I was going to continue exactly where we left off in Part III, but I’m going to skip far ahead to a couple of very effective training tools that I initially thought of excluding. I’ll forewarn you right now that they are unconventional, but they have provided substantial improvements to my own game. I hope they do the same for yours.
Tip # 25 – Practice AFTER Playing
Yes, I wrote it right, and you read it right. When you are finished playing a real-world in-casino session, I want you to have an at-home (or in-room) practice session. We are talking about practicing AFTER you play.
As usual, you won’t find this in any book or dicesetting manual, because it is one of those counter-intuitive things that at first does not appear to make any sense. However, I can assure you that the insight that you will gain is worth its weight in casino chips.
After a session at the casino, the last thing you’ll probably be thinking about is practicing for your next session. On the drive back home or the elevator ride up to your hotel-room, many people reflect upon the session they just played. You may think about needing much more practice, especially after suffering a particularly cruel loss. Or you may be thinking about how you plan to repeat the same skills that brought about a stellar winning session that you just completed.
Thinking about it is GOOD, but DOING something about it is much BETTER!
Since the just-completed real-world session is so fresh in your mind, you are tuned in to how things unfolded just a few minutes ago. That “real-world real-time” feedback is VALUABLE to a Precision-Shooter.
The fresher the experience, the better prepared to you are to assimilate recent events. For a Precision-Shooter, that means that you can take your loss and figure out EXACTLY what went WRONG, or take your wins and figure out EXACTLY what went RIGHT.
Yes, you may be tired. Yes, it may be days, weeks, or even months until you are planning on being in a real casino again, but this is the best time to correct what is WRONG and lock-in what is RIGHT. Therefore, I want you to pick up the dice and have a Practice Session as soon as possible AFTER you have been in the casino.
I’m not talking about a full-blown thousand-roll workout. I am talking about a short set of throws. Just see exactly how the dice are leaving your hand and flying through the air. Observe how they are landing and take a look at their outcomes. After you throw a dozen or so hands, I want you to ask yourself how closely these results mimic the ones you just threw in the casino.
- Are your practice session results better; the same, or worse than your just-completed casino-session?
- What is it that is nearly perfect about your throw, and what needs improvement?
- How would you have changed how you threw in the casino compared to how you are throwing now?
- What has changed about the way the dice are leaving your hand and landing at the other end of your Practice Rig compared to the real table that you just played on?
- If your real-world results sucked, and now you are hitting home-runs; what has changed? What should you have done differently in the casino, and what do you think you should change now?
The insight that you gain from an after-play session is tangible. Any exercise that helps you to figure out what EXACTLY went WRONG and EXACTLY what went RIGHT, puts you on the proper path to consistent profit. When you do it AFTER a casino-session, it brings an immediacy and relevance to your game that a pre-casino practice session just cannot do.
If you rolled great in the casino, you’ll see if your results continue to hold water at home. If you shot terribly at the casino, and you are back on track on your Practice Rig, NOW IS THE TIME to look at what has changed, or what was wrong with your throw in the casino that suddenly improved at home.
PRE-PLAY practice DOES tune-up and prepare you for battle. However, an AFTER-PLAY practice-session gives you BETTER INSIGHT into what just happened in the casino. While the just-finished experience is freshest, it gives you an actionable way to improve NOW.
So once again, my unconventional approach is designed to assist you on the path to exceptional Precision-Shooting profit consistency. Simply remember,
Practice BEFORE a session helps to PREPARE you.
Practice AFTER a session helps to IMPROVE you.
Tip #26 – Close Your Eyes
Okay, here’s an exercise that is good for you on many, many levels.
Arrange the dice into the pre-set that you want, but DON’T grip them just yet. Once you set them, I want you to close your eyes. I want you to set up your grip and pre-throw by FEEL, and not by SIGHT.
By now you’ve had plenty of time to perfect your dice-grip so that you are getting the correct finger placement and the equal distribution of pressure amongst your fingers and thumb. NOW is the time to do it by feel and not by sight.
In this way, you learn intuitively and tactily how the dice should feel in your fingers. At first, you can open your eyes once your grip is set, and check whether IT IS indeed correct. Now you can make your toss in the conventional way, with your eyes open.
By learning how to grip the dice correctly and quickly with your eyes closed, it allows to you set them and grip them squarely with the CONFIDENCE that it is “right”. The reason that I told you that this method is good for you on many, many levels is because after reasonable amounts of practice, it:
- Increases setting-speed.
- Increases grip squareness and balance.
- Most importantly, it increases grip-CONFIDENCE.
In Part V of this series, we’ll continue where we left off last time, with another dozen or so additional tips. Until then,
Good Luck & Good Skill at the Practice Table…and in Life.
Sincerely,
The Mad Professor
