Never underestimate how difficult it is to concentrate
on your precision toss under live casino conditions. When numbers keep rolling the table fills up with other
players. Most have no idea of
proper table etiquette.
You will be bumped and jostled.
Money and chips will rain on the layout.
A prop bettor will hold up the game arguing over a dollar hardway wager that got
knocked off three rolls earlier. A little-old-lady playing the quarter
slot machine next to the craps table will hit the jackpot. Half-naked
cocktail servers will tap on your shoulder and offer you drinks.
The house shill will blow cigar smoke in your face.
The box man will try to strike up a conversation with
you while the dealer under-pays one of your bets. None of these things can be
allowed to cloud your mind. They must be put on another plane of
existence. You are in the zone. You see nothing but the dice, the
table, and the back wall.
Sports psychologists teach professional athletes how
to attain a mental edge for peak performance.
Precision shooters can benefit from the research that has been plowed into this
science. There are many popular
books on the subject available from your favorite bookstore.
Most revolve around a common five-step process.
First of all, you must define your desire. One person’s desire might be to have a
once-in-a-lifetime 90-minute roll.
Another might wish to reduce his sevens-to-rolls ratio from one-in-six to
one-in-twelve. You might have a win objective in mind -
say winning an average of $100 every time you step up to the craps table.
Or your vision might be for the things that money can
buy - a new car, the latest high-tech toy, a special trinket for the love of
your life. Whatever the desire, you
must define it and fix it permanently in your mind.
Write it down to further imprint it on your subconscious.
Review it daily to keep it fresh and alive for you.
So step one is to define your desire, write it down, and review it daily.
Step two is keyed to one of the most powerful words in
the world. The word is imagine.
Imagine yourself achieving your desire.
Create a mental picture of yourself at the tables.
Envision the bets on the layouts, the dealers making the payoffs, the joy on the
faces of the other players. Picture
yourself pre-setting the dice, then gripping and delivering them precisely down
the table. Pay the line.
Take the don’ts. Run your
thumb across the growing stacks of chips in your rack.
Imagine yourself a winner.
Visualization is mental practice for what lies ahead.
Olympic downhill racers call is “see and ski.”
And that is exactly how you should prepare for precision shooting.
Step three goes hand in hand with step two. Control your self-talk by
replacing negative affirmations with positive ones.
What is a negative affirmation?
It’s that tiny voice in your head that says You can’t do that.
Just lose another hundred, then quit.
The seven is going to roll next.
Nothing has any power over you unless you give it power through your conscious
thoughts. Think you can’t execute a precision
roll? You won’t.
Believe you’re going to lose another hundred?
You will. Convinced the
seven is going to roll next? Call
your bets off and hop it. Train your mind to accept only positive
thoughts. You’re the best shooter in the house.
You’re not going to be greedy.
You’ll just win a thousand - then quit for the night.
Positive affirmations condition the mind to accept winning. William Shakespeare said it best. “Our doubts are traitors, and make us
lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."
Step four is building on your previous
successes.
Of course, to do this you will have to keep records. These records are the benchmark of your success. As you strive to master precision
shooting you will have a lot of good rolls and an occasional great one.
After every great roll it is important to take a break from play and
analyze what went right. What were you doing differently than on other occasions?
Were you using a different pre-set?
Was your physical stance different?
Did you modify your grip? What signature numbers developed during
your roll? Burn the answers into your mind. Make them part of your daily
visualization exercise. Strive to
recreate the moment every time you step up to the table.
Step five builds on the previous four steps as you
learn to focus on the moment at
hand. This is the step
we alluded to in the opening of this article.
The precision shooter ultimately strives to reach a Zen state commonly
referred to as the zone. For this individual, nothing exists but the dice, the table,
and the roll.
Last of all let’s talk about three things you should
have learned from your mother. Eat
right. Avoid alcohol and drugs. Get plenty of rest.
Sound familiar? Virtually every gambling book ever written contains the same
recommendation.
People tend to fall into two categories when it comes
to casinos and food. One group
never leaves the gaming tables for the dinner tables. Their entire caloric intake comes from the olives in their
cocktails. The other group hits every restaurant on
the property; the coffee shop for breakfast, the buffet for lunch, and the
gourmet steak house for dinner.
Either extreme can work against you.
Skipping meals wreaks havoc with your metabolism and your mental edge.
Over indulging can make your blood sugar skyrocket or plummet.
The post-pasta crash can leave you groggy as a six-pack of Guinness. Learn to manage your diet for maximum energy at the times you
need it. Remember that food is just
fuel for your body. Top the tank
early and often with small, well balanced, nourishing meals.
Both your game and your health will be better for it.
There is a reason why the drinks are free for players.
It has nothing to do with the casino’s good will.
It has everything to do with stacking the odds in the house’s favor.
If you are knocking back beer after beer you are not playing at your
peak. Alcoholic beverages of any kind serve to
cloud your mind and impair your mental faculties.
When gambling, your drink of choice should be bottled water.
The one exception to this might be an occasional cup of decaffeinated coffee.
You say you feel like you need the caffeine?
Then you don’t need to be standing at the table.
You are not mentally sharp enough to be in the game.
Take a break and go to the coffee shop.
The table will still be open when you return.
How many times have you checked into a casino’s hotel,
then rushed down to play without even unpacking your bags? How many times have you lost half your bankroll on day one of
a three-day outing? Ever wonder
why? The simple fact is the first
two hours after checking into the casino hotel are the most dangerous to your
bankroll. Perhaps you flew halfway across country
to get to Vegas. Or maybe you
fought freeway traffic for three-and-a-half hours to get to the boats.
No matter how you get there, most players are too tired to be mentally on top of
the game immediately upon arrival.
The rush to play becomes the rush to lose.
To avoid these disasters establish a few strict ground
rules for yourself and stick with them. Have a light snack in the coffee shop. Go for a swim and relax by the pool for
an hour. Drop by the spa for a quick massage. Make love with your significant other. Catnap on the sofa.
Find something other than gambling to do for those first two hours.
Then, when you do go to the casino? Don’t be in a rush
to play. Walk around and survey the
layout of the property. Is the
roulette wheel open? Are there any
obvious trends worth investigating?
Find out who the hot players in the casino are by striking up a conversation
with the pit staff or a dealer at an empty table.
Then take up a position where you can chart the craps tables for a trend worth
investing in. Then and only
then should you consider buying into a game.
There’s more to dice control than the pre-set, grip,
pick-up and delivery. There’s also
the game that’s played between your ears.
As with any other game, you have to prepare a strategy. And when preparation meets opportunity - luck happens.
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