Most gamblers subscribe to Nick the Greek’s philosophy:
“The next best thing to winning at gambling, is losing at gambling…the most important thing is to PLAY.”
Of course, I DO NOT agree with that statement, but like I said, most gamblers do.
Consistent WINNING is what separates people who gamble for the ACTION, and those who play for the PROFIT. Winning is part of my strategy, not part of my prayers.
With intelligently structured betting-methods, skillful Precision-Shooting, well thought out Money Management, and iron-willed DISCIPLINE…this game is winnable…and can be CONSISTENTLY PROFITABLE…but you have to decide just WHY you are playing.
This brings us back to the central theme…D’ya wanna WIN, or D’ya just wanna gamble…and HOPE that you somehow manage to eke out a profit once in a while.
Why Are You In a Casino?
If your aim is to go to a casino to gamble and not necessarily win; then this series of articles is definitely NOT for you. If on the other hand, you are tired of losing, and you are prepared to make some changes to your game that will bring more GAIN, less PAIN and a whole lot more profitable consistency…then dicesetter.com is for you, because this series is designed to gently nudge you in the direction of WINNING MORE and LOSING LESS.
Most Go To PLAY, I Go To WIN!
I love winning, and I hate losing. Most people are in a casino for entertainment, while I am there strictly for the money. If I can’t win, I’m not interested in playing. That is what keeps me away from the slot machines, keno lounges and Pai Gow tables (see Professional Precision-Shooter vs Full-Time Gambler ).
The Corporate View
If the rules of craps change so that I am no longer permitted to use Precision-Shooting to engineer most of the risk out of the game, then I will turn my back on the casino and probably never play again. I’m not going to give my money to a corporation for the “pleasure of losing”. Oh, I’ll still gladly own shares of their publicly-traded stocks, but I WON’T contribute to THEIR profitability with MY money.
Playing the game for the pleasure of gambling is a lot different than playing the game for profit. When you first employ conservative betting-methods, some people find the game less exciting because the “rush of the risk” isn’t as high. However, they soon learn that the satisfaction that comes from being able to continually walk away from the table with MORE money that they walked up to it with, is just about as much fun that they can have with their clothes on.
Gaming Gurus Don’t Agree
I get the impression from the writings of various gaming guru’s that the “gamble” part of the game, is much more important to them than the actual “winning” part of their game. If they put as much passion into WINNING every game that they try to master, as they put into PLAYING as wide of a variety of casino games as possible; they just might fare a little better in the profit-department.
Oh sure, they’ll tell you that they want to win and that they like to win, but if they get to play and they break-even, then that’s a good day in their eyes. If they lose, they put it down as gaining more game-experience. The thing is, gaining “experience” without being able to translate that new understanding of skill and knowledge into a consistent winning combination, is just time spent on something that is COSTING you money, and not MAKING it.
Therein lays the big difference between them and me. They GAMBLE in hopes that they can continue to PLAY. I PLAY so that I can continue to PROFIT.
Make no mistake; I am in this for the money, NOT the thrill of the chase. If your love of the risk and the thrill of the game OVERPOWERS and OVERSHADOWS your win-objective; then I want to help you shift your emphasis from just PLAYING to WINNING!
So, let’s start to shift your thinking away from the “action of the gamble” and move it towards the “profit of the win”.
In a Casino…WINNING Is What It’s ALL About
Have you noticed that the casino advertisements always show happy, smiling faces? They promote their outstanding entertainment, plus the fun and excitement that makes up their all-encompassing casino-experience. Americans gamble and LOSE more than $100 BILLION DOLLARS each year while being “entertained” that way.
The REASON the casino-corporations WANT you to be entertained is so that you feel you are getting SOMETHING of value for your money as you LOSE. Whether it be at the tables or in the machines; if they can charge you up with artificial excitement, it’s a lot easier to separate you from your money. People seem to be of the mind that, “If I can’t win, I might as well be entertained”, and that is exactly how they want you to feel as they take your money. In most cases, the happy, smiling faces belong to the gleeful casino executives, and NOT the players.
Casino executives refer to the free liquor that they serve as “chip remover”. Alcohol makes it much easier to disconnect a player from his money. The sensory stimuli of “the sounds of winning”, the distraction of clashing colors, clanging bells, flashing lights, ringing bells, and general crowd noise all add up to an overload of senses and a disconnect from your common-sense.
That is where I come in. When you combine Precision-Shooting, proper betting-methods, money-management and discipline; the money has a tendency to flow your way instead of going in the opposite direction. You’ll soon find that consistent profit tends to bring a LOT of smiles your way.
If You Refuse to Change…
You can ignore me, and go blithely along the same path that your casino gambling has been on all along. It’s your choice, and it certainly is your money (for now). If you are in a casino and you aren’t playing with an advantage, then as Lawrence Revere would say, “When you lose…expect it“.
A Simple Mantra
Repeat after me:
Money COMING this way (to you) is a good thing.
Money GOING that way (from you) is a bad thing.
That simple concept seems to be so hard for some people to grasp, yet in the casino, that is exactly what your goal should be. As soon as we lose sight of that objective, and seek to be entertained as some sort of fair exchange for the money that we are losing; then the outflow of our cash (losses) almost always exceeds the inflow (profit). You can continue to call that “entertainment”; I call it “losing”.
Winning Concepts
In the casino:
Winning is the only important concept. Other attitudes are for losers.
Without discipline you are dead. If everyone played with iron-willed discipline, the casinos would be dead.
Only the very lucky win by ignoring proper betting-methods. Extreme luck never lasts.
A select few know how to consistently go home as winners. The rest go home and say they were entertained.
Those with big egos and low self-esteem will have more bankroll volatility (higher highs and lower lows) than those who keep their self-worth separate from their betting decisions. Big egos occasionally garner bigger wins, yet suffer larger losses, and rarely retain any of their profits.
Turning Precision-Shooting Profit into Random-Roller Losses
Most dicesetters give back their own Precision-Shooting profits on other random-rollers out of fear, greed, impatience and BOREDOM.
As they wait for the dice to cycle around back to their position, they HOPE that each one of the random hands that they see might potentially develop into “THE” hand of the day, or at least one that they can profit from. In most cases, it turns out to be just another short-lived (and unprofitable) random-roll.
To deal with that situation, I wrote a five-part series of articles entitled Creating More Shooting Opportunities. That series chronicles various ways for you to get the dice into your hands more often. As a skilled Precision-Shooter, you’ll find that your performance is generally better than most random-rollers. Moreover, as your skill improves, you’ll find that the duration of your rolls are more consistent and predictable than a random-roller. While a R-R may occasionally manage to string together a great hand, it never happens nearly often enough, and it certainly isn’t predictable as to when it may happen again.
As your shooting-skills improve, you actually have to decrease the amount of money that you are willing to risk on random-rollers.
Here’s why:
- As you improve as a Precision-Shooter, more and more of your profit will come from your own hands and not from the volatile randomness of the game.
- Bets on random-rollers will sometimes win, but most times, lose.
- As your Precision-Shooting skill increases, you have to move away from exposing your bankroll to random volatility and move it towards the increased predictability of advantage play.
- Most Precision-Shooters turn the lion’s share of their profit back into random-roller losses, but there’s no rule that states that you have to be one of them.
- The revenue from your own shooting will increase, but if the rest of your game remains the same; then it is still subject to the wild bankroll-gyrations as you continue to bet on other unqualified shooters.
- We want to decrease the depth of bankroll dips, and increase the altitude of the bankroll-highs.
- While you will still have ups and downs, my conservative, low-risk approach will tend to give you more “up’s” and less “downs”.
- At the end of the day, the amount of Precision-Shooting profit that you will be able to keep will be determined to a large extent by how much and how often you bet on random-rollers.
- Remember that we are taking as much gamble out of the casino experience, and inserting as much skill as our Precision-Shooting will allow.
Remember that we are taking as much gamble out of the casino experience, and inserting as much skill as our Precision-Shooting will allow.
Shortcuts to Success
There really is NO SHORTCUT to success in the field of dice-setting.
The one element that stands out in a lot of the e-mail that I receive is most novice shooters frustration, when it comes to consistency. When it comes to being able to make steady profits, there really is no substitute for:
- Proper practice techniques.
- Wise money-management.
- Iron-willed discipline.
- Adequate bankroll.
- Suitable betting-methods.
It seems that everyone WANTS the results, but VERY FEW are willing to put in the time, effort, commitment and discipline that is necessary to achieve them.
In addition, there are countless players who COULD earn steady profits, but they refuse to change their betting methods to match their current Precision-Shooting skills, or they place all of their faith (and a disproportionate amount of their bankroll) on high-erosion bets that boost their ego when they hit, but quickly diminish their bankroll when they don’t.
When a novice players results fall short, they tend to look for “quick fixes”, when in fact the problem is usually a fundamental lack of practice, money-management, betting-method, discipline and/or adequate bankroll.
The Road Ahead
It is true that when you read about the whole idea of perfecting your Precision-Shooting (along with all of the supporting skills); it is more of a journey than a destination. I haven’t gotten to perfection yet either, but I am still making excellent profit as I continue to improve my game.
When I look back to where my skills were just three or four years ago compared to where they are today…I am AMAZED!
Every week brings more improvement, new insight and more profit. I can only hope that in two or three years from now, I’ll be able to look back on my current skills and proudly smile as to just how far I’ve progressed from here. I have the benefit of hindsight telling me that while I’ve come so far on this “more win, less gamble” voyage, I’ve still got a long way to go. So far, it has been one hell of an enjoyable and profitable journey.
You are welcome to join me as we continue that journey. Until next time,
Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables…and in Life.
Sincerely,
The Mad Professor
