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Potholes on the Road to Success If you live in the
north-east, Spring not only brings fresh things to life, but it also gives birth to
potholes and huge cracks as reminders of the winter that just passed. Thats one of the reasons I like to be in the
warmer climates during the colder months of the year.
I love skiing and hockey, but when the snow clears and grass is green, the
huge gaping potholes bloom well before local gardens, so I like to avoid them until they
are filled in. That got me to
thinking about some of the potholes and ruts that Ive run into while playing craps
while Precision-Shooting in recent years. Fortunately,
I havent hit too many, but they sure seemed huge, deep and costly at the time.
I started out with
a very light breakfast of café au lait and a croissant at the Boulangerie that is nestled
amongst the French-styled shops. It was a
busy weekend, and the lowest table-limit available was $10.
I had previously enjoyed some accurate shooting here, so I took my spot at
an otherwise crowded table. The dice were many
players away from my position, so I whiled my time away on what was a very choppy table. There was never more than one Pass Line win in a
row, but then again, there were never more than two Dont Pass winners in a row
either. Predictably both sides
were being killed. My bankroll fluctuated a
little bit, but I was never down by more than $50. I was getting
impatient, not so much because I wanted to shoot, which was also true, but moreover,
because there was no discernable pattern that I could capitalize on. When the dice finally came to me, I let a
frustrated sigh of relief out. Establishing
the Point of 4, and backing it up with $30 in odds, I immediately bet my $220
Inside method, with the intent of regressing each bet down to $44 Inside after one
hit. Needless to say, I never got that far. A quick 7-Out was all I had to show for that $260
loss. Once more around the choppy table, my
bankroll remained relatively stable until it was my turn again. Ill spare you the gory details, but another
VERY quick $260 loss was enough to drive me out of the casino, and back to my suite for
what in the past I would have thought of as an un-needed break. Lesson
Choppy tables
combined with impatience, usually add up to unfocused and hurried shooting on my part. The results are never
good, and almost never profitable. For that reason, if I find myself getting
impatient, obviously I havent settled and focused myself, not only as a professional
player, but also merely as an ADULT. If I
start to have childish impatience, that thought alone is usually enough to re-center me,
if not I take a break. NEW YORK NEW YORK
I have
traditionally done exceptionally well on all of the tables here. They have various sizes, but that hasnt
deterred my success. It was my ninth time
playing here, and the profit from each of my previous sessions
had averaged over $1700, so I was expecting VERY GOOD things. My casino host had
set me up with all the perks for staying and playing there: a decent suite, front-row
tickets for Micheal Flatleys Lord of the Dance, tickets to their Wheel of Fortune
show at the MGM, tickets for the Tyson fight at the MGM, all the gourmet food I could
handle, free Cuban cigars from George Hamiltons Cigar Bar, even vouchers to the game
arcade and unlimited roller-coaster rides. Though I was
staying there, I always spread my playing action around.
I did fine at other houses, but for the three days at NYNY, I did LOUSY! It wasnt a matter of shooting
opportunities, I had PLENTY of those. But for
81 hands with the dice, I not only never made one Point, I didnt hit one single,
solitary 6 or 8 in all the time I threw in that casino over those three days! Yet I kept
going back to their tables to try to prove myself right, and prove my fear wrong. How did that
happen? I have no idea whatsoever. I was totally disgusted with my shooting. I began to wonder if maybe I had lost
it. That is, lost the ability to
accurately shoot the dice. I would go to a
neighboring casino like MGM, or Monte Carlo, or Excalibur or Luxor, and my faith and
ability would be quickly restored. Then I
would wander back to NYNY to try again and again, but to no avail. Lesson
I already knew that
if my shooting wasnt working somewhere, that I could easily switch houses. That part turned out to be quite successful, but
my ego kept leading me back to the place where all my failure and frustration were
focused. For those three days, every cent of
profit that I made at the other casinos was viciously sucked-up by NYNY. If I had been
willing to accept that one casino wasnt working for me on this trip, but all the
others were, then I would have had a bulging $8,300 profit in my pocket instead of a small
loss. Well, it was a small loss for my
bankroll, but a HUGE loss to my ego. After
that trip, I took a couple of weeks off to really think about my battles with not only one
set of tables in one casino, but more importantly, my battles with myself. The effect of trying to prove myself
right can be extremely costly. Subsequent
successful trips back to NY-2 provided incontrovertible evidence that it wasnt a
problem with the tables, it was a problem with ME and my ego. It was during
COMDEX99, when 250,000 computer guys flocked into town to see the Computer
Dealers Expo. Its the largest
annual convention/trade-show in Las Vegas, and the place is tightly-packed and harried. Sometimes getting a cab or buffet lines can mean a
two-hour wait. Even with my own car, the
normally heavy traffic of the Strip becomes totally grid-locked for up to eighteen hours
each day. Normally I avoid the city when a
show like that is in town, but a shorter-than-expected set of meetings in Palm Desert,
California saw me in town at the peak of that gathering.
I originally planned to stay Downtown at the Golden Nugget. They, as well as nearly every other decent joint,
was filled to capacity. My Casino Host at
the GN gave me a lunch comp to the California Pizza Kitchen, and said that he would call
around to see if there were any openings. Over
a passable meal at CPK, I thought that perhaps I would take the long drive up to Reno and
spend some time there. I had pretty much
resigned my mind to that arduous journey when I checked back with him about one-hour
later. He informed me that
a senior-executive show participant at the Mirage had to leave town early and his suite
would be empty by mid-afternoon. It was mine
for the taking if I choose. After checking-in
and freshening-up from my high-desert drive from California in a convertible, I was
suitable ready to take a look at the tables. To my surprise,
they werent as busy as I had anticipated. I
started play at one table with four other players. None
of them threw with any luck OR skill, and they were all on the darkside. I threw a hand with 16 rolls, and followed it up
on my next go-round with 21 rolls. By this time, they
had been joined by their computer brethren, each still wearing their plastic-sheathed name
and company tags from the show. They all
agreed that the dont side was far superior to the do side,
and they bet accordingly. I never made much
money on their tosses, but then I never lost any money on their tosses either, so I was
unfazed by their whooping, hollering and high-five-ing when one of them 7-ed Out. When it was my turn
to shoot, I was still the only one on the Pass Line.
The camaraderie of a shared mission against the lone right-side
shooter was enough for even the box-man to say, I dont envy you Mr. X. I smiled and said, This bothers me about as
much as a cloudy day. I had another
great hand, which ended after 19 rolls. By
the end of it they were booing, jeering and generally trying to throw off my
concentration. Im not easily
spooked, and that irritated them even more. By
the time the dice came around again, the mean-spirited comments were beginning to bother
me quite a bit, but I wanted to shoot one more time just so I could watch them LOSE! Soon enough, the dice were in my hand. I put out some huge bets because I was determined
to kick their dicks in the dirt, and make a pile of money at the same time. Sadly, a small pushing/jostling match with them
and their drunken cohorts took place behind me just as the dice were leaving my hand. Too late to put the dice back down, the die was
cast, and all my bets were quickly swept up with the knock-out 7 punch. Lesson
Instead of focusing
on my game, I was more interested in proving them wrong.
I wanted to have a little revenge on their bad behavior by teaching
them a lesson. Instead, the lesson was
mine for the learning. I still walked away
with a profit, but I left about 30% of it with the casino on that final roll. Now, if people truly irritate me, I take a break. By the time I get back, they have usually lost all
their money and they have simply evaporated as simply as my frustration has.
Im not easily
muscled into anything. Im not the
biggest, or the strongest, but Im not easily intimidated, panicked or brow-beaten by
ANYONE. However, a couple of years back a
long-time associate put a challenge in front of me that seemed too good to be true. Sammy (not his real
name) has been a gambler for all of his life, and hes been under federal indictment
more times than most people have been in a church. He
runs with a bunch of old-time hoods from the New York/New Jersey area. All of my dealing
with him had been legitimate, and he knew of my affinity to craps. Sammy came up with a
plan to make some serious money honestly.
He and a couple of guys from his crew would accompany me to
Vegas, where they would bet on my rolling, and produce a hefty profit for everyone. I knew these guys as high-rollers, and they
offered a 15% commission for everything that I won for them. In theory this looked good. They wanted to
start at someplace where they werent known. So we avoided the obvious choices of MGM, Mirage,
Caesars, Binions, etc. They had called
ahead and got the table limits at the Strat raised to their liking. When we bought in, the boxman/floor-man
immediately recognized and greeted me as old friends.
He had started out at the Plaza some years prior, and was working his
way up the ladder here. Again, Ill
spare you the gory details, but my shooting was for shit!!!
Oh, I didnt lose them any money, but I sure didnt make them any. I was never able to string together a long-enough
hand to generate any level of real profit. The
rest of the posse kept looking at Sammy like he obviously had bet on the wrong horse. Over a two-hour period, this went on until they
all left in disgust. I apologized to Sammy,
as he shrugged his shoulders as if to say, Hey it was worth a shot kid. About ten minutes
after they left, the dice came to me again. I
unleashed a string of numbers that amazed even me. For
seventy-two minutes I rolled and rolled and rolled like there was no tomorrow. I was so tired both mentally and physically from
shooting, I immediately headed back to home base that we had set up at Ballys. I ran into Sammy, but I didnt have the
courage to tell him about my epic roll. He
asked how I made out, and I just shrugged as if to say, Hey it was worth a
shot. Lesson: Dont try to
prove anything to anyone but yourself, and even then, BE CAREFUL! If someone says that they need you to make some
money off of your shooting, or they want you to prove that you really
are a skilled Precision-Shooter, or you want to impress friends or business
associates: DONT! Play your own game to
your own plan on your own time. Otherwise,
your motivation and focus will be on the wrong things at the wrong time. I dug myself out of
those potholes, and now I carefully avoid as many others as I can see on the road as I
make my way to casino profit. Good Luck &
Good Skill at the Tables
and in Life. By:
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