Nya, Nya, Mine Is Smaller Than Yours

When it comes to men, and being competitive, saying “mine is SMALLER than yours” is NOT a phrase that you would usually want to brag about.   But in playing craps, it can mean the difference between winning and losing.

I guess it is part of the male psyche that we are competitive.  We all want to be the lead alpha male that lords over our own pride of female lions, or smaller cats of a different name. 

That’s all well and good, but the NEED to succeed sometimes puts us at a distinct disadvantage when compared to women.  Oh sure, they are competitive too, but they are more nurturing and supportive, as long as it won’t jeopardize their own perceived standing in the group of brood-cats.  If they are challenged by another female for territory, or property, or “breeding” rights; then watch out, ‘cause the claws will be out and the fur will be flying.  Okay, putting pubescent fantasies aside, what can we learn from our female craps-playing counterparts?

One of the main things that I have garnered from years at the tables, is that it is not a competition between you and the casino.  It is not a competition between you and other players.  But it is certainly a competition against yourself.  This concept is not new.  It isn’t even new to craps.  The concept has been around since Noah was cobbling together a little wooden boat with a big idea in mind.  This is definitely where the ladies generally have an advantage over the testosterone-enhanced guys.  They don’t fool themselves into a grudge-type match in trying to beat the dice.  They accept negative-outcomes with a less-combative, and more learning-focused outlook.

Please understand that you will have losing sessions in the casino.  I still have my share of them as well.  But, as in life, if we use every experience, especially every losing experience to our betterment; then we will improve as players. 

Just because you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

Instead of being set in our ways, like driving around, refusing to acknowledge that we are lost, our ego prevents us from admitting defeat.  Guys, sometimes you have to stop and ask for directions.  Sometimes you have to admit that this is going to be a losing session.  I’m not talking about admitting this when you are down to your last few $1 chips, I’m talking about admitting it when you reach you loss limit.

Now I have to tell you right now that I think most people set their loss-limit way too high.  That is, I think that they allow themselves to lose WAY too much money at a single session.

Let’s say that your win-goal is 10% or 20% percent of your buy-in.  That’s not an unrealistic number.  In fact, it’s a darn reasonable number!

Now let’s say that your loss-limit is 50% of your buy-in.   Unless your winning-rate is better than 3 to 5 winning sessions for every losing one; then you’ve got a problem.  Your bankroll has a problem, and your theory of money–management also has a problem.  You’ll have a most difficult time breaking-even over even a short-to-medium term if you play that way.

Think about what I just said.  Re-read that last paragraph because there really is a golden nugget hiding in plain sight in there.

I’m asking you to reduce your loss limit.  It is a request based on sound business management.

If your win-goal is 10%, and you reach it 4-times-out-of-5-sessions; and your loss-limit is 50% and you reach that in 1-out-of-5-sessions; then you will lose more money than you make.  It’s simple math.  It’s simple truth, and it’s simple common-sense.  So let’s use some of that common-sense to put more money in your pocket.

If you don’t change even one other thing about your game; if you only change your loss-limit to more reasonable levels, you will win more money, and lose less.  That’s common-sense, and I want to show you how it will work for you.

No one wants to drive for two hours to the closest casino, reach their loss-limit after 20 minutes of play and turn around to face another two hour drive home.  That’s the difference between being a professional, and wanting to be a professional, but not having the discipline, strength of character or resolve to actually act like a professional.  

You have to ask yourself how much you are REALLY committed to improving your game.  Are you just paying lip-service to improving it because you have a fantasy about adding substantial money to your income due to craps, or are you dead-serious about it?  

In a number of other articles, I have written about how I have reduced my loss-limit to it’s barest minimum.  It is still sometimes difficult to walk away when I reach it, but it becomes easier and easier with each winning session.  I’ve grown a lot, and been a lot calmer even when things aren’t going my way, simply by reducing my loss-limits this way.

So here’s exactly what I want you to do.

• (i) Start recording the outcome of each casino session on paper.
• (ii) You don’t have to change anything just yet.
• (iii) Record your buy-in, your win-goal and your loss-limit.
• (iv) Record the amount of time that you spend on each session.
• (v) By creating this playing-journal, you are committing your decisions to paper.  There’s no sense cheating or rationalizing, because you will only be short-changing yourself in the long run.
• (vi) Once you have ten (10) sessions recorded you can take a cold, sober look at what the numbers are indicating.  Just the fact that you are committing all of this information to paper may permit you to realize what you have long suspected about your craps-play.  This may confirm it, or it may open your eyes to a whole new chapter of wisdom about yourself.
• (vii) Feel free to add any further notes about each session.  They can include how you were feeling both before and after your session; what table positions you were at.  How many long and short hands that you generated; any changes in betting methods, and so on.  The idea is to accurately assess each session.
• (viii) Remember, this is about win-goals and loss-limits, it has nothing to do with your throwing technique or your   betting methods.  This is simply an exercise to improve your profit-retention.

Okay, let’s take a look at those ten sessions that you recorded.  I made an imaginary list below so that you could get an idea how this process should work.

Hey, wait a minute.  You won 7-out-of-ten sessions! So why the hell did you still lose money?   

Simple:

Your loss limit is TOO freakin’ high!

Let’s look at the exact same set of sessions, but this time, let’s impose a lower $150 loss-limit.

Okay, what the hell happened here?

NOTHING

We only changed our loss-limit.  Nothing else.  Everything else remained the same.  That one small change turned a $90 loss into a $210 profit.  That’s a $300 swing in results just because we reduced the threshold of our permissible losses.  It’s that simple!

So when I tell you that mine is smaller than yours, it’s something that puts and KEEPS more profit in my bankroll, and my masculinity stays intact.  Sometimes smaller really is better.

Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables…and in Life.

The Mad Professor