Long Tables = Po$$ibilitie$
Part Five
click here for part I or here for part II or here for part III or here for part IV

Some friends of mine were out birthday-gift shopping for their daughter who desperately wanted a Barbie-doll set.  At the toy-store they asked how much they were.  "It depends on which one, they're all different.  For example, that one there is the Skiing-Barbie which comes complete with skis, boots and poles for $50.00" said the assistant. "What's that one?" asked my friends lovely wife.  "That's Cycling-Barbie, and she comes complete with a bicycle and helmet for $56.00", offered the store clerk.   Moving down the aisle, she pointed to another and said, "This one is Cooking-Barbie, and it comes with a stove and a miniature set of pots and pans for $70.00".  Near the end of the shelf, my friend spotted one that looked like his daughter might like it.  "How much is that one there?", he asked.  "Well, that's Divorced-Barbie and it’s a special set that we sell for $300", came the reply.  "How come that one’s $300, when all the others are around $50 to $70!?".   Demurely, the clerk shrugged her answer, "It's a special set, Divorced-Barbie comes complete with Ken's Car, Ken's House, Ken's Business and all of Ken's other stuff!!"

This past Sunday afternoon, I had a chance to sit down with a few of my buddies who range in age from their early 30’s to their late 50’s.   Some are well on their way to ascending the corporate ladder, while a few others are thinking seriously about retirement. 

We were watching the Buffalo Bills prove to the rest of the world just how wise they were to dump a quarterback like Doug Flutie in favor of the human-pylon named Rob Johnson.  Now with Johnson playing, here’s a team who dumps a bucket of Gatorade over the head-coach whenever they manage to get a first down!  The Bills souvenir shop has a sign out front that say, "We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express and abandon hope all ye who enter here!"

Anyway, our conversation somehow turned to the subject of retirement.  One friend said he planned to stop getting speeding tickets in Connecticut, and start getting speeding tickets in Nevada.  He added that if he couldn’t perfect his dice-setting and rhythmic-rolling by the time he retired, then his money-making plans included either biding his time 'til he’s 90; and then attempting to marry Anna Nicole Smith.  If that didn’t work, he would try out for, and lead the Buffalo Bills to a string of last-place finishes, or go around helping Ed McMahon deliver those giant checks.   Another one of the “retirement in the next-decade” guys said that he would try to get a job as Caddy for O.J. Simpson, and then take his old Spiderman suit out of mothballs; do his damndest to catch the real killer.   Obviously, we had consumed WAY too many beers to play craps that night!

A lot of people have looked at the game of craps, and concluded that there is no way you can make money from it.  People usually reach a conclusion at the place where they got tired of thinking. With Precision-Shooting, this game can be VERY profitable.  I think it’s most difficult to convince those craps-players who have been gambling for the longest time, simply because they are locked into playing a certain way.  Even when they see it happening, most assign it to the “dumb-luck” category.  In one way, I’m glad that most of them think that way, because that is precisely how most box-men, Pit Bosses, and other casino pit personnel look at it too.

In my The World Is NOT Flat ..& You Can Bet On THAT! article, I talked about how up until the late ‘50’s, people said that no human could run the mile faster than the four-minute barrier.   Oh, they had all kinds of interesting theories that ranged from limited lung-capacity to wind-resistance to “God’s will”.  They were great reasons why it couldn’t be done, but when Rodger Bannister broke that time-barrier, WHY did so many other runners quickly follow suit?  

It took almost 40 years for Mark McGuire to beat Babe Ruth’s home-run hitting record.  Most people thought Babe’s record could NEVER be beaten.  If that is the case, why is it that some one else…Barry Bonds…, came along so quickly and set a NEW record this year?  In the months following Bannister’s triumph, no less than 18 runners  BEAT his record.  Do you think that they suddenly SHORTENED the one-mile distance?  NO, simply, people SAW that it COULD be done, and then they went out with the belief that they too could do it.  In the off-season, when Barry Bonds is learning the names of his fellow team-mates, perhaps he’ll try shooting craps.   I just hope no one tells him the “fact” that it’s an unbeatable game. 

If you don’t believe that Precision-Shooting will improve your dice-playing, then I have to wonder just what you are doing here.  If unconditional love is what you're looking for, buy a dog and pet it.

If, on the other hand you do think that carefully setting, gripping, releasing, and targeting the dice will provide some benefit, then read on.

I mention all of this because there is a cost to trying new methods in a casino.  Even if you practice at home, there is a point when you will eventually have to try it out in a real-life gaming palace.  Hopefully by the time you get there, your worst rolling experiences will be left behind on your practice layout at home.  However, that does not guarantee instant an irreversible success and bankable-profit.

When a lot of people see me shoot, they say it looks SO easy.   Like virtually everything else, it does look easy when it is done well.  When they try to replicate it during their turn with the dice, it sometimes works and sometimes it’s dismal.  It’s NOT as easy as it looks, but by adopting your own comfortable grip and shooting style, it should make it a LOT easier.

In developing your Precision-Shooting skills, you will ALWAYS run into some bad sessions.  I still have them, too.  Thankfully they are a LOT LESS frequent than they were even four or five years ago.  In developing and trying-out a new throwing method, there is some inherent risk.  Before I even set foot into a casino several weeks ago, I knew that my rolling average would drop.

My Sevens-to-Roll-Ratio using my normal Pincer-Grip from short distances is currently about 28 to 1.  The MP’s Long-Ranger started out in the 8-1 range and progressed to 12-1 before I even thought about returning to the casino after 9-11-01.  My first five days of real-life play on the LV Strip showed an SRR of 13.7:1.   A further five days of play in Downtown LV saw it improve to 17.4:1.  Another six days of play in North Las Vegas, Laughlin and Mesquite saw an increase of 18.25 rolls between “7-Out’s”. 

I considered that a decent level of improvement.  However, not everything was wine, roses and heart-stopping profit.   There were a few sessions where I just couldn’t get into a groove, and my bankroll showed the cost of trying something new.

Let me interject a clarification about this grip.  Arrange the dice in the correct set on the table.  When you are about to pick them, use the lowest joint-crease on your two middle fingers to grip the forward edge of the dice.  This gives you the proper length “rolling-ramp” on your finger tips.  The crease in your fingers, acts to “anchor” the forward-leading edge of the dice with just the right amount of “angle” for the proper release.  This give the dice a nice, steady launching and rolling platform from which to be lofted.  I’ve had four of my ”football-as-a religion” friends try it out BEFORE any beer was consumed, and they ALL had varying levels of success with it.  Obviously, that’s not a scientific survey, but I wanted a rough idea of how difficult it was for other people to pick up the concept.

Here’s MY results from using the MP’s Long-Ranger grip and release:

ü       I spent sixteen (16) days of actual in-casino play.

ü       I threw a total of 483 hands in those 16 days.

ü       I used the “$110 Inside/Regression” Method as set out in Part III

ü       My worst hand contained a total of just two (2) throws.

ü       I threw a total of 47 of those two-roll money-losing hands.

ü       Those 47 hands, plus a number of other non-paying Place-bet hands cost a loss of $9,400! 

ü       My longest hand contained a total of fifty (50) throws.

ü       My most profitable hand contained forty-one (41) rolls.

ü       My most profitable hand generated a profit of  $1,470.

I will readily admit that those losses offset a lot of the winning hands that I had.  There were some occasions when I was actually in a negative-bankroll position for quite a while.  It took a fair bit of solid play to make a comeback, and a couple of times, just as I was back to my starting bankroll, I hit a quick 7-Out loss again. 

As my comfort with this new dice-grip increased, so did my shooting confidence.  As the SRR improved, so did the profit picture.  I ended with a substantial profit that was big enough to convince me that L-O-N-G Tables really do present profit po$$ibilitie$.

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

By: The Mad Professor