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Originally I was
going to address some e-mail questions I received about practice sessions in one of the Dogs
Mailbag articles. Then, as I
dug deeper, I found there to be some erroneous perceptions of what a practice session
involves by those who were posing the questions. If
youre having difficulty converting success on the practice table to success on a
live table in a casino, perhaps this will help. For most dice
influencers, practice is the single most important aspect to developing a consistent and
repeatable throw. Some of you have easy
access to local casinos and therefore may choose to practice on live tables,
but most of us have to hone our skill on some sort of practice rig outside of the casino
environment. So, how do you approach your
practice sessions? Mental Preparation: Do you mentally prepare yourself for a practice session or do you just pick up the dice and start tossing? If you arent establishing a pattern of how to mentally prepare yourself for the practice table, how do you expect to get yourself mentally ready when you walk up to a table in a live playing situation? Your mind and body must be focused to be
successful in the casino. You must
develop a method for getting your mind focused on the task at hand and make sure it is
part of your practice routine. In live
play, if you find that it takes several hands to get your throw dialed in, you
may need to work on your mental preparation. Physical
Preparation: I first read about
physical preparedness for dice influencing in Yuris book,
Dice
Control for Casino Craps. Frankly, I thought, You got to be
kidding! But, he was right, there are
certain exercises that will get the blood flowing to the extremities and to the brain. Dont scoff!
A few deep knee bends and some finger calisthenics prior to shooting will
do wonders for your throw. Not to mention, it
may also assist in battling fatigue at the tables. Attire: You would think
this is obvious, but the email Ive received indicates that sometimes the obvious
gets overlooked. One gentleman wrote that he
was having a lot of success practicing but that he just couldnt get
comfortable when he was shooting in a live situation.
After several back and forth emails, I came to discover that most often he
practiced at home in his pajamas and bare feet! No wonder he couldnt get comfortable in the
casino! If you wear loafers in the casino,
make sure youre wearing them in practice. Same
goes for jewelry, contacts, and glasses etc. (Ill
also reiterate that I recommend short sleeve shirts for dice influencers.) Come up with a uniform to wear in
practice and at the live tables. Grip Position: So, youve found a dice grip youre comfortable with, and have success with. Why is it that sometimes its quite easy to grip the dice while other times it seems you just cant seem to get the damn dice into the grip correctly? Often times youll find that youre establishing your grip in different positions in relation to your body. Sometimes you establish your grip reaching out a foot and to the right, other times you may be gripping the dice up close and directly in front of you. Find
the spot on your practice rig that youve found to be the most comfortable for
establishing your dice grip. MARK
it with chalk or a piece of tape and make sure that you ALWAYS arrange and grip the dice
on that mark. It will become second nature
and youll find that your grip will be more consistent and a consistent grip is a
vital ingredient to a consistent throw. Nerves: Weve ALL gone
through this. When you begin your dice
influencing journey, you become very comfortable in the your practice environment, but the
minute you are in a real shooting situation, the hands tremble, theres a bit of a
rumble in your stomach, and despite the air conditioning, youre sweating profusely. I would guess that all precision shooters have
experienced this in one form or another. Dont
worry, with experience this will pass. There are dozens of
issues similar to those listed above (stance, time of day, point of diminishing returns) Ill address some of those in Part II. For now, this should give you some things to mull
over. The reason we
practice is to develop throwing mechanics such that they become second nature. If your practice routine is not a routine at all,
then youre probably not getting all that you can out of your practice sessions. If youre not making the most of your
practice time, youll probably in turn, make similar errors on the real tables and
every misstep you make in a casino will generally cost you money. |
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