How
Does The Time-Interval Between Each Successive Lap Around The Table Affect
Your Shooting?
Let’s give some
thought to the varying amounts of time we have to wait between each shooting
opportunity when we are standing at the craps table in a casino.
Depending on how crowded the table is, and depending on what the dice are
doing as they make their way back around to your position; it could take
anywhere from as little as two or three minutes if there’s only a couple of
other players…all the way to nearly an hour if it’s packed with 12 or 14
players…even if the dice aren’t doing anything remarkable and the table
conditions are somewhat choppy.
So what effect does varying shooting-opportunity intervals have on your
de-randomized toss when the dice finally do make it back to your
table-position, and how do any of the random betting situations that
presented themselves during that one lap figure into how you bet on your own
hand when the dice are finally back to your spot?
Does the amount of money that you just won or lost on random-bets have any
effect on the amount of money that you will now bet on yourself?
Does the amount of money that you won or lost on yourself last time you shot
have any effect on the amount of money that you bet on yourself this time?
If you shot well last time, do you start to get impatient if it looks like
it’s going to be a while before the dice get back around to you?
If your last hand was a lousy one, are you looking at your next
shooting-opportunity as a chance for your D-I talents to redeem
themselves; or do your most recent results cause a pang of worry and
provide the impetus to cut back on your next set of A-P wagers?
These are the kinds of
things that can get into your head and mess with your shooting-focus to the
point of total distraction. They can also mess with the efficiency of your
advantage-play bets to the point of inefficiency whereby you'll still end up
losing money no matter how good your own shooting is on the next hand.
In the same vein, if you just threw a lousy hand, does your normally
restrained random-betting discipline go out the window in hopes that a lucky
bet on a negative-expectation R-R will make up for the loss that you just
incurred during your turn, or does it steel your loins even more in
terms of strengthening your resolve not to waste your gaming bankroll
on random bets; preferring instead to use that money on your own
positive-expectation toss the next time around?
The next time you are at the table, I want you to think about how each one
of those things may unwittingly play into your bet-making decisions, not
only on the random rollers that you have to endure as you wait for the dice
to cycle back around to you; but also how the bets you made on yourself
during your most recent shooting-opportunity affects how you plan to bet on
your next turn with the dice.
I want you to look at your bet-making decisions and any changes you make to
them along the way and ask yourself WHY you are making them; and whether or
not they are being made out of impatience, or greed, or boredom, or need for
action, or out of fear.
How you handle your money during both the good times as well as the bad
times, will determine your true grit and your ultimate profitability as an
advantage-player.
Ask yourself HOW the changes that you make to your bet-strategy fits into
the whole idea of advantage-play dice-influencing and whether those
decisions are keyed to that or to something totally unrelated
to advantage-play wagering and more closely associated with random gambling
or thrill-seeking or boredom or impatience.
I also want you to consider how the cool-down period between shooting
opportunities affects the physical side of your game too?
That is, do you find that a between-hands interval longer than 10 or 15
minutes takes you out of your finely-honed groove and is it then more
difficult to get back into a proper frame of mind and shooting-focus when
the dice come back around again?
Do you find it difficult to “recapture the magic” of a good or great hand if
it’s been more than 10 or 15 minutes since you last shot the dice.
If you threw a lousy hand, do you need a longer time between
shooting-opportunities to refocus your thoughts and re-energize your
shooting-confidence?
Have you ever noticed
how most players don’t stand quite as tall after 20 or 30 or 40 minutes at
the table as they did when they first walked up to the game? Has the game
worn them down to the point where even their posture suffers? Is that an
indication of settling-in “comfort” or is it a sign that our posture isn’t
quite as erect after we’ve been standing for awhile?
What about the angle of your head and neck. Do you notice that your head
isn’t quite as erect as it was when you first bought into the game. Is your
chin much closer to your chest because you are always looking down at the
layout or is the action of the game wearing you down?
Do you find yourself leaning heavily on the rail as though you are deep in
prayer? Is that a posture thing or are you really praying?
Do you think any of those things will affect your shooting-posture
and your dice-influencing accuracy when the dice come around again?
I think they will.
Why should you even have to think about any of those things?
Well the fact is, ALL of those things can take what would otherwise be an
outstanding high-player-edge on-axis primary-face toss and turn it into a
ragged and shabby looking display of near-random shooting.
Similarly, the bet-decisions you make along the way, especially the ones
that involve anything more than minimal wagers on random-rollers, almost
always play into how you make changes to your own advantaged bets, and in
most cases those changes have nothing to do with your actual edge over
the house, but rather the edge you let the house have over you.
Think about WHY you vary your bets from where they optimally should be, and
you’ll likely find the source of most of your losses or at least the lion’s
share of your unrealized profit.
At the same time, think about how your shooting-posture can imperceptibly
erode as a session wears on and think about how
The
Time-Interval Between Each Successive Lap Around The Table Affects Your
Shooting.
Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables…and in Life.
Sincerely,
The Mad Professor
Copyright © 2006
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