Soft Touch Say’s

Hello everyone, 

In this month’s newsletter we are fortunate enough to publish an interesting contribution from Lin Vernon, a Fen-shui practitioner.  Lin happened to be at our last workshop which dealt with shifting our participants into expanding their craps game through becoming aware of greater energetic influences that definitely impact our game. She gave us a very brief introduction into the energy behind the casino’s architecture and how it influences us as players when it comes to exchanging money during our play time. Upon our request, she was gracious enough to provide us some of her insight.

Her article prompts me to ask our readers: How aware are you of your surroundings?  How in tune is your life within the multitude of currents whirling past you and within you?  Playing your best game at the table is all about awareness.  Quite simply, if we are trying to make money playing  we definitely need to know which way “the temperature” is headed. Can’t sense the temp at the table?  It is as easy as asking the dealers.  They are quick to let you know if you are unable or unwilling to observe before jumping into the table.

How many of us are unaware of the casino’s color scheme? How about the lighting or the construction? Just because most of the patrons playing in the casinos are unaware of their surroundings, it does not mean they are unaffected by them.  Quite the contrary and the casinos invest in the design of anything that will separate us from our money.

As with everything that exists in life, we can develop an awareness and be in tune with our surroundings and know how we are subtly influenced in an effort to play comfortably, efficiently and successfully. Or, you can just simply ignore it.  It’s your choice.

Thanks Lin!

Now back to the more physical elements of the game.    I am thankful for my wonderful playmates and to my loyal readers who love to send me lots of tidbits on the physical changes happening with the craps tables. The following is for your information only and for the practicing dice setters in our community it may be worth knowing before your next trip to Vegas.   Here is some information for you successful fire bet shooters: (I personally know quite of few of them)  

$10 Max Fire Bet:

• Caesar’s (only on 1 table as of now, but rumor is they will have the Fire Bet on all Caesar’s tables)
• Harrah’s
• Bally’s
• Paris
• Rio
• Flamingo

$5 Max Fire Bet:

• O’Sheas
• Imperial Palace
• Bill’s
• MGM (MGM removed the Fire Bet after a 2 month trial in early 2008)
• Hilton
• Sahara  (Sahara removed their Fire Bet in July ’08 after having it at least 2 years)
• Cannery
• Rampart
• Palms
• Planet Hollywood

And for those players who like to visit NYNY in Las Vegas, owned by MGM,  and enjoy the challenge of something new, here’s something good to know about their tables.  This information comes to me from a very successful Vegas shooter and may be helpful for all you dice influencers who factor the physical attributes of the table as a major part of your game.  

Players note that they have replaced their 4 green felt bouncy 14 foot tables with:

• 6 new 12 foot tables (my favorite size)
• all plastic laminated table — only wood is in the chip rail (the plastic leg base effects the sweet spots on the table & where the bigger bounces are)
• felt blend surface is Maroon and Silver silk screened
• fairly hard surface (remember your toss trajectory)
• red dice
• 6 $10 tables most of the time
• Black Paulson Superball rubber pyramids effect the dice tremendously (5 rows)
• the new rubbers have an oily residue on them – evidently from the newness., but this is the most oily and the oil does transfer to the dice making them rather slippery. May not be a problem over the course of use.

Also,  the new Craps pit area is about 200 feet from where it used to be and is a whole lot better with better lighting and a new Cage area with the best private cage windows in town.   That’s it for now and may you enjoy the remaining summer days in and out of the casinos.  

Soft Touch  

PS If you have any suggestions for the dicesetter.com website or newsletter please send them to me at Ed@dicesetter.com and I’ll have a look and see how we can incorporate them into our future plans.

Dice Busters™

Featuring Personal Coaching and Casino Play with

Soft Touch, The Dice Coach & The Professor

The “Real Deal” Returns to Las Vegas.

Join Them September 27th 2008

Letter to the Editor

Hello, my name is Ray…I live in Ohio where we don’t have casinos but I have been going to local states such as West Virginia. I love the game of craps  and believe in much of what you preach. I have been having problems where I switch strategies from session to session and it seems that when I play my “6 and 8” system… where I press and press to catch a series of numbers, the other numbers come like 4,5,9, 10 etc….and then of course, 7 out! Then I go to another method of playing the field along with the 5 as a “hedge”….so I am looking for 3 to 5 field numbers to show consecutively….which can add up very very nicely….of course the sixes and eights come……I get sooooooooo frustrated and then I lose my head! What advice do you have?    

Ray L.

Hi Ray,

The first thing to master is you must not allow yourself to become frustrated. Once frustrated, the game is out the window now matter who you are or how you play. Bouncing around trying different methods has proven to you that it does not work, right? So, you have to find something that you will stick with come hell or seven out. Now, I don’t infer that you play and lose all you money before quitting. You have to settle in with something more conservative and something that fits you bankroll. Then, play that way consistently. If the game is not going your way, you must have the discipline to leave the game. Period!

You do not mention your bankroll and that is likely part of the problem. Most players fail to understand the importance of being properly bankrolled. Each bet requires its own backing or bankroll.

I do not like telling someone I have not seen play what to do or how to play, however you must get off the field betting. The field bet is a one roll bet and as such has no mathematical betting strategy or money management. Never mind the ridiculous odds against the bet. Forget about hedge plays, they do not work.

Just one suggestion. I am guessing you have $10 minimum bets out there. You will need a minimum of $350 for a pass line bet with double odds. (No more than double odds.) Taking a play from The Professor’s Playbook… When you win on the pass line, increase the next bet by 50%. The line bets looks like this…

10–15–20–30–50–75 and so on. When you run into a hand, the profit allows you to make the progression. Always go back to the basic (minimum bet) following any loss.

Regarding the 6/8. There are a bunch of 6/8 plays out there. You are making a mistake by not taking some profit along the way. You fail to recognize the math of the game… one 7 every six rolls. It sounds like you always have the laundry on the line never getting any profit and then wiped out by the 7. Recommended bankroll for 6/8 betting $240 starting with $12 6/8. Other strategies would have you start with a $30 6/8 and after one win, tear the bets down to $12 and progress up from there. I can think of several more… it all becomes a matter of personal choice and playing style…. Oh, did I mention bankroll! Off hand, you would be buying in between $600 and $750 depending on $12 6/8 or $18 6/8 or $1000 for $30 6/8 and $10 line bet with double odds.

Ray, making additional bets is not working for you right now. I feel it best if you lay off the place betting and just do the 50% progression pass line. During this time of play, study the game and track how your Field/Place bet continues to fail. Study how placing 6/8 could work with a new approach. Study the regression play and study a progression play (take and press). Most of all, do you best to stop being frustrated by making bad bets that chew through your precious bankroll. Invest your time studying the game and having a better understanding of what is going on.

Good Luck!

Ed Jones                                      

dicesetter.com

Feng Shui in Las Vegas

Feng Shui is defined as the “art of placement” where the interior of a man made space reflects the harmony and flow of nature. I will be discussing Feng Shui from the perspective of the Form School and Black Hat  Sect Feng Shui, as brought to America by Professor Lin Yun.

Feng Shui is a way of arranging spaces to bring abundance, health and satisfying relationships to the inhabitants. In Las Vegas this prescription for abundance is directed towards the owners of the casinos, not the players.

One of the highest priorities in creating a space is having an “auspicious” front door. This would be a door that is colorful, obvious because of its decorations, and easy to enter. It could be further enhanced with moving objects, like flags, and water features. The casinos of Las Vegas have this down to a science as well as an art. The casinos of Las Vegas, without a doubt, have some of the most inviting entrances on the planet. Whether it is the fountains of Bellagio or the pirates frolicking with explosions and fire in front of Treasure Island, or volcanoes erupting as you enter the Mirage, the entrances are full of energy and enticement. The problem is that once you are in, can you find your way out? The casinos lure the energy (you) into their establishment with well designed, regal entrances. In a residence, you would want the energy brought in by the auspicious entrance to flow through all the rooms of the house appropriately. Instead of letting the flow of pathways take you softly through to the games, and then allowing for an evident way out, you become trapped in the casino’s confusing floor plan and lost. The “casino’s gaming pit” is the easiest destination. Fed by sound and lights, one is drawn to the casino floor like a bee to honey. Leaving the gambling area to find food and bathrooms can be a journey through a labyrinth of small isles, where landmarks need to be memorized to find your way out of the gaming area. The excessive stimulation is riveting and it becomes easier to stay than to leave.

This is a type of power Feng Shui not appropriate for a home because a house is usually designed to be a place of rejuvenation and harmony. The stimulation of a casino pushes gamblers to do more, try harder, and keep at it. The rejuvenation is the winning, but everything else in the environment is out of harmony and exhausting, making the win harder to achieve or to keep. In the art of Feng Shui, your environment is the template that supports the fulfillment of desires and creates success. Now, reflecting on the over stimulation and confusion in the casino, what type of success does it support and for who? The noise and turmoil certainly do not encourage confidence or support a strong self esteem. The player is constantly being undermined by the “Feng Shui of Chaos”. The gambler must put extra effort into being grounded and centered enough to play. This of course is a huge energy drain. It is a true challenge because all the casino distractions work against the player. It is no wonder that the easiest play is to put money in a slot machine and pull the handle.

Stairs can be a deterrent to entering a building, but what if you have to climb stairs to get out? The Las Vegas Hilton and Bally’s add this obstacle to an easy exit. One has to climb steps to leave the casino floor. If you are tired and overwhelmed, the steps can give patrons the feeling that it is too difficult to leave, so they will stay. When the Luxor first opened, you had to walk down a steep ramp to enter the casino. Of course to get out, you had to hike up hill. The Luxor’s casino entrance has now been redesigned for a less strenuous exit.

Have you ever tried to walk down the Las Vegas Strip by going through each casino, so that you can stay out of the heat? This would seem like a good idea, you can do it at shopping malls. In Las Vegas it is almost impossible  because of the convoluted pathways inside the casinos. Shopping malls are designed so that you can go to the most stores possible on your visit. However, each casino wants to keep your business within their walls. I have not visited a casino yet where any part of the casino is on an easy passageway to another part of the casino, particularly exits.

One of the main tenants of Form School Feng Shui is that it is important to create protection at the back of a building to collect the chi (energy) and protect the building from a current that might take that chi with it. For instance, having a road or rushing river at the back of a house would be bad Feng Shui and the owner would want to construct a wall, put up flags, or plant trees to protect the back of the building. This is also true for people. The place of honor at a table would be the seat that has its back to the wall and has full view of the room ahead of it. Think of how the gaming tables and slots are arranged in a casino. All the players have their back to the many people who are passing. These people, passing and rushing, can literally “rip off” that player’s energy and leave them depleted. A part of our brain needs to be vigilant when our back is unprotected, particularly in a public place. When our brain is involved in the animal instinct of protection it is less focused on the task at hand. As an example, it is more difficult to listen to a conversation in a restaurant when waiters with trays are running to and from the kitchen through a swinging door behind you. These are the seats that savvy patrons will tip the hostess to NOT seat them here. The same distraction happens at the blackjack table or the rows of slots as people pass, particularly if their feelings are focusing on anger, agitation, and/or loss. You will notice similar conditions for the placement of craps tables.

An added problem is that some of these people might also be looking over your shoulder; say at a craps game, and invading your space from behind you. Even though people get accustomed to the crowding and bumping in a casino, our bodies are still reacting with their animal response while our brain has to take time to tell us that, “it is alright and we are safe”. There is no way to keep your comfort zone of space protected or keep negative currants from zapping your concentration. The main thing is to be aware of what is happening and position oneself accordingly. The inside seats, (first and third base) of a Blackjack table are more protected and allows the you more vision of the room and what is coming towards you. The inside hook and table end on the Craps table are more protected than the positions left and right of the stickman. Poker rooms are usually separated from the rest of the casino, which creates seating where backs could be towards a wall and players could have a view of the entrance to the room. On an energy level, facing the door,  you are not a surprise when people enter the room. This reminds me of the old westerns when the poker player does not want to sit with his back to the door. I guess there was a Feng Shui consciousness even in the old west.

Personal meditations or visualization exercises that foster a feeling of being “inside your skin” with your feet on the floor are great preparation for entering a casino. You can do something as simple as patting yourself on your arms and legs and torso before leaving your hotel room. This can have a grounding effect on your body. The “Professor” Michael Vernon teaches several meditations in his classes that address this issue. The phrase, “it’s a jungle out there”, comes to mind as you enter the casino. The Feng Shui arrangement is definitely planned to be against you so do your best to keep your energy up as you hunt and forage.

Lin H. Vernon M.A. has been a Feng Shui practitioner since 1996. She trained with two different disciples of Professor Lin Yun, who brought Black Hat Sect Feng Shui to America. She also is an advanced practitioner of Instinctive Feng Shui and Interior Alignment as taught by Denise Linn, author of Sacred Space, Altars, and many other books. In her spare time she is the wife of  “The Professor”, and is a special education teacher for autistic children..

At The Oven’s Door…

Money isn’t everything unless you are buying in for a casino game of craps or blackjack. Then, you better be prepared for the price of poker or accept the fate of losing for playing with an inadequate bankroll.

Several years ago I was asked to contribute an article for an e-book, answering how I would play to double $100 at the casino. The best way to double $100, as the old joke goes, is to fold it in half and put it back into your pocket. A hundred bucks is not really enough money to properly enter today’s minimum bet games.

At first, I was not keen on the decision of participating in the project. To write about doubling money is contrary to my beliefs and my years of casino experience. The win goal that I subscribe to is simple. Just win baby! In the end, I decided to write about a method of playing craps by betting on the don’t pass. I personally experienced years of consistent results with the don’t play, and I usually doubled my starting buy-in. Having a preconceived idea of doubling your buy-in any time you play is silly at best, and this was my concern for participation in the project. I did not want to mislead and create an appearance that winning is ever that easy.

Anything to do with Las Vegas is always a hot topic for the public. You cannot turn on the television without seeing a show about the “City of Dreams”. One program begged the question, “Does a professional gambler using math strategies have an advantage over the game compared to a random tourist player just off the plane?” The show pitted two competing players to see which one could win the most money. The experiment compared a systems math player to a tourist type gambler.

The scenario was bogus. I was surprised that the “expert” gambler agreed to the rules of the competition. However, as I studied the show I recognized that the point of the show was essentially an infomercial designed to lure more players to the games. The message of the show quickly became evident, “You do not have to know much, or need much money, to gamble. Anyone can do it. If fact, the less you know the more you win.”

Both competitors were limited to just $25 for each game, blackjack, craps, video poker and roulette. Playing craps or blackjack with just $25 is ridiculous. Near the end of the show, the strategy player was ahead in money by a small amount. But after the last game, he was “aced out” when the tourist player hit a modest jack-pot on a video poker machine. The win on the poker machine put the tourist gambler ahead and was crowned the winner of the gambling contest. Though the show did not report the net profit and loss, both players, in fact, lost money through the competition. This point was not expressed in the program. The show made it appear as if both players actually won money. I could have been more fairly stated as the player that lost the least money.

Reading between the lines, the subliminal message was, “See, all that math and strategy stuff does not make any difference. Anyone can win gambling in Las Vegas. You have just as good a chance as experts of the game.”

Wow! After watching the show, it left me feeling angry. I felt the show was misleading millions of viewers into thinking that the chance of winning or losing was the same for all players. That is to say, gambling in Las Vegas, your chances of winning are just as good as an expert player’s. Skill really does not matter.

The program created the illusion that winning is easy for anyone. All the player needs to gamble in Las Vegas is $25. From my perspective, this misleading show created a “What the hell, $25 or $50, let’s play a little, lose a little, let’s have some fun”. Twenty-five dollars is not much money to win or lose either way for the average Las Vegas tourist. That creates another set up not exposed in the show. If the player wins, the game looks easy and entices them to play more. If on the other hand they lose, what next? Well, hell Mel, let’s get the money back, it’s easy. Play another $25 and get it back like on TV. Soon, the “money pocket” empties except for the lint. The funds, ear marked for shows, shopping, and other fun are “LG”. (long gone)

The show was a complete manipulation intending to make gambling appear profitable. The best way to insure a loss is to engage in games with too little bankroll and lacking the know-how to play.

The purpose of this article is not so much to lecture you about proper bankroll for your game. It is about sharpening your awareness to the subtle manipulations present with television programs about gaming. Most programs seem to be biased convincing the audience that gambling is “cool” and you do not have to be an expert. Anyone can win, and that it does not take much money. In the example above, even a moron had as good a chance of winning compared  to an expert player.

Perhaps this is an unnecessary warning. I merely wanted to let readers in on the subliminal forms promoting and luring players to the casinos. The more you know about gaming, the more of your money you will keep when it comes time to play.

Where is the metaphysics in this article? Read between the lines. The truth always comes through, even when it’s subtle. You only have to take a step back and ask, “What is the feeling created by the media’s message?” As soon as you hear that you do not need any skill, figure it to be a forgone conclusion that you do need preparation. “Read my lips, no new taxes”, comes to mind. It also reminds me of Grimm’s Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretel. The old witch tells Gretel to go into the oven to check if it is hot enough to bake the bread. Gretel, wise to the old witch, says she does not know how to do it. The witch, upset with Gretel, orders her out of the way to show the little girl how to check the oven herself. When the witch bends over, Gretel gives her a good shove into the oven and then slams the door behind the witch.

Next time you catch one of the Las Vegas programs on television telling you to check the heat in an oven, play like Gretel. When you are at the oven’s door, look to see who is standing behind you before you stick your head inside. A little bit of skill and cleverness can keep the oven door from slamming shut on your gaming experience.

Copyright © 2006 Michael Vernon

Today’s Wisdom:

From the Parables of Don Guangoche:

She spoke of an higher energy and she spoke of it as an angel. In her words there was a kindness and an acknowledgment of the God Force in all things. And as she spoke, it was clear that she was speaking of her of her own spiritual evolution. She spoke of her friends, relations and levels of energy or perhaps evolution. She spoke of fear, her comfort and the need to face the fear, to conquer the fear and then to expand the “self” with a tremendous energy… Gwenevere.