I made a six-hour stop over to the Mohegan Sun Casino, on the first day of the New Year.
The inner path circle in Great Tepee contained thousands of gamblers, shoulder to shoulder. You could not see your feet on the carpet so deep were the crowds. I thought to myself that it may be impossible to find a spot on a table, and that I would have to give up before starting. I continued to walk the inner path until I arrived at the entrance to the new casino; all the tables in the main casino were full.
I walked through a chamber of boutiques and restaurants, by one of world’s largest indoor water falls. In fact the restaurant here serves a great piece of swordfish about the size of a silver dollar, which I have had with a plate of spaghetti all for about $50. A great place to go if you’re into expensive food, ambience, and your precision shooting is as good as you claim it is.
About 100 feet past the waterfall I can see the end of the mall and a craps pit set up in an oblong circle in the new casino. As I approach the 13 ½ – 14 foot table at the end of the oblong I spot an empty space on the left end of the table. The duck is off, dice in the hands of the third shooter. I throw down ½ grand on the table. The dealers turn the five franklins into chips and I break it down on the table to make sure I’m getting a fair return.
Chips up in the rack, the shooter comes out. I’m not really sure if this is his first come out or how much later in his roll. Chips on the table signal that it is early in his roll but after two tosses he sevens out, here comes the dice. There are five people between me and the dice. This table has spaces but if it fills up it can hold up to 14 people. The old man two from the stick on the far side of the table takes the dice and throws the eight. The stickman is passing the dice to the shooter as they are rolled but the shooter flips them until they show the eight and doesn’t scramble them in his hand but simply picks up the potato eight he has set and tosses it to the end of the table corner. The good fellow is precision shooting at its best, or at least as much as you can hope for aside from your self. I’m being forced to play at a $10 table but know there is no hope of finding a $5 table on New Years day.
After 5 tosses he hits the old potato, dealers payoff, everyone is all smiles. This is perfect, fits into the 5 count. I drop ten dollars on the line and $2 crap check. The old man throws a four. I’m up behind with single odds. Two tosses later a hard four pays me 2-1. I continue to play single odds. He hits another potato; I’m up behind on the odds and placing the six. He hits the old potato again but not before hitting the six. Breakfast! Now I have the advantage, I’m afraid of the $10 minimum but want to play this good fellow out. We are now up behind and out on the six and after the dealers’ payoff up behind the four. I place the ten planning to march it to the six and eight with Heavy’s “ARMY” bet. The old man tosses a soft 10, and the dealer returns my winnings. The shooter sets and throws a six. I removed all other place bets tossed the dealer a quarter and moved my ten to the nine for $35. I watch my nine while the old man tosses four more times before gravity takes effect. The dice take two steps toward me as the next shooter cashes in and the next shooter passes. I count to five while the shooter sevens out on the third toss. The next shooter is one of my main distractions I’m going to find out later with a handful of green and black chips. A young kid swings on the table on the hook next to me, throws his cash down. The stickman skips him and passes the dice to me. I don’t say a word and pull out an 8 set, 5 -&- 3. The stickmen have been passing the dice as thrown and I for the most part will only have to change the vertical axis to create a set.
The table is almost 14’ long and now full. I look past the brim of my hat, have the dice in my supershooter grip. I overestimate the length of the table. Its length has intimated me. Two inches from the alligator, bang of the wall and the dice roll half way back almost 7 feet to me. Up on the six, I adjust and I throwing low to the outer pass line, about 12 inches from the back wall. Six, four, five, nine, with a SRR of 12+ is my best guess. I stop charting which I have been doing all along in a little red tablet I have been carrying. It kills time and keeps me busy. Gravity succeeds when trying to throw a set with a horizontal hard eight. The dice move to young couple who have moved to the hook on my left. The good fellow on my left who had bought in with 5 grand has made some bad bets. The cute light hearted girl next to me is clapping for herself and tossing numbers. I join in the clapping after going up sixty-six inside after her 5th roll and regressing to forty-four inside. There are my meager bets while the good fellow to my right has his inside bets up to 6 hundred each, castles of black chips towering over the inside numbers.
The young girl shoots many points and we all collect. This is probably the high point of my session and hold on to my spot at the table a little to long for two more chances to shoot. I myself am only able to throw a point and a few numbers with SRR of 7 -&- 8. I have been in the casino some four hours, and played a good two or three at the table. I cash out leaving a trail of tips all the way past a dinner of cabbage rolls and potatoes.
The Engineer
