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DiceSetter.com's Precision Shooter's Newsletter

Volume VI : Issue 3

March 2006

In This Edition:

Soft Touch's New Ferrari...

From the Editor

Las Vegas Casino Heat

DI And The Small Market Player... Part 1

BoneTracker Revealed...Part 1

Shooting From The Dark Side Part 14

Mindful Living, Mindful Shooting, Part VI

A Labor of Love...

Newsletter Archive Links

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From the Editor

In an effort to provide you with the best possible newsletter we have teamed up with the leaders in the field of dice and gaming. Our goal is to deliver you the information you want in the most efficient and convenient way possible. Hope you enjoy the changes.

As a result of our efforts, Deborah "Soft Touch" Garcia makes the proud announcement of her redesigned web site and newsletter for dice influencers and dice players. It is Deborah's intention to deliver to you the very best articles and information written about the game.

Every effort has been made to insure that when you log on to DiceSetter.com, you are on the cutting edge of a state of the art dice player's information center found only on the world wide web. This world class web site is dedicated to our commitment of your winning.

It is our intention to provide you with this information via DiceSetter.com, Dice Setter Precision Shooter's Newsletter, and Dice Setter Precision Shooter's Forum.

Note for this issue: Some buildings do not have a 13th floor and neither does Mad Professor's Shooting From the Don't article. So, please do not email me asking what happened to the 13th floor.  :o))

Here to serve,

Ed

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Question: Coach, we keep hearing about Casino "Heat".
What is going on in Las Vegas?

by the Dice Coach

I prefer to call it "casino interference", rather than casino heat.

Everyone talks about "casino heat", but when you really get down to it, they are (for the most part) just trying to take you out of your game. True "casino heat" is when Security escorts you to the door and asks you to not return.

Here is an example that happened to me recently. Three of us went to the Venetian Hotel/Casino on the strip for a session. It was early afternoon and they were just opening more craps tables, so it was easy to find an empty table. I was first to throw. 
After a few rolls, the "Suit" in the pit said: "hit the back wall". I told him I thought I was hitting the back wall, and continued to roll. A few rolls later he told me the same thing again, "hit the back wall". I said "Ok, no problem".

Now after throwing several numbers, I hit my point number. Now the "Suit" said: "this is your last warning, after this hand you will have to pass the dice". On my next come-out roll, I set for a seven and threw a seven. I set for another seven, and threw another seven. He was now watching me even closer, so I called out a whirl bet and threw aces. The Suit looks very surprised. 

I set the dice down and ask him what he would think if I were to hold the dice for another hour before sevening out? His look was priceless.

At that point, I told him I was going to do him a favor by coloring up and passing the dice. By this time I had doubled my buy in, turning $500.00 into $1.000.00. What he didn't realize was that the only other two players at the table were with me. So when I colored up, they did too. We left him standing there looking at an empty table.

I wanted to see if this was going to be a problem in the future, so I waited three days before going back. I picked the very same time, with the very same crew. The only difference was that it was a different day. I had no problems, and no casino interference at all!

I think some days the pit crew has nothing (or very little) to do, so when they see a precision shooter, they try to interfere with his or her hand. These kinds of problems come up all the time, all over town, and with varying degrees of interference. 

When you run into this type of situation, my advice is: Never argue, just agree. Be nice and courteous. And if the conditions get to be too much for you, just color up and leave. Come back on another shift, or even on another day.

Don't be confrontational and put yourself in a position where they will ban you from the casino. It is their house, and believe me, this can and will happen if you try to push them too far.  

The Dice Coach

Copyright © 2006 Beau Parker The Dice Coach

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DI and the Small Market Player... Part 1: The Big Picture

By "DeadCat" Copyright © 2006

It wasn't so long ago that if you wanted to play “legal” craps in America, you had one choice, Nevada.  You could play illegal craps in just about any city and many rural games thrived for years, most under the benign neglect of local law enforcement. Indeed some places, like Hot Springs Arkansas were an "open secret" Mecca for adult fun. Of course, once outside the law, there was little to ensure an honest game and cheating by the house and hustlers was the rule rather than the exception at many of these places.

Then, in an effort to save a decaying resort town, Atlantic City was opened to gaming. ten years later, the National Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 allowed recognized sovereign Indian Tribes the right to operate  "Class 3" games of chance.  Class 3 includes craps and most other familiar table games and slots. 

Native Americans, often with help from foreign investors, have opened casinos on their lands in the majority of states. Although the IGCA is a Federal Act, reaffirmed by the US Supreme Court, the specifics of each tribe's casinos are negotiated by "compact" with state government in which the reservation is located.  Therefore, there is no guaranteed uniformity in rules, vigorish or pay-outs from state -to- state or even casino-to-casino in a given state. This is something that players need to keep in mind as they consider risking any money at tribal casinos. (more on this later)

American History is rife with non-natives recognizing, and taking a good thing when they see it in Native hands. There are 558 federally recognized tribes, who own and operate over 330 casinos in 36 states. As of 2002, they claimed about 35% of America's $42 billion legal gaming revenue.  Just as with land, gold and oil, once the rest of America saw the Indians making big money with gaming, they have been predictably trying to cut themselves in. State governments have tried to increase taxes on tribal gaming, re-negotiating the compacts as they have come up for renewal. This creates added pressure on the tribes involved to maximize their "hold" and is another factor the small market player should not ignore. (more on this later)

As the awareness of gambling'' strength as a potential  "revenue stream enhancement" has grown in state capitols across the country, especially as other tax bases decline, governors and state legislatures have opened their ears to the offers of the "Casino-Corps" the big, big entities like Harrah's and others.

One by one, state governments have turned to issuing licenses to the gaming industry corporations, who in turn give up a cut of their profits and create some jobs. Typically these corporations are issued licenses for specific geographic zones, like Tunica and Shreveport. For this discussion, we can call these "Medium Markets" and include any area where the casinos are not  "stand-alone" entities but are part of "destinations" Also I would include the Detroit land based casinos, Chicago and Saint Louis' Boats as a "medium" markets although they are not all in one small "zone." 

This is another essential identifying quirk of the "Small Market" casino; Because tribal casinos must be located on the reservation of the operating tribe per federal law, they don't tend to "cluster" like those run by the "casino-corps." This means, that when we talk about small market casinos we are usually talking about tribal casinos, and being located in reservations, they are usually out of the way.  The remoteness does, however have to factor into the player's plans and can affect his/her judgment when it becomes time to make decisions regarding win goals and loss limits. Again, that will be examined farther on.

This isolation is not true of all tribal casinos, for instance, the Oneida Tribe's reservation encompasses the Green Bay, WI airport and they have a Vegas-style casino adjacent to it and a slot/bingo/card room a mile away.

The distinctions made above are more important than they appear to be at first reading. Although all small market casinos are not tribal, most are. Because each tribe must negotiate a specific "compact" with the governor of their reservation's state (an oxymoron to be sure) every tribe is under different pressures and constraints. This is being written in Minnesota. Here several different tribes have opened casinos. None have craps. Some have blackjack. One even had video craps before the state had them remove it.

Once the state saw the revenues of the first tribal casinos, they demanded higher "taxes" in subsequent compacts for latecomers. One deal for a Minneapolis metro area casino with 3 tribes fell apart over money issues. In nearby Wisconsin, the Ho Chunk tribe closed their 3 table craps operation near the resort of Wisconsin Dells because that state kept trying to squeeze more money out of the tribe's casino. Craps went because it could not guarantee revenue like slots set at the state minimum 80% (!) lifetime return. In Vegas or Atlantic City if there were 80% slots offered no one would play (they would be illegal, too) yet out in the boonies, "It's the only game in town" and they rake it in. That  "Only game In Town" mentality is an extremely important factor that must be considered by the small market player and will be addressed in detail later in the article.

By the way; not all Tribal Casinos are small. Foxwoods, in Connecticut, is the world's largest and nearby Mohegan Sun is following in Foxwoods footsteps. These palaces were carved out of the New England Woods and in their short lives have not only impacted the neighboring small towns, but the State of Connecticut itself. Those two are examples of small market casinos that have grown into medium markets in their own right, drawing players from Canada to New York and Philadelphia. As they grew into regional economic powerhouses they have been able to insulate themselves from the whims of state governments that might otherwise "re-negotiate' the compacts as in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

You can't discuss tribal gaming in 2006 without a word about one man; Jack Abramoff.   Abramoff was a well, connected lobbyist, who pleaded guilty to 3 counts fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials last month. Although that's just the tip of the iceberg, his plea deal includes assisting prosecutors with many anticipated cases. The "Fraud" part of that conviction is significant to the small market player. Essentially, what Abramoff has admitted to playing one tribe against another by taking millions from tribes interested in getting gambling established and more millions from other tribes who wanted to protect their already established gaming from new competition. Not only was the con illegal, it was done with open disdain and blatant racial contempt towards the natives who paid the lobbyist. Emails have surfaced in which Abramoff and lawmakers refer to the natives they were bilking as "Troglodytes, Monkeys and Morons"

As this scandal unfolds, it is uncertain what ramifications portend for those of us who play at tribal casinos. Certainly, it can't fail to bring about some more bad blood in a long and sordid history between Native Americans and State and Federal Governments. The fallout from the scandal may include liberalized licensing for more casinos and it could just as easily work against it. Time will tell.

Right now there are over 330 small (Native) and 430 commercial casinos in the US. Most of the commercial houses are located in "destinations" like Vegas, Atlantic City and Tunica,. There are small clusters of "boats" in the Midwest and some cities (Detroit, New Orleans) allow a few commercial operations. Those are the Large and medium Markets. But for the rest of the country the closest casino is a drive out to the reservation, to a Sovereign Nation.

Next time, we will take a look at what that means for the Gambler, the Craps Player and most importantly the Dice Influencer.

In the meantime, I'd like to hear from you if you play in small market regularly or occasionally.

Thanks for reading,

DeadCat 

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BoneTracker Revealed – Part I (FREE BoneTracker Program)

By Maddog

Now that most of the family was settled into bed and the hustle and commotion of the house hold began to settle down to the sleepy quite of nocturnal rhythms, I finally had some time for personal pursuits.  Gathering up my laptop I headed to the garage where my evening’s activities awaited.  Setting the laptop on the tossing station, and flipping up the lid, the little machine began to glow into life and start its boot sequence as I prepared the practice rig for an evening of training. 

Once the small computer reached its ready state, I launch this month’s copy of the BoneTracker spreadsheet.  I had accumulated 108 tracked rolls so far this month.  Not an extremely significant amount yet, but a nice start.  Everything is just about ready for action.  The practice station is aligned and leveled, simulated table rail in position, and a nice pile of fairly new shinny, sharp edged, polished casino dice sitting ready for a toss.   Just a slight adjustment to the hand mirror so the grip can be easily checked and all the equipment is set. 

BoneTracker has launched and shows the current status of my tossing trends.  Hmm, on-axis is sitting a little below 50%.  Not to happy with that, so getting over fifty percent on-axis will be the goal of this practice session.  I click the button to launch the Data Entry Assistant and am greeted by the now familiar six-by-six button grid representing the 36 possible dice result combinations.  The rig is ready, BoneTracker is ready, now to get myself ready and begin the routine for my first toss.

As usual I was not going to perform any perpetration, or what they call “warm up” tosses.  Instead, I set my feet, take a deep breath, exhale, and begin the toss sequence.  Selecting two die out of the pile, I twist the left die setting it to the correct top and front faces, doing this as quickly as possible, while pulling them toward me.  I then set the right die to the desired faces, getting both die set in the same formation that I’ve identified in the BoneTracker Tossing Set section.  Gripping the dice gently I move them to my preferred launch position (which I have conveniently marked on my toss station).  Setting my head to focus on the chosen landing location, I begin the throw itself, remembering to pay attention to my wrist and concentrating to notice the sensation of the dice rolling off the tips of my fingers.

It was a good toss, the dice landing near the wall, hitting and rolling back in a reasonably perpendicular motion.  One die ran harder then the other and ended up coming pack several inches farther then its companion.  Hmm, better check that grip, probably let the ring finger lift off a bit again.

The dice had landed in a nice on-axis 4 and 6.  Not a primary face hit for this set, but on-axis none the less.  I positioned the cursor on my computer screen over BoneTrackers’ Data Entry Assistant window and click the button labeled 4-6.  I was rewarded with a slight increase in both the on-axis percentage and SRR numbers.  A small victory.  I picked out two more die from the pile of dice in front of me and began the whole process again…and again…and again.

The practice session begins well and the OA% number is steadily climbing in its herky-jerky small percentage movement manner.  Keeping an eye on the on-axis figure that BoneTracker is displaying provides one source of toss focus motivation as I strive to keep the numbers up.  After about 20 minutes of solid tossing I begin a struggle fighting off the evening fatigue and to maintaining focus.  I don’t notice the fatigue it at first, but after a frustrating series of four sevens in a row, I realize I need a break.  I take 15 minutes to get a drink, check what’s on the tube and to re-wash my hands (and splash my face while I’m at it).  After the short respite it is time to head back to the rig and finish up the evenings practice session. 

When I return to the toss station, I see that the laptop has gone into screen-saver mode, so I wiggle the mouse-cursor to re-light the screen. I set my feet, take a deep breath, exhaled, and begin my toss sequence.

The break did me good and after another series of much better tosses the toss counter on the BoneTracker screen blinked red, displaying a count of 216.  The red indicates that I’ve reached another multiple-of-36 milestone, and I use this one as my signal to complete the practice session.  I collect the dice and put them back in their bowl, pack up the toss station and cover the receiver rig (so the damn cats don’t sleep on it, those darned, four footed hair bags), and pick up the laptop taking  it inside to review the numbers for the past several sessions. 

Checking the main screen I see that I’ve met my session goal of keeping the OA up above 50%, that’s the good news.  The bad news is that my SRR is not where I’d like it to be and that the Double-Pitch percentage is a bit higher then expected.  Looks like I’m still not getting my grip centered correctly, and one die is still over-rotating.  Shoot it "feels" right.  I’d look through my notes to search for a possible solution, but I know what my notes say, “shift index left”.  Next practice, I know what I’ll be working on.  Now, time to look at the Stats screen and see which die is pitching…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A slightly stylized version of one of my practice sessions, no doubt, but this is basically how I perform my practice and how I utilize BoneTracker to do the roll tracking.  From time to time I get questions about one feature or another of BoneTracker.  I’m often asked for advice on how I make BoneTracker work for me. 

Now that I have given you an idea of how I utilize the tool to do the data entry and the “tracking” of rolls, I will present a series of articles that provide some detail of some of the basic components and general usage of the BoneTracker spreadsheet.

Next time we will take a tour of the primary screen, the place were everything gets started; the Roll Data Tab and the Data Entry Assistant.

Until then, keep your roll straight and your rack full.

Maddog

Copyright ©2006 Maddog

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Shooting from the Don’t…A Journey of Opportunity Part 14

by Mad Professor

 As soon as you look at a map of Canada, it’s easy to figure out why most sane people who decide to go to Calgary, Alberta usually fly there instead of driving.  Well, they don’t call me the MAD Professor for nothing…so of course I decided to drive; which meant traversing a lot of prairie wheat-fields where it takes an average of two weeks just to walk to your neighbor's house. 

With Strippers Union (Local 518) blasting in the CD-player (yes, that really is a musical group), I pulled into the Elbow River Casino parking lot.

Building First Hand Confidence…and First Hand SUCCESS

When an advantage-play dice-influencer first walks into a casino, it is important that his enthusiasm to play doesn’t overwhelm his ability to win. 

Please understand that I am not talking about the mindset of a normal gambler here; however having said that, it’s not unusual for many advantage-play craps-shooters to fall into the same giddy rush to get their money on the table just like any other run-of-the-mill gambling desperado.

<Click here to read the rest of Shooting From the Don't... A Journey of Opportunity Part 14 >

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Mindful Living, Mindful Shooting, Part VI

by Jeffrey47

I'd mentioned to my wife how I felt the whole concept of getting glimpses of our own next level, on a continually receding horizon of improvement, could apply to just about everything in life.  Without a moment’s hesitation, she replied I was probably correct, but that the only thing she’s glimpsed receding lately…is my hairline.

Paradox in a pair of dice

Dice influencing is imbued with paradox.  For example, we want to shoot with near-automatic precision; yet to accomplish that, we have to be vigilant against getting into a mindless shooting rut.  We want to learn to be consistent; yet we need to be flexible and adaptable in the way we achieve, exploit and expand on that consistency.  We want to play, as near as possible, our best game all the time; but we’re called on to do it under widely varying circumstances and conditions.  We want a quiet mind; but achieving it means recognizing distraction and that it’s always a product of our own making.

Is it any wonder it can seem downright marvelous when we’ve achieved any modicum of success? 

Shooting in the Here and Now :  Neither a Remembrance of Things Past, Nor a Trip Back to the Future    

Looking back over the trails we blaze, we’ll see any number of surprising turns, difficult detours, and lessons learned along the way.  Among the important lessons we should learn, is that our efforts are always best expended—because our rewards will always be found—“right here” and “right now.” 

Over time, as a result of our own dice-influencing experiences, those mere words begin to take on more concrete meaning.  Just as our skills are best learned when we’re paying sufficient attention in the present, so too, they can only be executed when we’re similarly focused in the moment.

Certainly, acquiring, executing and improving our skills requires consideration of our ability to keep finding our way . . . back to the present.

<Click here to read the rest of Mindful Living, Mindful Shooting Part VI >

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