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Fail. Fail Again. Fail Better. The title
of this article is a Samuel Beckett quote. Some
may interpret this as a negative statement because it is dwelling on failure. I disagree. In
dice influencing, and life in general, I associate this quote with the oft cited,
When at first you dont succeed, try, try again. Heres why. Lets face it. Every hand that a precision shooter throws, be they novice or journeyman shooter, eventually ends with failure. Whether the hand lasts three rolls, or ten or thirty rolls, an eventual unintended seven arrives in due course. If we were capable of throwing a perfectly
executed controlled toss every time, perhaps this would not be the case, but the bottom
line is we CANT throw a perfectly executed toss every time. The seven is inevitable. This is a fact of life for a precision shooter.
This doesnt mean that you should live in fear of the seven. As Ive stated before, as a precision
shooter, if youre shooting in fear of the seven, you are giving it power over you. Weve
established then that for every hand you throw as a dice influencer, it will end in
failure. We arent going to dwell on the
negative aspects of that right now. The purpose of this article is to determine whether
you are getting the most out of those failures at the tables. Every Session Is A
Learning Opportunity
Ive been involved with precision shooting for several years now. Regardless, I still approach every session as an opportunity to learn something new. Perhaps its a new betting method, maybe its a fresh approach to money management, or being more adept at troubleshooting my throw while Im at the table. There is always room for growth. Anyone who tells you that they know everything
there is to know about the game and about precision shooting is delusional or has an ego
thats run amok. Continued growth is
extremely important to your future success at the tables as a precision shooter
specifically and as a craps player in general. Debrief
I certainly hope by now, you know the importance of keeping session notes. The Mad Professor has several articles on the subject, as well as MickeyDs article Notes, Notes, Notes. Im aware that a lot of shooters keep session notes solely for the purpose of keeping track of wins and losses. Thats really a secondary purpose. The main purpose
for keeping notes is for gaining insight into future sessions. Your session notes will provide a method for you
to FAIL BETTER in the future. Focus On the Positive
As I stated at the beginning, failing better does not mean that you only focus on the errors that you made at the tables, but also on what you did well, what you should do again, what you should ALWAYS do. It is essential for every small success to be a building block for future success. Despite how poorly a session goes, determine those things that you did well. If you terminated a session because you reached your loss limit, or you realized you werent on, are just a couple of examples of positives that can be gleaned from even the worst session. For sessions that go particularly well, take precise notes of what occurred. Your goal is
to be able to recreate a positive situation every time you stand at the tables. A Small Bite From the
Poisoned Apple
Some of the best hands Ive EVER thrown have ended when I had just a small lapse in judgment or discipline. For instance, in one case Id had the dice for a little more than 15 minutes. For the previous 24 rolls, I had remained calm and focused. I hadnt interacted unnecessarily with the staff or other players and was in a perfect state of relaxed concentration. The next roll I hit a two way hard ten that had been parlayed. Everyone cheered including
the dealers. I turned to the stick, and
said, you should leave yourselves up on that hard ten, Im going to throw it
right back. In other words, I took a
bite of the poisoned apple. The next roll? No,
not another hard 10 but a seven out. You see,
one of the lessons Ive learned from my past failures is to limit my interaction with
everyone else at the table while Im throwing. In
addition, I CALLED MY SHOT. In other words, I
completely altered the successful dynamic that I had established, and failure came shortly
and even worse, it was self-inflicted. As a
precision shooter, you will be tempted by all sorts of poisoned fruit on your dice
influencing journey. I guarantee that you
will stop and take a bite from time to time. No
matter how disciplined you are, you will have lapses in judgment. But, if you are able to learn from your previous
failures, you will disregard the poisoned fruit in your path more often. As they say, those who choose to
ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Failing
Better doesnt guarantee that you wont repeat your previous failures, but
by acknowledging and addressing your errors, youll put yourself in a better position
to sidestep them in the future. ~woof~ |
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