“Craps Babes in the Dice Woods”
This past March, seniors from Rice University signed up for an introduction to the gaming world with the Dice Coach. As the subtitle suggests, these students possessed little to no knowledge of the game of Craps. But, they had the key ingredients to be successful at this game – confidence in themselves, team spirit and a little bit of beginners luck for those who believe in such things.
For 2 ½ hours, Dice Coach discussed the game rules, demonstrated key elements of dice setting, dice grips and delivery. Most importantly, he introduced the kids to a conservative money management strategy. He then turned them loose on the Fremont Casino.
The seven “Craps 101” graduates proceeded to amaze me with the application of their newly acquired skills. It was truly refreshing to witness these 5 men and 2 women, play unencumbered by any pre-conceived ideas that this game couldn’t be influenced.
These students were so eager to apply what they had learned in the Dice Coach’s Dice Pit, that while at the Fremont, they took out their note pads and from their notes, placed appropriate pass line bets with correct odds and placed their 6 & 8 bets with confidence.
Even the Dice Coach got a chuckle when curious onlookers would look over the shoulders of our students to read their notes. These onlookers also witnessed these students winning!
At one point, after not being satisfied with her previous roll, Jenny turned to me and said, ” next time I’m going to have a long roll!” I said, “Okay” and she looked straight into my eyes saying, “I feel it!” And, sure enough, she made several points and rolled 32 times without a “7” showing up. How’s that for getting in touch with your feelings!
After Jenny, everyone cashed in, claimed their prizes and enjoyed a full complimentary buffet. For them, it did not get any better than this. After all, these are college students – they are always hungry for everything that life has to offer.
I think in many ways, Dice Coach and I learned more from the students than they may have learned from us. I found their inquisitive behavior challenging. The experience was similar to embarking on a new project, or piece of artwork. The canvas is clear and clean. The answers to their questions were the colors of the paint we apply to the canvas. And as the body of this work began to take shape, the nearly finished project inspired me to reflect that ” The more we learn about this game, the more we realize how much we have yet to learn”.
Soft Touch Editor’s note: The students from Rice University included Debbie’s son, Roger and his friends. It was the first trip to Las Vegas for most of them, and their first experience in the gaming world. The Dice Coach and Debbie wanted to not only teach them the game of Craps, but to instill money management and discipline skills in each of them. And finally to make sure they enjoyed the game- always keeping the fun in the game.
