|
|
|
Dice Coach & Instructors / Newsletter / Contact / Home
|
|
|
How
Good Is Your Precision Shooting?
In
Part I,
we discussed the different Phases of Precision-Shooting.
Today I want
to discuss how to break free from that frustrating “Break-Even” phase of
Precision-Shooting, and help you make the transition to the “Small Consistent
Wins” phase.
I want you to
understand just how far that you have come if you are generally breaking-even on your
current craps play. Do you realize how
incredibly difficult it is to play dead-even on ANY casino game? So if you’ve made it this far, I want you to
give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. You have accomplished what 95% of all other craps players will
never consistently achieve.
So what is the next step, and where do we go from the
“break-even” game?
We now have to shift our brains as much as we have to
shift our style of play, to get to those small consistent wins.
By
converting our cash into easily manageable chips, they have removed one psychological
barrier to our willingness to treat it as though it is of lesser value than real money.
While
we understand that a $25 casino chip is worth $25 in cash; we are more likely to
“play” with it, than if it was a twenty-dollar bill and a five-dollar bill. It’s a subtle, but clearly functional step in
the whole casino-process. Just as some other
writers have coined the phrase “chip-remover” to describe free casino-supplied
booze; so too is the process of converting cash to chips.
If
you were walking along the sidewalk and you saw a couple of $20 bills blowing past you,
would you take the time, effort and energy to bend down to pick them up? Of course you would. So when your craps-play generates a $40 profit,
why the hell do you think that it’s too small to lock up?
If
on your next paycheck, your boss paid you an extra, unexpected $40 for a job well done,
would you reject it? Then ask yourself why
you are so quick to discard it in the casino-context.
Any profit that you earn is YOURS. Why give it back?
The
casino environment is really an unkind place. Oh
sure, I enjoy myself, but I am under no illusions as to why I am there. I am there to make money. While I may enjoy the atmosphere and the
camaraderie, I understand that I will get NO sympathy from the casino if I lose my
bankroll. After all, that is what they are
there for. The
casinos are there to try to take your money.
The
free booze, the lights, the sounds, the party atmosphere and the free-flowing comps are
there to cushion the blow of losing. Our job
as Precision-Shooters is to take as much of the casinos money as possible without raising
any flags as to HOW we are doing it. If you
specifically and continually reject their comp offers, you can be sure that your winning
ways will be flagged on their computer, because you have made yourself stand out from the
rest of the lemmings…er…other casino patrons.
So take the comps that your action generates, but
don’t play for the comps.
Today
we are talking about how to make the transition from a “break-even” game to that
where we are making small, but consistent profits.
At
this point,
we have to ask ourselves if we REALLY want to win
money.
A
lot of problem gamblers have the NEED to lose. It
provides a cathartic-type of cleansing for their soul.
Really…I’m not kidding you. Have
you ever heard someone say, “I really got my clock cleaned in the casino last
night”, or, “I really got taken to the cleaners at the craps table last
week”. Yes, those are just quaint
expressions, but they are rooted deeper in the psyche of certain gambling-types. So, the question I have to pose to you is, “do you REALLY want to win?”
Winning
money and then losing it back is NOT winning. It is merely trading dollars with the casino until
you lose it all back. Getting ground into
casino-dust is not what winning is all about. Winning is about the ability to first gain a profit, and then
keep it until you leave the casino. How
many times have you been at a craps table and had a $40 profit in your rack? Then
you decided that you wanted to continue playing, to see if that paltry $40 could be turned
into something really great? Okay, how many times has that same session ended with a
loss compared to how many times you turned that matchstick of profit into a lumber-yard?
Not very many, huh?
Don’t let the greed-factor dictate your play. You need to satisfy yourself with small
profits that will build up a winning record. The
confidence that a string of small wins has on your game cannot be underestimated. It will have a dramatic positive effect, and it
will lead you to more and greater profit down the road.
How
many times have you looked back on a losing session, and considered the fact that at one
point, you were actually ahead by $40 to $150? Even most losing sessions once had
some amount of profit. Somewhere along the
way, that profit dwindled and eroded into a significant loss. Okay, NOW
would you "settle" for that $40 profit
instead of that $300 loss? Again,
you should be asking yourself just WHY you are playing this game. Don’t let small profits erode and deteriorate
into losses.
If
you are looking for “large scores”, I can tell you that
until
your Precision-Shooting improves AND your thought-process and discipline improves,
then you WILL NOT get enough of those “large scores” to offset all of your
losses. If
you are getting the idea that making this important transition is mostly psychological;
then you are correct. It is the
defects in our decision-making process that usually keeps our profits
down and our losses high.
We have to make as many improvements to our thought-processes
and discipline, as we have to make to our Precision-Shooting and
betting methods. It is only then that we can
successfully begin to make the shift to higher profitability. Once you do that, then you can be sure that the
bigger wins will start to appear more often. Most importantly, once you get to those small consistent wins, they
have a tendency to turn into more of those $300 to $1200 profits.
So
let’s review a bit:
The
first indication that your Precision-Shooting is getting somewhere is when you have a
number of break-even sessions. At that point, the small (but "irritating") $40
to $150 wins start to show up.
Again, consistency is the key. Once you start getting
those small wins, you will be surprised at how the "major" wins have a tendency
to start appearing. What is important is that you lock in a profit at EVERY
opportunity. Making
$40 per session does not put you in Fat City by any means. However, there is a
natural progression to learning Precision-Shooting.
It
took a couple years of Precision-Shooting before I finally broke though the $100,000/year
barrier. My first $100k year was about ten years ago, but the sweetness of that
accomplishment is still with me even though my profits since then have easily eclipsed
that century mark.
You
have to understand that making “big” money doesn't happen overnight. Most importantly, making
“big” money CANNOT happen without proper money-management, dedication,
determination, correct betting methods, passion, commitment, maturity, and iron-willed
DISCIPLINE.
That
brings us to the next step in the shift from “break-even” status to small, but
consistent wins.
The
chief thing that you probably have come to realize by now, is that Precision-Shooting
without DISCIPLINE, can be more costly than random-rolling.
When
you combine CONSISTENT Precision-Shooting, with proper betting methods, discipline and
money-management; you can have the world by the ass! When even one of those
elements slip, you and your bankroll are exposed.
Most
players who have made it this far pay lip-service to discipline, but they don’t
realize that discipline is a skill that has to be continually
worked on and improved, just like your Precision-Shooting. My own game-discipline is evolving even to this
day.
Remember,
it is only a profit if we leave the table with it! Otherwise, we are like slot-player who
win a $250 jackpot; then proceed to play it all back until it is gone. If you are
going to do that; then there are row-upon-row-upon-row of those machines just begging to
take your money.
Clearly,
you want to play for profit.
I'll
bet that if you took a survey, almost every player usually has some profit during most of
their playing sessions. At least 80% of the time, most of them end up giving back
their entire profit, plus a good portion of their session buy-in.
Why?
In
craps, with Precision-Shooting, it's not difficult to make a
profit, but it seems IMPOSSIBLY difficult for most people to keep it!
You
have to make difficult decisions that include how to bet, when to bet, who to bet on, and
when to stop betting and start leaving.
Having the experience to make the right decisions and then to
sticking with them, is what separates most “break-even” players from those who
lock up small, but consistent profits.
If
you don’t have the discipline to leave when you have a profit in your rail; then you
have defeated yourself, and the house-edge had nothing to do with it.
Okay,
we have flogged the whole “discipline” thing to death AGAIN. But I’ve got to tell you, it’s even MORE
important than your actual Precision-Shooting abilities will ever be.
Let’s
move on to the next step in this “craps-profiteering” process.
Fatigue is another problem that is underestimated and
misunderstood. Fatigue is like dehydration. Once you realize you have it, it is
usually too late to do anything about it for the time being. For dehydration in the
desert, we "pre-load" our bodies with water; then provide constant
"re-filling" along the way. In the desert, you should NEVER feel thirsty,
because that is a sign that you are slipping below the threshold.
In
the casino, we have to constantly monitor our level of energy.
If we feel it slipping AT ALL; then it is time to end that session.
If you suddenly find that your energy level is low; you have probably reached the point
where you have already given way too much money back to the casino. The only GOOD
decision that we can make at that point is to end the session.
Remember
that
Precision-Shooting
is more of a journey than an actual destination. Each
of us can use a different map, and take a different route.
It is the progress that we make along the way that is a true measure of our
advancement. So to summarize this transition from the “Break-Even” to
the “Small Consistent Wins” phase, we have to do the following:
§
Shift
our brains as well as our style of play.
§
Change
how we think about money.
§
Any
profit you earn is yours. Why give it back?
§
Casinos
are there to take your money.
§
Take
the comps that your action generates, but don’t play for them.
§
Decide
if are you really there to win.
§
Winning
money, then losing it back is NOT winning.
§
Don’t
let the greed-factor dictate your play.
§
Don’t
let small profits erode and deteriorate into losses.
§
Your
thought-process and discipline has to improve at the same pace as your Precision-Shooting.
§
Large
scores will not offset all of your losses.
§
Defects
in your decision-making keeps your profits down and your losses high.
§
Success
CANNOT happen without proper money-management, dedication, determination, correct betting
methods, passion, commitment, maturity, and iron-willed discipline.
§
Precision-Shooting
without discipline, can be more costly than random-rolling.
§
Discipline
has to be continually worked on and improved.
§
It's
not difficult to make a profit, but it seems impossible to keep.
§
Having
the experience to make and keep the right decision, is what separates most players.
§
Fatigue
is a problem that is underestimated and misunderstood.
§
We
have to constantly monitor our level of energy.
The
transition that we talked about today is not an easy one to make. There are some steps that are down-right
difficult, but let me tell you that they are definitely worth taking. Your bankroll will thank you.
Good
Luck & Good Skill at the Tables…and in Life.
Sincerely,
The
Mad Professor
|
|
