Volume VIII : Issue #5 | |
In This Edition: | A Word From Soft Touch Queen Bee’s Buzz… Who Ya Gonna Call… Today’s Wisdoms… A Labor of Love… Newsletter Archive Links |
Soft Touch Say’s…
I thought as everyone gears up for visiting Vegas in the spring and summer, it would be nice to provide our readers the Dice Coach’s Top Ten List of his playable craps tables in Vegas with some added commentary from me. Keep in mind, while Dice Coach and I share very similar approaches to the game, we still have our differences about table selection and where we each individually perform the best. So, the list, in general, should be used as a guide to help our players form a basis for table selection.
If you like fire bets, Bally’s, as well as most of the Harrah’s properties offer them on the craps tables. I know a number of players in our community that do a great job of accomplishing this bet and it is a real treat when our players bet for the dealers. When the fourth pass is completed there are a lot of happy faces all the way around. Happy dealers add to positive winning energy. One thing though, you won’t be “grand fathered” at lower limits.
I’ve always liked Treasure Island’s tables with their hard surfaces. You can take your pick of green felt or blue micro-fiber surfaces. For the most part, dice setting players are treated very well by the staff. However, I sometimes get reports that there are a couple of temperamental dealers and if you are a temperamental player, you may encounter a problem with butting heads. My advice: go with the flow. For the most part, they like us.
Bellagio is still my favorite. There are twelve 12 foot tables there and I love the table surfaces. They do “grandfather.” Local players are reporting that the pyramid walls are being systematically changed with super bouncy rubber. I’ll have to check this out for myself.
Here’s Dice Coach’s List:
Dice Coach’s Best Strip Casino’s
Treasure Island | 4- 12′ tables | True Bounce | $5.00 to $5,000. | 3x4x5x | Excellent Casino Conditions |
Bellagio | 11-12′ tables | True Bounce | $10.00 to $5,000. | 3x4x5x | Excellent Casino Conditions |
Monte Carlo | 6-12′ tables | True Bounce | $5.00 to $5,000. | 3x4x5x | Good Casino Conditions |
Harrah’s Fire Bet max bet $10.00 | 5-14′ tables Note 1-10′ Table in Sports Book | Hard surface lower arch Sports Book soft | $5.00 to $5,000. $5.00 to $3.000. | 3x4x5x 3x4x5x | Good Casino Conditions |
New York New York | 5-14’tables | Hard surface lower arch | $5.00 to $5,000. | 3x4x5x | Good Casino Conditions |
Bally’s Fire Bet max bet $10.00 | 4-12′ tables | Nice dice behavior | $5.00 to $5,000. | 3x4x5x | Good Casino Conditions |
Caesar’s Fire Bet max bet $10.00 | 4-12′ to 3- 14′ tables | Slight bounce | $15.00 to $50,000 | 3x4x5x | Good Casino Conditions |
Wynn | 10-12′ tables | Some bounce | $10.00 to $5,000. | 3x4x5x | Great Ambiance |
O’ Sheas | 2-14′ tables | Slight bounce | $5.00 to $5,000 | 3x4x5x | Opens 12 noon, earlier on weekends |
Soft Touch
PS If you have any suggestions for the new Dice Setter website or newsletter please send them to me at Ed@dicesetter.com and I’ll have a look and see how we can incorporate them into our future plans.
Queen Bee’s Buzz:
Dear Readers, I received this email just a few days before my editor put the finishing touches on this edition of Dice Setter.
Dear Queen Bee,
I enjoy your newsletter and I provide the following comments for your information.
I just returned from a week in Vegas mostly shooting craps and I observed a change in casino efforts to counter dice control.
First, there are many casinos that have replaced the green felt With a “tan felt”. It Is exceptionally bouncy.
Second, along with the new bouncy felt, the back walls have a new shinny black material that is also exceptionally bouncy.
Combining all of the above provided for the liveliest craps tables that I have ever experienced. The observations are real and at many tables I played at, the players were complaining about the exceptionally bouncy condition of the tables. Seeing dice bounce back past the middle of the table was the norm for the hard throwers.
I tried to counter the liveliness of the bouncy tables by slowing my normal soft throw. When I only hit, kissed or slightly missed the back wall with one die, I’d get hammered with comments like “Sir, both dice must bounce off the back wall”,
One casino went as far as saying “Both dice must bounce at least a foot off the back wall.”
I’ve been attempting to “Control Dice” for 20 years and I tend to throw quite a few 11’s. When hit the Yo on a come out roll, several times the stick man commented “Another dice controller”. I had this experience at several different Casinos. These comments must be instilled into them by casino management.
I also checked out the tables at the 4 Queens and yes significant ridges have been ground into the table ends, about a foot and one half. With some wear on the tan bouncy felt, it’s easy to see the tops of the grooves. I had my wife run her finger over them and she was shocked. I did not play these tables and I recommend that others do not either.
Vegas did not seem quite as busy as usual. The craps tables at the 4 Queens were empty or hardly used most of the times I walked through there.
Bottom line, the casinos are in action to counter dice setters, and increase their take on the craps tables.
Feel free to use the above in your newsletter should you wish to.
Cheers, Herman
Another newsletter reader writes:
Dear Queen Bee,
A few weeks ago I played with a friend that was playing with scared money and he started losing on the first roll whenever he put in big money. Another couple of acquaintances were also at the table and soon they colored up and sat down a few feet away at some slot machines until we finished playing.
A few days later I asked why they left the game and sat out for awhile – his immediate answer was that he could see fear in my friend’s eyes and face
Then this past weekend, I am playing the DP line but am getting killed on naturals on the Come-out toss. So after charting the table for almost an hour I decided to take a page out of John Patrick’s book (near page 237) and decided to lay the least hit number on the Come-out toss to protect my DP bet. I noticed the 4, 5 and 10 were the least hit numbers over the past hour from my charting, in that order.
Well, I lost my next 6 of 7 come-outs rolls to the lay. I moved around my lay bet to the different numbers – but where ever I moved it, it lost 6 of 7 times. You see, I feared that my in game adjustment to the Patrick system would dilute the profit on my system, and sure enough, what I feared occurred. I did not realize this until after I decided to freeze since my adjusted system was losing, but I still played out what I would do in my head — Lay the 4 – and poof – the 4 was thrown – I would have lost again. It’s then I realized that what I feared occurred more than what I was trying to focus and have happen.
Since fear seems to be more powerful in getting something to happen, is there a way I can channel my fear to get my accomplishments ??
Dear reader,
How can I explain to you that your mind creates thoughts that produce results at the table?
I’ll begin by stating that when playing craps, I have to always remember that it is essentially up to me to decide whether I will play the game with love and acceptance or fear and ego. Trust my ego and a loss will surely result. Where there is fear, there will be doubt. Play with money you can’t afford to lose and you will surely lose it.
Fear is your ego’s friend and an interesting emotion because it helps to protect us from what we perceive as dangerous. So, it focuses on the things that could potentially hurt us, like loss of money. Personally, it is not an energy I would channel toward making something happen at the table. I don’t feel you would enjoy the results you get when motivated by fear. Instead, I would suggest you find what makes you feel passionate about your game and channel that positive energy.
I see this all the time among dice students. While shooting the dice, once establishing a point, they focus on avoiding the seven in order to not lose their money. They think to themselves, “anything but a seven.” That’s all they worry about as they shoot or play as their nervous energy hails that seven.
The converse also holds true. Once a player lays a number, that number rolls shortly thereafter. The player finds himself “zigging” when they should be “zagging.” Playing the don’t when they should be playing the pass line. The player can’t stand the direction they are going in, yet, refuse to change the direction they are going in. Worse yet, the player is left with doubting his or her playing ability, fearing a continued loss of their bets. The player’s confidence, if they had any, is shaken or all but gone.
Fear is a poison to our game. At a time when it is imperative that we are aware and take notice of everything going on with the game, fear will hinder our ability to seek out possibilities, resources, ideas that could be beneficial to us at the time we enter the game. Fear filters out possibilities a player has available and interferes with our awareness. Fear suppresses our passion for winning.
Sometimes, players fail to see the connection between the action they take based on fear of what might happen at the tables and the losing results they get. Ironically, a player takes action with the betting strategy driven by their fear and this action results in the very thing they don’t want. In your case, it was a continued loss of your lay bets. What number were you thinking you wanted at the time? They were the ones you did not want, right?
Unless a player plays with passion and begins to focus their mind on what they need to positively do in order to obtain the chips they desire, the session result will be left up to whatever their underlying subconscious beliefs feel they deserve. Believe you are playing with scared money and you will attract scary results. Be passionate about achieving a winning result and your mind will get you there. Win or lose, you will get there.
Here is my suggestion.
I want you to begin by asking yourself this question right now. It is a question all winners ask of themselves and I have shared it with a number of students. The question is, “How can I be a winner?” I promise you, as long as you keep your focus on how you can be a winner, you will accomplish your positive results. You will start to head in a positive direction regardless of what type of betting approach you utilize because you’re focusing your thoughts in a direction that will support the kind of player you wish to be.
You must choose to allow your mind to focus on the things you need and wish to do at the table. “What’s your number shooter?” That’s a simple question to ask yourself while you work your way to completing your point after the come out. What you focus on will create your outcome.
It is as simple as shooting on the come out and focusing all your attention doing what you need to do to achieve that point. The net result of your dice session is based on where you predominantly placed your attention. Place your attention on that point, if you are betting on it.
When I’m the shooter, I enjoy focusing on the hard way numbers. All my attention from the moment I touch the dice is focused on achieving a four or ten. I expect to achieve this. When Dice Coach and I play together at the table, we already know that once we’ve placed our bets on the four and ten, it is just a matter of time when we will enjoy the pay off during our turn tossing the dice. Our focused energy already has us reaching for the dollar vig needed in exchange for our two for one pay out on that green chip. We always anticipate the best possible outcome.
What is unfortunate for some players is that they focus their attention on what they fear the most and don’t want to happen. They become upset and blame outside forces for randomly selecting them to be losers. And as if losing wasn’t bad enough, they get to feel bad and poorer for focusing on not losing. What a mental penalty.
By continuing to ask your self the all important “How can I be a winner” question, you will be forced to take action in a direction that gets your intention in gear. How do you intend to be a winner? Your mind then comes up with thoughts and ideas of how to best apply your betting strategies or how to know when to hold back on those strategies. Intention sets your mind in a direction that suits your reality and you begin to notice those things that support a winning game. How do you intend to win?
In a game, by focusing attention on what you desire, and in this case it is moving the chips from the boxman’s side into the rack in front of you, your mind will develop the ability to sense ways of becoming aware of signs coming at you. These signs only become useful to you if you know what to do with them at the time they present. Choose betting strategies that support taking action when a winning opportunity presents. Remember, fear will interfere with your ability to sense the positive signs facing you and mess with your ability to utilize your betting strategies.
Our mind is a very powerful goal seeking tool. Give it a goal, positive or negative, and it will figure out how to get it done. Lack any conscious or intentional control and it will run on autopilot for you. Come to the table with the fear of losing money, your mind will easily accomplish that goal. The casinos clearly bank on this.
Your thoughts express energy that create a result. When thinking about how to win, I found a good article for you to read in The Professor’s archives: http://playing4keeps.com/Articles/article.mind_game.htm
Thank you for your question and for allowing me to publish it in our newsletter.
Queen Bee
Today’s Wisdoms:
Life is a Gamble…
The more you risk, the more you stand to win.
The more you risk, the more you stand to lose.
You can play it safe and hope that you stay safe.
You can take no action and always wonder what if…
In the end, how much does it really matter?
— The Professor
~~~
“The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.”
— Albert Einstein