days after this Vegas trip is over, there's another trip, in Biloxi MS, coming up, also weighed in my decision to stop gambling early. But in the meantime, here's some analysis:
Obviously, this was a pretty profitable trip, and I wanted to keep it that way, which is the main reason why I stopped early. Here's the breakdown on how I did on each of the games: I ended up ahead on each one; $165 ahead playing blackjack, $302 ahead playing craps, even with the losses, and $574 ahead playing poker. Hopefully, I can say something similar at the end of the Biloxi trip.
The rest of this report will talk about what else my wife and I did the last two days of our Vegas trip.
On Thursday morning, we ate breakfast at Seagle's Baglemania. The bagels were really good. They were pretty big, but I found the strawberry and apple cream cheese too sweet for my liking. But we'd definitely go back there again.
For lunch, we ventured into Chinatown, with the intention of exploring a little bit before deciding where to eat. But by the time we got there, it was already 94° (on its way to a high of 104°), and we dud little walking before decidiing on a Chinese restaurant where I had roasted duck, and my wife, aome pho. Great restaurant.
Most of the rest of the day was spent in the room just chilling out. It gave me a chance to start to catch up on some personal projects I'm working on, on my computer.
Dinner was at Ruth's Criss Steakhouse in the Harrah's casino. One of the most delicious steaks I ever had. Mrs. MusicslDice enjoyed the view of Las Vegas Bl., which I paid extts for.
We checked out the following day after eating breakfast at Claim Jumper. For some reason, this Claim Jumper always seems to be better than the one in the Golden Nugget in Lake Cgarles. I wonder why that is?
Anyway, that's all for this trip. The only other thing I can really say is that while our flight going back to Houston was delayed, it got up to 110° Ouch! The next trip will be in Biloxi in just a few days. Stay tuned for the results of that trip! ☺
June 17 - 21, 2026 -- BILOXI V -- Through The Storm
This was a trip that almost wasn't. For the weather at both ends, Houston and Biloxi, was predicted to be thunderstorms. I thought the flights would be canceled. But neither flight was canceled, and Mrs. MusicalDice and I were going. Another offer from the Beau Rivage casino. How would I do this time? Let's find out!
Day 1 -- Daybreak
It was raining good when we arrived at the Houston airport. Miraculously, by the time of departure the sun was peering through the clouds. And the same thing when we arrived in Gulfport. It started raining shortly after we arrived at Beau Rivage and checked into our room.
After resting up for a couple hours, I went downstairs to start gambling. I first played blackjack. The dealer was making jokes about having dealt to a visually impaired person before, joking that she was teasing the guy that the bills he gave her were one-dollar bills, instead of hundred bills. It really rubbed me the wrong way, since I'm visually impaired. Naturally, she was also giving me crap when I left the table $100 ahead. The truth of the matter was, I almost left the table before I even started.
Next, I played craps. At first, I did a DC bet for $60, which traveled to the 6. I bet 48 inside, covering the other three inside numbers. I got three hits on the inside numbers, then took down the DC. The shooter crapped out shortly thereafter. I still made a little money. That evaporated when on the next shooter when I bet 60 on the 6 and 8, with the intentio of reducing the bets down to 30 each on one hit. But the shooter crapped out before either number hit. I switched to a $20 Pass Line bet, and bet 4 units on each of the inside numbers. Fortunately, this shooter went on a good roll, and I was able to parlay my Place bets up, using a take-and-press strategy. I was even able to parlay my 9 Place bet up to 75, which even hit, at which point, I yelled out "Bull-llackout!" for the payout of over 100. I left the table $308 ahead.
At this point, I was up $408, and I decided to go for a 500 Club by playing blackjack at a different table. It was a struggle, getting down as much as $125 at the table. But after a successful split and double-down, I got it all back, plus $125. The casino session ended with me being up $533. My first 500 Club in Biloxi in 2 years. What a stark contrast to how this trip began, compared to how the last Biloxi began!
Day 2 -- Riders On The Storm
This day was predicted to be a rainy and stormy day, and to say the least, it was. So all of today's gambling was done within the confines of Beau Rivage.
After breakfast, I played blackjack, as the only craps table open was the crapless craps table, and I was in no mood for that. I won $200 at the blackjack, and for once, nobody was giving me crap about leaving when I was ahead.
We were hoping to go to Shaggy's, which is off-property, for lunch, but by the time lunch time came, it was raining and thunderstorming, and we knew that wasn't about to happen. Instead, we atr at a deli on-property.
Afterwards, I played craps. This time, my timing was horrible. Most every time I played the Don'ts, it was the wrong time, and same thing when I was playing the light side. Ultimately, I left $574 down.
I did manage to win back $250 of that at the blackjack table. At this point, at least I coule still say I was still ahead for the trip, despite the $324 session loss. I was still up $409 at this point.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in our room just relaxing and following the progress of the storm, which was pretty severe at times. Many of the streets in Biloxi were flooded, so it was a damn good thing we didn't go anywhere.
This evening, we went to see a play version of Shrek. This was definitely Mrs. MusicalDice's idea, not mine. Going to plays is usually not my thing, but this trip isn't just about me. My wife greatly enjoyed the play, and to my surprise, I did too. In fact, I was standing, clapping, and cheering, when the cast performed "I'm A Believer" at the end.
Afterwards, we ate a very late dinner at the same deli where we had lunch. Afterwards, I somehow had the energy to play craps (I really wanted to play blackjack, but they only had $100 table available. No thankks!). I had a specific goal in mind, to win at least $125, since I was $124 down. I was very apprehensive at playing craps, given what happened at this table earlier today, especially since this table was now a $25 table. But I decided to play my light side play, and fortunately, the shooter went on a good enough run to win $165. $41 ahead for the day. $574 ahead for the trip so far. Good enough.
Day 3 -- Finally...
The sun was out this morning, and my wife and I decided to take advantage of that. For finally, we had a chance to go elsewhere beyond the confines of Beau Rivage. Our first stop was at the Palace casino, where we ate breakfast (not the buffet--that's only on Saturdaus and Sundays). Afterwards, I decided to play craps, while my wife decided on another cup of coffee.
I played at a craps table where the shooter was someone who apparently remembered me from two months ago, and mentioned that I know a lot about music trivia. It was a good vibe, and I got in on his roll, which was a good one. I startted off slow, playing the inside numbers at $10 levels (it was a $10 table). From there, I parlayed some of the numbers up to 4 units, and even had one of them at 8 units. I quickly won $185. The win was so quick that my wife was still enjoying that cup of coffee when I got back to her.
The next stop was at the Hard Rock. There, I got into a craps game. Here, yje shooter was a young lady, who was a random shooter. This table was a $10 table, and I did a Pass Line bet for the minimum, plus a $5 Whirl bet. The shooter's first two rolls were yo's, and I said "Can you say yo-baby, yo-baby, yo!" I finally was able to say that on this trip. Those come-out payouts fueled my slow-playing, playing just a few of the Place bets, making syre I stayed ahead. I ended up winning $39. I observed after this craps win, that despie the loss at the craps table yesterday, I am once again ahead for this trip playing craps ($123). I added $25 to that playing blackjack. After a long battle to win that quarter, I left the casino $64 ahead.
The next stop was at Golden Nugget. My intention was to play both craps and blackjack. I got to the blackjack table, and won a quick $100. But when I went toward the craps table, I saw that there was nobody playing there. I said to myself, "This looks like a death trap." I don't like being the only player at the craps table. I decided not to play there.
My wife and I finally got to eat lunch at Shaggy's, where I got the seafood boil, which was delicious.
Afterwards, my wife decided to use this break in the bad weather to do some shopping, while I opted to return to Beau Rivage to play some poker. I was at the poker only 45 minutes, but fortunately, I ended up a winner there too. The first hand I won was the big one. I had ace-king in my hand, and the flop came out, it was an ace, a king, and a trey. My opponent had check-raised me on the flop, and when the turn card, a jack came out, he put me all-in. Of course, he had two treys in his hand for a flopped set. Fortunately for me, the river card was a king, giving me the better full house for the double-up. Wow!! I won two more pots before leaving the table $501 ahead. Another 500 Club for this trip--who would have thought that would happen. I've only had seven 500 Clubs this year, and more than half of them came this month. Also, I finally had more poker wins this year, than losses.
I decided to stop gambling for the day, and remain $850 ahead for the day, and so far, $1424 ahead for the trip. But I still have one more thing to mention before I conclude for the day.
We almost went to karaoke at an off-property site near Shaggy's, but I decided to scrap the idea, when my wife looked at the menu of food the karaoke place had to offer, and discovered that it was mainly seafood and bizarre dishes we'd never heard of. Instead, we stayed at Beau Rivage, opting to eat at Stalla, an Italian restaurant. The food was pretty good. More importantly, it turned out to be a damn good thing we didn't go anywhere this evening. For at about 10:00, a huge severe thunderstorm hit! The break in the bad weather that was forecast for all of this trip, couldn't last. By the time this happened, we were safe in our room, and were counting our blessings.
Day 4 -- I'll Be Missing You
This morning, we went to the Palace casino to do the breakfast buffet. The buffet was open this time, but the tables weren't open yet. We decided to leave the casino.
However, as we left the casino and stepped into our Uber ride, we received really bad news. My wife's beloved uncle James, who had been terminally ill for quite some time, had just passed away. Thomas James Mongomery was 82 years old. I had met the man, and he was a very decent fellow, and I had a great deal of respect for him. There's more to this story, but if you want to know more about this, you can email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I'll give you the details. Suffice to say here, that neither of us wanted to do any gambling at that time. So we returned to Beau Rivage, where we went straight to our room to de-compress for the next several hours.
After lunch, we decided to play a little. I first played craps, and once again, played slow. This time, the shooter's seven-winners were fueling this. I didn't feel like having a long protracted battle, so I left the table $20 ahead. I added $50 to that at the blackjack table, for a session win of $70.
After that, we went to the Hard Rock casino. The craps table was full, so I played blackjack instead. It was a choppy table, then came this hand where the dealer had a 9 on top and one of my two hands was two 8's. I split them. On the first 8, I was dealt a 3, for a total of 11. I doubled down, and got an ace. Bad! On the other hand, I also got dealt a trey. Again, I doubled down and only got a 4. Fortunately, the dealer had a 6 in the hole, and a face card busted him. I only played one more round, where I got a blackjack on one hand, and pushed on the other hand. I decided not to press my luck any further, so I left the table $137.50 ahead.
We had dinner reservations at Morton's Steakhouse. However, after we returned to Beau Rivage, and as the time started getting closer, the weather looked like it was going to get nasty again. We decided not to go there, but instead, the steakhouse at home base. Mrs. MusicalDice managed to reserve a table there for the same time.
Against my better judgment, I played craps prior to dinner. It was a $25 table, with the dice being ice cold. I had a halfway decent roll, but not enough to get my money back. I left the table $313 down. The intention was to resume gambling after dinner.
However, after dinner, I discovered that EVERYTHING I was intending to play, was full, meaning the craps tables, the blackjack tables, AND the poker tables. I decided to just declare myself all gambled out. For the day, I was down $105.50, but for the trip as a whole, I ended up $1318.50. I dedicate this overall win to the memory of Thomas James Montgomery. W'll be missing you, Uncle James!
Day 5 -- Just A Song Before I Go...
Since I'm already all gambled out, the only thing to do here is give a breakdown of my results. That loss at the craps table yesterday evening, lef to a net loss of $190 playing craps. I was ahead $501 playing poker. By far, I made the most playing blackjack, finishing $1007.50 ahead for the trip. I wish things had gone a little better at craps, but overall, I was very pleased with the results.
BTW, I'm sure a number of you have already guessed that these titles I've given for each day, are really song titles. That's true for all five days. "Daybreak" is the name of a Barry Manilow song from 1977. "Riders On The Storm" is a Doors classic from 1971. "Finally" is the name of a CeCe Peniston dance song from 1991. "I'll Be Missing You" is a Puff Daddy song from 1997. Also, "Just A Song Before I Go" is a song by Crosby, Stills & Nash from 1977. Even the name of this trip, "Through The Storm" is a song title--by Aretha Franklin and Elton John from 1989. Hey, I'm known as MusicalDice, what do do you expect?
So this concludes this report on this trip. Unfortunately, this will be my last gambling trip for a while. This is because of a health issue I have to deal with that'll take me into early August. If you're interested in what specifically I'm going through, you can email me musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I'll tell you all about it. But that's all for now! ☺
Mrs. MusicalDice and I would be be in Vegas for our wedding anniversary, which was on May 18th. But a prior committment to be in Fayetteville Tennessee prevented that from happening. We decided to make this trip our anniversary trip.
After we checked into our room at the Golden Nugget, and after a long rest, we decided to play. I first played craps, deciding to play slow, placing a Don't bet, covering two Place bets. The table was semi-cold, and I managed to win $33 this way. Just getting my feet wet here.
I then went to the poker room, and played poker for the first time in nearly three months. This was a 1/2 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em table. At first, I didn't get much to play, but then came the hand where I had two black 10's. I raised to $15, and someone else, who initially limped in, weny all=in for about $80, and I called. One other player called as well. The flop came out a 7, an 8, and a 9. I bet $100, and the other caller went all-in. Reluctantly, I called. The turn card was a queen, and the river card was a jack, making me a straight, and busting the two other players. You can say that that jack was the bingo card. After an hour, I left the table $498 ahead, fpr a total session win of $531. Nice way to start off a trip!
Mrs. MusicalDice really wanted to play bingo on this trip. We found a casino that has bingo, which was the Palace Station casino. I played craps first, shooting from the end. I used the Yo-Yo dice set, shooting 12 times. I started off slow, but managed to win $62.
I then played blackjack, thinking it was going to be a quickie win before going to the bingo room. Not quite. I stopped 15 minutes before bingo was due to start. I was down $112.50.
For me, bingo was nothing but a wasted exercise. For me, being visually impaired, cound only follow along with the paper bingo cards, instead of on the computer. But the pace of the games went so fast, there wss no way for either of us to keep up with the peper bingo cards. The computer did everything. Next time we play here we'll know. Mrs. MusicalDixe said she had fun, regardless.
After that fiasco, I went back to the blackjack table, determined to win back the money I lost earlier. This table was the quickie game I was hoping for at first. The moment I did make up for the loss, I left the table $125 ahead. A total session win of $74.50, and a total day ein of $605.50. Not bad!
After having breakfast at the Hash-A-Go-Go at the Plaza casino, O went to play. I first played at the craps table. I was the only one there most of the time, but yet and still, I chose to stand at Stick Right 1. This was because I wanted to try out a new toss, an under-handed toss. Results were decidedly mixed. Yes, I had one roll where I shoy 15 times, but the early 7-outs outweighed that roll. Moreover, Stick Right 1 is not a comfortable spot for me to be shooting from. I left the table $291 down.
I managed to win 110 of it back at the blackjack table, but starting the day off with a $181 loss was not how I wanted to start off the day. But as I told my wife, "At least I'm still $424 ahead for this trip."
The next gambling stop was at the Fremont. Once again, it was craps that I played. I didn't shoot at all this time, but managed to catch a pretty good roll off someone else. I started off slow, but eventually parlayed my bets up to quarters, and was starting to employ my press-by-a-quarter nethod, when he crapped out. Fortunately, I made all but 9 of the $291 I lost at the craps table at the Plaza. I even was cutting up some en route to my $282 win at the Fremont. Yeah, I did a little grand-standing here. Little did I know that this was only the opening act.
We had lunch at the Food Court at the Venetian. Afterwards, I tried to get into a poker game next door at the Palazzzo, but found out that they were having a big tournament there, and cash games weren't available until after 6 p.m. My wife and I had a dinner reservation at that time, so that was no good. Instead, I played 1/3 No-Limit Hold 'Em at Caesar's Palace (where they finally re-opened the poker room). I won $76 there after an hour of play.
As we were leaving the Palazzo to head to Caesar's Palace in our cab, we saw a most curious sight. There was this woman standing near the fountains outside the Venetian, cradling what appeared to be a dead bird. The woman was kissing on it and all. Mrs. MusicalDice rolled down the window and asked the woman about it. The woman claimed that the bird was a pet of hers. I wouldn't have even mentioned this, had it not been for the fact that Mrs. MusicalDice later saw us and our cab in an article on the Channel 8 News! Turns out that the woman had actually gone into the water by the fountains, plucked out one of the baby ducks in the water, and did some major harm to the duck. Shortly after Mrs. MusicalDice had talked to this woman, the woman was arrested for animal cruelty. Very strange indeed!
Our dinner reservation was at Komodo, a Chinese restaurant in the Fontainebleu casino. There, we had the house specialty, Peking duck, and it was delicious. The service was topnotch. We'd definitely go back again. Mrs. MusicalDice also got a thrill out of watching how they cook the Peking Duck.
But instead of gambling at Fontainebleu, the next place I gambled at was nacl at was back at the Plaza. For an explanation as to why I didn't play at Fontainebleu, and why I chose to play once again at the Plaza, after I'd lost there this morning, feel free to email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com. I went straight to a craps table, where I stood at the Left End. I more or less broke even with the first shooter. I became the second shooter. Here, I decided to go to the Yo-Yo dice set, focusing more on gripping the seam of the dice with my thumb and middle finger, while barely gripping the the sides with my index and ring fingers. This seemed to have worked like a charm, for as I would eventually discover, I'd end i[ having my second longest shoot ever! As far as betting goes, I started off doing 176 inside, plus the Pass Line bet for 20, reducing the bets down to 88 inside after two hits. From there, I did basically a take-and-press method, eventually parlaying all the inside numbers up to 15 units, where as they hit, I'd win $105. You can bet I was really cutting up, especially since at least 4 times, I got to yell out "BULL-LLACKOUT!!" I even made my point a total of 8 times!! The others at the table really enjoyed my antics. After I crapped out, I discovered that I'd shot a total of 42 times!!! That was easily enough to make my Best Craps Shoots Hall Of Fame page. As for how much I won, I won an even $1000. It would have been even more if I'd been using my quarters method that I used at the Fremont. But my shooting lately had been pretty sh!tty up to this point, so that's why I played things slower here. This win was easily my best win at the Plaza, and my first 500 Club here in 14 years (oddly enough, it was here on that same trip that someone first talked to me about setting the dice, saying that I'm too good of a player to just throw the dice like I didn't know what I was doing).
After we returned to the Golden Nugget, Mrs. MusicalDice asked me if O wanted to play here this evening. I told her that I was planning to at first, but after that huge win at the Plaza, I decided not to, instead calling it a day, so I could savor the moment a little longer. I won $1177 today, and so far for this trip, I'm ahead $1782.50. It's beel a long time since I'd done this well. Will it continue tomorrow? Stay tuned...
After having breakfast at the Green Valley Ranch casino, I played craps. Let's just say that whatever magic I had last night was completely gone. I lost $427 at the craps table after a series of early seven-outs. I was the only shooter most of the time.
I then tried to get it back playing blackjack, but ran into trouble there too. I eventually got my money back plus $17.50. Total session loss of $409.50.
From there, I played at the Sunset Station, while my wife did some shopping. I first played blackjack there. I got off to a very rocky start. I slowly got my money back plus $25.
From there, I played craps. At this table, I didn't shoot at all. Instead, it was another shooter that I capitalized on. I started off slow, but eventually covered all the numbers. Ultimately, I won $210, for a total session win of $235.
My wife and I decuded to go to the Palms casino early. We were determined to do the lobster buffet, even though I was not able to make a reservation. In person, we were able to make a reservation. This was done long before people started lining up for the buffet. This gave me time to play craps.
However, once again, I was slapped back to reality, with a very cold craps table. No matter what I did, it was the wrong thing to do. I left the table $567 down, as the time drew near for people with reservations to line up for the buffet.
The buffet was delicious, as expected. Perhaps unexpectedly, however, despite two days left on this trip, I declared myself all gambled out. Yes, I was still ahead by $1041, but I decided to stop there, since it's not every trip that I finish with such a large profit. Analysis will come later.
One more thing I have to mention is the fact that it got up to 107° today. Now that is just effing hot!
The fact that just five days after this Vegas trip is over, there's another trip, in Biloxi MS, coming up, also weighed in my decision to stop gambling early. But in the meantime, here's some analysis:
Obviously, this was a pretty profitable trip, and I wanted to keep it that way, which is the main reason why I stopped early. Here's the breakdown on how I did on each of the games: I ended up ahead on each one; $165 ahead playing blackjack, $302 ahead playing craps, even with the losses, and $574 ahead playing poker. Hopefully, I can say something similar at the end of the Biloxi trip.
The rest of this report will talk about what else my wife and I did the last two days of our Vegas trip.
On Thursday morning, we ate breakfast at Seagle's Baglemania. The bagels were really good. They were pretty big, but I found the strawberry and apple cream cheese too sweet for my liking. But we'd definitely go back there again.
For lunch, we ventured into Chinatown, with the intention of exploring a little bit before deciding where to eat. But by the time we got there, it was already 94° (on its way to a high of 104°), and we dud little walking before decidiing on a Chinese restaurant where I had roasted duck, and my wife, aome pho. Great restaurant.
Most of the rest of the day was spent in the room just chilling out. It gave me a chance to start to catch up on some personal projects I'm working on, on my computer.
Dinner was at Ruth's Criss Steakhouse in the Harrah's casino. One of the most delicious steaks I ever had. Mrs. MusicslDice enjoyed the view of Las Vegas Bl., which I paid extts for.
We checked out the following day after eating breakfast at Claim Jumper. For some reason, this Claim Jumper always seems to be better than the one in the Golden Nugget in Lake Cgarles. I wonder why that is?
Anyway, that's all for this trip. The only other thing I can really say is that while our flight going back to Houston was delayed, it got up to 110° Ouch! The next trip will be in Biloxi in just a few days. Stay tuned for the results of that trip! ☺
This was a trip that almost wasn't. For the weather at both ends, Houston and Biloxi, was predicted to be thunderstorms. I thought the flights would be canceled. But neither flight was canceled, and Mrs. MusicalDice and I were going. Another offer from the Beau Rivage casino. How would I do this time? Let's find out!
It was raining good when we arrived at the Houston airport. Miraculously, by the time of departure the sun was peering through the clouds. And the same thing when we arrived in Gulfport. It started raining shortly after we arrived at Beau Rivage and checked into our room.
After resting up for a couple hours, I went downstairs to start gambling. I first played blackjack. The dealer was making jokes about having dealt to a visually impaired person before, joking that she was teasing the guy that the bills he gave her were one-dollar bills, instead of hundred bills. It really rubbed me the wrong way, since I'm visually impaired. Naturally, she was also giving me crap when I left the table $100 ahead. The truth of the matter was, I almost left the table before I even started.
Next, I played craps. At first, I did a DC bet for $60, which traveled to the 6. I bet 48 inside, covering the other three inside numbers. I got three hits on the inside numbers, then took down the DC. The shooter crapped out shortly thereafter. I still made a little money. That evaporated when on the next shooter when I bet 60 on the 6 and 8, with the intentio of reducing the bets down to 30 each on one hit. But the shooter crapped out before either number hit. I switched to a $20 Pass Line bet, and bet 4 units on each of the inside numbers. Fortunately, this shooter went on a good roll, and I was able to parlay my Place bets up, using a take-and-press strategy. I was even able to parlay my 9 Place bet up to 75, which even hit, at which point, I yelled out "Bull-llackout!" for the payout of over 100. I left the table $308 ahead.
At this point, I was up $408, and I decided to go for a 500 Club by playing blackjack at a different table. It was a struggle, getting down as much as $125 at the table. But after a successful split and double-down, I got it all back, plus $125. The casino session ended with me being up $533. My first 500 Club in Biloxi in 2 years. What a stark contrast to how this trip began, compared to how the last Biloxi began!
This day was predicted to be a rainy and stormy day, and to say the least, it was. So all of today's gambling was done within the confines of Beau Rivage.
After breakfast, I played blackjack, as the only craps table open was the crapless craps table, and I was in no mood for that. I won $200 at the blackjack, and for once, nobody was giving me crap about leaving when I was ahead.
We were hoping to go to Shaggy's, which is off-property, for lunch, but by the time lunch time came, it was raining and thunderstorming, and we knew that wasn't about to happen. Instead, we atr at a deli on-property.
Afterwards, I played craps. This time, my timing was horrible. Most every time I played the Don'ts, it was the wrong time, and same thing when I was playing the light side. Ultimately, I left $574 down.
I did manage to win back $250 of that at the blackjack table. At this point, at least I coule still say I was still ahead for the trip, despite the $324 session loss. I was still up $409 at this point.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in our room just relaxing and following the progress of the storm, which was pretty severe at times. Many of the streets in Biloxi were flooded, so it was a damn good thing we didn't go anywhere.
This evening, we went to see a play version of Shrek. This was definitely Mrs. MusicalDice's idea, not mine. Going to plays is usually not my thing, but this trip isn't just about me. My wife greatly enjoyed the play, and to my surprise, I did too. In fact, I was standing, clapping, and cheering, when the cast performed "I'm A Believer" at the end.
Afterwards, we ate a very late dinner at the same deli where we had lunch. Afterwards, I somehow had the energy to play craps (I really wanted to play blackjack, but they only had $100 table available. No thankks!). I had a specific goal in mind, to win at least $125, since I was $124 down. I was very apprehensive at playing craps, given what happened at this table earlier today, especially since this table was now a $25 table. But I decided to play my light side play, and fortunately, the shooter went on a good enough run to win $165. $41 ahead for the day. $574 ahead for the trip so far. Good enough.
The sun was out this morning, and my wife and I decided to take advantage of that. For finally, we had a chance to go elsewhere beyond the confines of Beau Rivage. Our first stop was at the Palace casino, where we ate breakfast (not the buffet--that's only on Saturdaus and Sundays). Afterwards, I decided to play craps, while my wife decided on another cup of coffee.
I played at a craps table where the shooter was someone who apparently remembered me from two months ago, and mentioned that I know a lot about music trivia. It was a good vibe, and I got in on his roll, which was a good one. I startted off slow, playing the inside numbers at $10 levels (it was a $10 table). From there, I parlayed some of the numbers up to 4 units, and even had one of them at 8 units. I quickly won $185. The win was so quick that my wife was still enjoying that cup of coffee when I got back to her.
The next stop was at the Hard Rock. There, I got into a craps game. Here, yje shooter was a young lady, who was a random shooter. This table was a $10 table, and I did a Pass Line bet for the minimum, plus a $5 Whirl bet. The shooter's first two rolls were yo's, and I said "Can you say yo-baby, yo-baby, yo!" I finally was able to say that on this trip. Those come-out payouts fueled my slow-playing, playing just a few of the Place bets, making syre I stayed ahead. I ended up winning $39. I observed after this craps win, that despie the loss at the craps table yesterday, I am once again ahead for this trip playing craps ($123). I added $25 to that playing blackjack. After a long battle to win that quarter, I left the casino $64 ahead.
The next stop was at Golden Nugget. My intention was to play both craps and blackjack. I got to the blackjack table, and won a quick $100. But when I went toward the craps table, I saw that there was nobody playing there. I said to myself, "This looks like a death trap." I don't like being the only player at the craps table. I decided not to play there.
My wife and I finally got to eat lunch at Shaggy's, where I got the seafood boil, which was delicious.
Afterwards, my wife decided to use this break in the bad weather to do some shopping, while I opted to return to Beau Rivage to play some poker. I was at the poker only 45 minutes, but fortunately, I ended up a winner there too. The first hand I won was the big one. I had ace-king in my hand, and the flop came out, it was an ace, a king, and a trey. My opponent had check-raised me on the flop, and when the turn card, a jack came out, he put me all-in. Of course, he had two treys in his hand for a flopped set. Fortunately for me, the river card was a king, giving me the better full house for the double-up. Wow!! I won two more pots before leaving the table $501 ahead. Another 500 Club for this trip--who would have thought that would happen. I've only had seven 500 Clubs this year, and more than half of them came this month. Also, I finally had more poker wins this year, than losses.
I decided to stop gambling for the day, and remain $850 ahead for the day, and so far, $1424 ahead for the trip. But I still have one more thing to mention before I conclude for the day.
We almost went to karaoke at an off-property site near Shaggy's, but I decided to scrap the idea, when my wife looked at the menu of food the karaoke place had to offer, and discovered that it was mainly seafood and bizarre dishes we'd never heard of. Instead, we stayed at Beau Rivage, opting to eat at Stalla, an Italian restaurant. The food was pretty good. More importantly, it turned out to be a damn good thing we didn't go anywhere this evening. For at about 10:00, a huge severe thunderstorm hit! The break in the bad weather that was forecast for all of this trip, couldn't last. By the time this happened, we were safe in our room, and were counting our blessings.
This morning, we went to the Palace casino to do the breakfast buffet. The buffet was open this time, but the tables weren't open yet. We decided to leave the casino.
However, as we left the casino and stepped into our Uber ride, we received really bad news. My wife's beloved uncle James, who had been terminally ill for quite some time, had just passed away. Thomas James Mongomery was 82 years old. I had met the man, and he was a very decent fellow, and I had a great deal of respect for him. There's more to this story, but if you want to know more about this, you can email me at musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I'll give you the details. Suffice to say here, that neither of us wanted to do any gambling at that time. So we returned to Beau Rivage, where we went straight to our room to de-compress for the next several hours.
After lunch, we decided to play a little. I first played craps, and once again, played slow. This time, the shooter's seven-winners were fueling this. I didn't feel like having a long protracted battle, so I left the table $20 ahead. I added $50 to that at the blackjack table, for a session win of $70.
After that, we went to the Hard Rock casino. The craps table was full, so I played blackjack instead. It was a choppy table, then came this hand where the dealer had a 9 on top and one of my two hands was two 8's. I split them. On the first 8, I was dealt a 3, for a total of 11. I doubled down, and got an ace. Bad! On the other hand, I also got dealt a trey. Again, I doubled down and only got a 4. Fortunately, the dealer had a 6 in the hole, and a face card busted him. I only played one more round, where I got a blackjack on one hand, and pushed on the other hand. I decided not to press my luck any further, so I left the table $137.50 ahead.
We had dinner reservations at Morton's Steakhouse. However, after we returned to Beau Rivage, and as the time started getting closer, the weather looked like it was going to get nasty again. We decided not to go there, but instead, the steakhouse at home base. Mrs. MusicalDice managed to reserve a table there for the same time.
Against my better judgment, I played craps prior to dinner. It was a $25 table, with the dice being ice cold. I had a halfway decent roll, but not enough to get my money back. I left the table $313 down. The intention was to resume gambling after dinner.
However, after dinner, I discovered that EVERYTHING I was intending to play, was full, meaning the craps tables, the blackjack tables, AND the poker tables. I decided to just declare myself all gambled out. For the day, I was down $105.50, but for the trip as a whole, I ended up $1318.50. I dedicate this overall win to the memory of Thomas James Montgomery. W'll be missing you, Uncle James!
Since I'm already all gambled out, the only thing to do here is give a breakdown of my results. That loss at the craps table yesterday evening, lef to a net loss of $190 playing craps. I was ahead $501 playing poker. By far, I made the most playing blackjack, finishing $1007.50 ahead for the trip. I wish things had gone a little better at craps, but overall, I was very pleased with the results.
BTW, I'm sure a number of you have already guessed that these titles I've given for each day, are really song titles. That's true for all five days. "Daybreak" is the name of a Barry Manilow song from 1977. "Riders On The Storm" is a Doors classic from 1971. "Finally" is the name of a CeCe Peniston dance song from 1991. "I'll Be Missing You" is a Puff Daddy song from 1997. Also, "Just A Song Before I Go" is a song by Crosby, Stills & Nash from 1977. Even the name of this trip, "Through The Storm" is a song title--by Aretha Franklin and Elton John from 1989. Hey, I'm known as MusicalDice, what do do you expect?
So this concludes this report on this trip. Unfortunately, this will be my last gambling trip for a while. This is because of a health issue I have to deal with that'll take me into early August. If you're interested in what specifically I'm going through, you can email me musicaldice323@gmail.com, and I'll tell you all about it. But that's all for now! ☺