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Maddog's
Journey
- Part III
To subscribe (it's free), send an email to
dicesetter@aweber.com with
"subscribe" as the subject.) Part
3: The Practice Rig The
next big step up for my practice rig was to do something about what the dice
were doing to the cardboard table. I
needed an improved bottom (table surface) for the dice to land on. I wandered back to the garage to see if I could
scrounge up a board (Did I mention Im cheap?).
I found an old piece of 1/2 plywood that was just about the right size
to fit into the bottom of my cardboard box. It
was not quite wide enough to fit from wall to wall and left about a 2 gap on the one
side, but it was the best I had laying around so it was going to have to do. It was about 2 and 1/2 feet long and I thought
this would give me a good run-way for the dice landing zone. Next
I ran down to the local fabric store and picked up a yard of wool/polyester blend felt. Found a nice green color that looked about the
right shade, same as a traditional craps table felt.
I brought this home and wrapped it around the plywood, pulled it tight and
stapled it down on the back side. Finally, I
laid the felt swathed board into the box. Viola! A
new and improved practice rig.
I
hope you have this picture in your head, a cardboard box tipped on its side with the
topside removed, a 2 foot by 2 1/2 foot plywood board draped in green felt lying inside,
and three pairs of used Hard Rock Casino dice (blue, green and red!) laying there ready to
be tossed. Hey,
stop laughing. Come on now, its not
that funny! I actually used this set-up to
effect for over 2 months! Ok, go ahead and
keep laughing, it was pretty lame. But, to learn to grip and toss the dice in a light
and consistent manner, you really dont need anything fancy and you dont need
more then what I described here. Besides,
like all those body toning pieces of home gym equipment they sell on TV infomercials, I
could slide this rig under the bed when I wasnt using it. Having
gotten the rig in a bit better shape, I was now ready to start looking more seriously at
tracking the rolls. To start it was easiest
to just record for the touted Sevens to Roll Ration or SRR. From what Id been reading, that seemed to be
the main statistic that needed to be tracked. I
set the dice in the hardways set with the 4s on top (bye-bye snake-eyes, its
been good knowing ya) and tossed with the 4 finger grip.
Thats three fingers in front and the thumb in back. This is what was instructed in SSs book and
for now I was willing to go along. To
track, I would simply count the number of rolls, ignoring the results, until a seven
showed. Record that number, and start over
counting from zero. For the most part you can
track this in your head and just write down the count when the seven is rolled. Id keep going like this until I was weary of
tossing. Id then take the average of
these numbers and call that the SRR. This
approach worked reasonably well. I was
recording an SRR of a tad better then 1:6 so I was encouraged and kept going. Pretty
soon it seemed like I needed to track a bit more then just the Sevens. So I began tracking each number that rolled. Again, it was very simple tracking. Wrote the numbers 2 through 12 down the side of a
piece of paper and just made a check each time a given number rolled using the old scratch
and slash counting method. You know, draw a
line for each hit until you have four lines, then draw a slash line through the other
lines to represent five. Using these numbers
and the expected distribution for the 36 possible outcomes, I found that I am getting
fewer sevens then expected, not by much, but I also notice that other numbers were showing
outside expected patterns. More so then could
be explained by just the redistribution of the missing sevens. How
many tosses? I dont know how many I did
during those early months. I was recording
rolls on the backsides of pieces of scrap computer paper and would usually just toss them
(if my wife didnt first), when I was done. At
first it wasnt very many. Maybe a
couple dozen every 3 or 4 nights. Not nearly
enough as I found out on a disastrous trip (thats another story). But after I began getting serious about this
sport, the practice hours/tosses became quite a few.
I would (and still do) practice at least a half hour or so most weeknights
after the kids got to bed. I
was just thinking that it was somewhere during this stage of my DI investigations that I
started looking around the internet for more info on dice influencing. I started doing searches for controlling the dice
and that sort of thing. This is when I found
the dicesetter.com
site. Once
I found the site, I started reading some of the many articles to be found. Man, what an eye opener. Can you believe all this information on how
to set dice and throw dice and grip dice. I
had no idea that there were so many people who were trying to achieve these results. From here I learned about more books to read and
bought a few. The first two being the John
Patrick book on Advanced Craps and the book by Yuri on Dice
Control. Found other message boards
and web sites, including Heavys Axis Power Craps board. Wow, I was blown away. And I was inspired that maybe there was even more
to this then I originally thought. I signed
up for the message boards right away and like many lurked a bit before I got up the
gumption to ask a few questions. From
what I was reading and the progress I was making, I began to feel like I needed to do a
bit better job on the ole cardboard practice box. Ive
built two practice boxes since then. Neither
cost more then about $30 in material (not counting the pyramid rubber, which is where the
real expense is on the box. The damn stuff is
like gold). It
doesnt take a whole lot of skill to build a respectable practice box. Its not like building fine furniture with
precise measurements and fancy dovetail or tenon joint cuts, but you do have to be
somewhat handy and have a few tools. What you
need is 4 pieces of wood and a drill/screwdriver. Use
one piece of wood for the deck, one for the back wall and one each for the side walls. You can have your home improvement store cut the
plywood for you. Cover the deck with felt. Then just screw the pieces together. Screw the back to the deck first, and then screw
the sides to the deck and the back wall piece.
The most difficult part is to hold the pieces together while
assembling. Pipe clamps (or a buddy) work
well here. Thats it and you have a
relatively decent box to toss into. Oh,
sure, you can get fancier by using hanger bolts and thumb screws to screw it together so
that you can take it apart if you want to store it or need to replace the felt. You could use hinges so that you can collapse the
walls. Upgrading the felt, buying real
pyramid rubber for the back wall, and building rounded corners are all things that will
make the box more and more realistic. If you
dont want to build your own, you can get excellent units from the
dicecoach.com
site or from Site and Dix over at
advantagedice.com. I dont have experience with their units,
but Im pretty sure youd be very happy with them. In
the end, you dont really need much fancy stuff to start out. As I mentioned, none of that really has an effect
on how you set the dice, grip the dice, and deliver the dice. It does have some effect on learning to position
your landing zone. There is also that
difference on the end results of the dice rolls which effects the roll tracking results. But until you get the set/grip/toss part down, the
rest wont do you much good anyway. You
see the whole purpose of the practice rig, initially, is get the hang of the toss
mechanics in a situation and circumstances where you do not have anything at risk (like
money, ego, confidence, etc). The rig is used
to build up that thing called muscle memory where your body becomes accustomed
to performing the perfect tossing motion. We
use the practice rig to get familiar with performing the act of Dice
Influencing in an idealized setting and without distraction. Oh
sure, the practice rig cant match the exact bounce and feel of a true casino table. Heck, even if you practice on a full sized,
authentic casino table, youd still be pressed to find a casino with a table that
matched exactly to the one you use. Each
table has its quirks with varying underlayments, pyramid rubber size, length, felt type,
etc. In addition, even having a
real table, you still wouldnt be able to replicate the mental aspect of
the in-casino session. The effects of waiting
for the dice, waiting for payoffs, thinking through betting, having someone swearing at
you for not rolling the number they wanted, etc, etc, all take a mental toll. All of these real-world influences have a hefty
impact on your ability to focus and achieve the zone and are difficult if not
impossible to replicate in your practice arena. So
what is the purpose of a practice rig? As I
pointed out, its primary value is helping establish the mechanics of controlled throw. Think about it.
What is the one constant no matter what table you are hanging around? No matter if the table has old felt, brand new
felt, or a microfiber layout. No matter if
the dice are the small 5/8 or the 3/4 razor edge variety.
No matter if the table has the large pyramid, the tiny pyramids, or the
pyramid rubber half falling off (like Ive seen on some tables that are in use but in
desperate need of restoration). The one
constant is you and your physical ability
to toss the dice gently from your starting position (point A) and land them squarely with
minimal bounce to the ending position at the back wall (point B). Improving
your controlled throw is similar to the basketball player who is trying to improve his
free-throw percentage. Our basketball friend
might have practiced many years in his driveway using the simple backboard and hoop nailed
above the garage. He probably spent
many hours shooting over in the school playground. He
even spent many, many nights practicing his shot in the collage gym. Now he is about to shoot two with a chance to put
the game out of reach in the NBA semi-finals. Sure,
the driveway hoop doesnt match the perfectly measured and positioned basket in the
arena, and he didnt have several thousand fans screaming as he lined up to flush one
from the chalk line he drew on the asphalt of his driveway, but does that invalidate the
practice hours he spent there, leading up to this moment?
Or another way to look at it, even if our BB friend practices hours on end
in the best facilities his NBA franchise can provide, does he achieve 100% accuracy on his
free-throws? Even the best in the NBA have
difficulty keeping their percentage up above 75% at crunch time. Ok,
an extreme example, but you get the point. Even
if you dont have the perfect casino replication, you can still prepare yourself and
achieve strong results with even the most simple practice target. The initial goals of the aspiring dice influencer
need to be (a) can I set the dice quickly, (b) can I toss the dice softly and on target,
and (c) can I land the dice squarely to keep them on-axis.
None of these goals require fancy set-ups, but they do require practice and
at least some form of practice station. I
said the primary rationale of the practice rig is to produce and develop an ability to
execute the controlled toss. Once you have
established the ability to toss, the next value of the practice rig comes to the fore. That is your ability to start analyzing the RESULTS
of your controlled toss. Now, the one
short-coming that I will concede regarding the use of practice rigs vs real-world casino
tables, is that the numbers that you are able to toss may differ between your practice rig
and your in-casino experience. Im
running long here, so Ill save the discussion on tracking and the value of tracking
practice results to casino experience for a future Journey article. For
those of you who are thinking about setting up a practice rig, let me point out a few
minimum requirements that your set up should cover to maximize your early practice.
Thats
it. Get this set up and you have everything
you need to start practicing and practicing and practicing (and while you are at it,
practice a little more). Well
that is how I got started with my practice equipment.
Do I still use the old cardboard box and chicken scratch notepad? Nope. Ive
rebuilt and upgraded my rig a couple of times. Each
alteration of the rig providing an enhancement, sometimes dramatic, sometimes subtle. For example, making it larger, adding better felt,
adding pyramid rubber, that sort of thing. Ive
also changed the way I track my practice rolls many times, each time tracking more and
more variables in the dice tracking equation. I
expect that as I continue to learn and evolve my game that Ill also continue to
upgrade my tools over time. Not
that there was really anything wrong with what I was using.
In fact I would suggest a similar approach to any new and aspiring Dice
Influencer. Why go to the expense of fancy
rigs and stuff, until you know for sure that you are into the DI scene? Start with simple stuff and if you find out this
is something you want to do, and that youre willing to practice several hours a
week, then upgrade to better equipment. (The
one exception is the dice. You HAVE
to get decent dice.) Well,
after spending about 3 or 4 months practicing (in the cardboard and plywood box) and
reading up on the many topics on these fine boards I had discovered, I got an opportunity
to head out to the casino and give it a shot. Yep,
the Maddog was ready to go on a hunt and I was loaded for bear. Well talk about that in Part 4
Until next time, keep your toss straight and your rack full.Maddog |
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