Volume II : Issue VIII
| In this edition: | Getting Lucky 2002’s Top Five Books Mad Professor’s Mini Tub Tour – continued Axis Power Craps Returns To Las Vegas! Last Call! |
Welcome to the January/February double issue of the Precision Shooter Newsletter! For those of you who weren’t around when the site was launched, you may not have noticed but Dice Setter recently celebrated it’s two year anniversary! That’s right, two years ago, in February 2001, I launched a little site on geocities where a scant few dice influencing enthusiasts could congregate and share information and tips. Of course now, interest in dice influencing has exploded and accomplished and hopeful precision shooters flock to the site daily. To give you some idea of how much the site has grown, it took five months to log the first 10,000 visitors to the site (on July 4, 2001). Compare that to the recent November, December and January time frame where more than 10,000 visitors EACH MONTH stopped by. In a very short period of time, dice influencing has become a viable, and much more accepted method for taking a good shot at the casinos. It’s a very exciting time in our community, the journeymen shooters get better with time, and newcomers to dice influencing add a fresh perspective to our art-form. However, the popularity of precision shooting has caused a new set of detractors to appear on various web sites and forums. The questions they ask are the same tired old queries, but their bitterness has reached a new level. The detractors (trolls) cross post to all the message forums, with a singular message, “It (dice influencing) can’t be!” Those of us who have been doing this awhile know however, it can be.
Having a popular web site is very satisfying, but I DO wrestle, on a daily basis, with the idea that precision shooting may be becoming too mainstream. In the coming months, I believe we’ll have to address this issue as a community.
So, we’ll put our best foot forward in 2003. Thanks again for supporting Dice Setter . Remember, prudence and good judgment at the tables will go a long way towards enabling us to use our dice influencing skills in casinos for many years to come. If you’d like to comment on the future of precision shooting, feel free to post it on the message board.
Getting Lucky
by Heavy Haltom
Have you ever noticed that lucky people always seem to meet their perfect partners, achieve their lifelong ambitions, find fulfilling careers, and live happy and meaningful lives. They aren’t successful because they work especially hard. They aren’t amazingly talented or exceptionally intelligent. Instead, they simply appear to have an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time and enjoy more than their fair share of lucky breaks.
Dr. Richard Wiseman, a well known British psychologist, founded The Luck Project to scientifically explore psychological differences between people who considered themselves exceptionally lucky and unlucky.
The results of this work reveal that people are not born lucky. Instead, lucky people are, without realizing it, using four basic principles to create good fortune in their lives.
Principle One: Maximize Chance Opportunities. Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing and acting upon chance opportunities. They do this in various ways, including networking, adopting a relaxed attitude to life and by being open to new experiences.
Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches. Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. In addition, they take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities by, for example, meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.
Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune. Lucky people are certain that the future is going to be full of good fortune. These expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies by helping lucky people persist in the face of failure, and shape their interactions with others in a positive way.
Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good. Lucky people employ various psychological techniques to cope with, and often even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, do not dwell on the ill fortune, and take control of the situation.
Dr. Wiseman’s new book – The Luck Factor – will be released in the United States in April. I’m thinking I’ll be checking it out.
2002’s Top Five Books
The numbers are in! The most sought after books (via Dice Setter) for 2002.
| Dice Control For Casino Craps Yuri Kononenko | Still “the bible” for dice influencers. |
| Axis Power Craps! Heavy Haltom | Precision Shooting PLUS Money Management and Strategy |
| John Patrick’s Advanced Craps John Patrick | The first name in Money Management |
| The Dice Doctor Sam Grafstein | If you haven’t read it, you don’t know craps! |
| Get the Edge at Craps Sharpshooter | Solid but not groundbreaking entry in the dice influencing genre. |
For these books and others, visit the Books on Craps area of the site!
Mad Professor’s Mini-Table Craps Tour with the Vegas Ghost- Part V
(Read Part I , Part II, Part III or Part IV)
As we were leaving the Wild Wild West Gambling Hall parking lot, there was one car in front of us. The bumper-sticker read:
How do you get an 82-year old Grandma to say, “F#%k?
Have somebody else yell “BINGO!”
As we I wheeled onto Tropicana Boulevard, I momentarily looked back at the Orleans Hotel-Casino, and immediately thought about Jerry Lewis who had signed a ten-year performance-deal to appear at the Orleans Showroom. I asked Mel “the Vegas Ghost”, if he had any Jerry Lewis “stories” that were publishable.
He gave out a slight “hrrumph” and scrunched his face up with the reluctance of someone who doesn’t want to talk about unpleasant stories.
He started, “First let me say that I really love Jerry. That being said; let me also add that he can be a huge pain in the ass. Jerry is a great entertainer, but he is also sometimes very difficult to handle.”
I asked Mel to explain, because I had a different view of the man due of his charitable work with Muscular Dystrophy through his long-famous Labor Day Telethons. I had had the pleasure of being in a Telethon audience when they were originally held in Vegas at The Sahara, so I had a bit of a soft-spot for him. Mel nodded and replied, “Listen, Jerry on stage is the consummate gentleman and a hard-working entertainer, but on the casino-floor he was always difficult to handle during those years. However, in the showroom he was and is a phenomenal entertainer, and he puts on one great show. He was a lot like Sammy (Davis Jr.), in that he did whatever it took to get to them. At The Sands, if we had a show going “long”, we knew Jerry was either just having such a great time and didn’t want to get off, or he hadn’t got the audience to a peak and was going to pull out all stops until he did.”
– mini table tour continued here
Axis Power Craps Returns To Vegas! Last Call!
Class size is extremely limited! Make your reservation now!
Heavy . . . Dice Coach . . .
Before March Madness . . .
Before St. Paddy’s Day . . .
Before you do anything else . . .
Enroll today for the Axis Power Craps Spring Tune-Up in Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada – March 7 – 9, 2003.
Check in a day early and check out the sites and sounds of Vegas. Enjoy cocktails at ghostbar at The Palms. Check out the action at Baby’s – tucked away in the basement of the Hard Rock – one of Las Vegas’ hottest nightspot. Or hit the casinos for some of the world’s most exciting gaming action. There’s something in Vegas for everyone.
Here’s what’s on tap for the weekend.
Friday the 7th is arrival day. We’ll have an informal meet and greet session to get acquainted, put names with faces and form new friendships. Get a jump-start on Saturday’s class with a little casual coaching in the craps pit, then join forces with some of your new friends for casual play in the casinos. But get to bed early – Saturday will be a full schedule.
Saturday morning we’ll cover the basic theory of precision shooting. That includes all six of the primary pre-set arrangements, grip, pick up and delivery of the dice. Then we’ll hit the craps pit and hone your precision pitch until noon.
After lunch we’ll build on what we learned in the morning session. Learn the correct betting strategies for precision shooters, how to find a hot shooter, money management and discipline. Then it’s back to the craps pit to fine tune your toss.
After class you’ll be on your own Saturday night. Get together with a group of your new-found friends for dinner and a little table take-over at the casinos. Or get to bed early and catch the tables before breakfast Sunday. It’s all up to you, but a word of caution. Get some rest. Sunday morning we’ll be heading to the casino for our Golden Arm competition.
First up Sunday is a review of the mental aspects of the game. Learn about mental framing, correct breathing, and how to tune out distractions. Then we will break down into teams and head to the casinos for a two hour session. You will be accompanied by a team leader who will record your rolls and provide detail for your final critique. When your session is over, all teams will meet once again and we will present the Golden Arm Award to the player with the best roll of the day.
Your coaches for this Axis Power weekend are two of the best in the business, Steve “Heavy” Haltom, and Las Vegas pro Beau “Dice Coach” Parker. During the classroom practice sessions, all students will have the opportunity to work with each of the coaches. You will be able to observe their pre-sets, grips and tosses. You’ll also have the opportunity to attempt different pitches, then pick the one that works best for you. Throughout the practice sessions we’ll work with you to fine-tune your toss.
The tuition for this clinic will be $495 per single player or $895 per couple. If you already own a copy of Heavy’s Axis Power Craps manual you can take $30 off the tuition. Enrollment will be limited so that each player can receive ample one-on-one coaching. Due to the limited space availability $100 of the enrollment fee is a non-refundable deposit. Should something come up that prevents you from attending, the $100 will be applied as a deposit to a subsequent seminar.
The registration fee covers the cost of the seminar and all materials. You’ll be on your own for hotels, transportation and meals. Details regarding the times and locations of meetings will be provided upon registration.
If you have any comments or ideas for future issues, feel free to email me at ed@dicesetter.com And as always, I’m looking for contributors with a fresh perspective.
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Good Luck!
