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Ask the Mad Professor
Part 19
(read part I
here or Part 2
here or Part 3
here or
here for part 4 for
here for part5 or
here for part 6 or
here for part 7
or here for part 8 or
here for part 9 or
here for part 10 or
here for part 11 or
here for part 12 or
here for part 14
or here for part 15 or
here for part 16 or
here for part 17 or
here for part 18)
Q: |
Laughlin
Tables and Food
I'm going to Laughlin, and staying at the River Palms. I will
take your advice and play at the Colorado Belle and Edgewater, along with the Pioneer
Club. Any other suggestions on which tables
to play? Also where are the best gourmet and
casual eats in Laughlin?
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A: |
As I mentioned in Part One
and Part Two of my Laughlin Table Report articles, I really like the tables at Golden
Nugget-Laughlin, but the Pit-guys can get a bit cantankerous and grouchy if they think you
are taking TOO MUCH of THEIR money. A couple of them seem to take it personally
when you win too much. |
The
Pioneer Club has gotten somewhat win-intolerant due to a number of skilled players who
have taken a bit more than their fair share of profit off of what it obviously a very
sweet-rolling table. If you hold your
win-limit to just under $300/session, and you dont play more than one session/shift;
then there shouldnt be any undue heat from the PC Pit.
In
addition to the three other sets of tables that were mentioned above, I also have a strong
preference for the ones at Flamingo-Laughlin. Although their tables may appear to
be bouncy; in fact just slowing the dice down to their ABSOLUTE minimum energy (just
enough to get them to the backwall), will release a surprising number of on-axis results. The crew also responds well to the few tokes that
they receive by bending over backwards to assist your Precision-Shooting efforts in any
way that they legally can.
Im
still loving the Colorado Belle for their tables, but not their food and especially
not for their rooms, on an ever-increasing basis. It
just seems that I can groove into their tables almost instantly, and then stay in that
shooting-groove for extended periods of time. So
far theyve been very win-tolerant, especially in the evenings.
Likewise,
the Ramada Express continues to amaze me with the way I can almost assuredly get at least
one good mega-hand per session, although the grousing and grumbling from the waiting-to-die
players is a constant negative-vibe consideration, if that sort of thing affects your
game. Right now, I restrict my playing here
to just one relatively short session per day.
As
far as gourmet restaurants are concerned, I like the Lobster Bar at Tarzans (Golden
Nugget), The Range Steakhouse at Harrah's, and Don Laughlin's Gourmet Room at the
Riverside.
For
the best-bet in casual dining, I like:
Ø
Alta
Villa at the Flamingo for Italian. The quality is good, and the service and pricing is
good as well. Comps are fairly easy for the
$22 Inside type of player, and you can easily get an unreserved mid-week table
that overlooks the Colorado River.
Ø
Baja
Blue at Harrahs would be my first choice for Tex-Mex, and you can make a meal out of
the appetizers alone. Staff is good, but they should be a little more attentive about not
letting your food get a tan while sitting under the heating lamps.
Ø
The
Boiler Room at the Colorado Belle has some great microbrews that go perfectly with their
wood-oven pizza. Id tell you about the
rest of their menu, but frankly ever since Ive been going there for all these years,
Ive only had their pizza and a couple of their apps. That should give you a pretty good indication how
good it is (as far as edible pizza West of the Mississippi River is concerned).
Ø
The
Hickory Pit at the Edgewater is not overly pricey for the quality of food that you get.
Good staff and a decent enough ambiance make this a good, quiet mid-week retreat. On the
weekends, it tends to get quite crowded.
Ø
The
Prime Rib Room at the Riverside has traditional food, traditional service and traditional
pricing from the late '70's. If you can get a comp to this place, you'll be VERY happy
with the outcome. However, on Sunday evenings
this place is packed.
There are no good Chinese or Asian restaurants in Laughlin, and
believe me when I tell you that I have looked HARD. The Rice Bowl and Panda Express
are poor choices, even on their best days. There
are two more places across the bridge in Bullhead City (on Hwy. 95), that are equally
forgettable.
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Q: |
Pressing
Your Bets After a Regression
I
have just finished re-reading your entire The When,
Where, Why, What and How of Signature Numbers series, and I got even more out of
it this time around than I did the first time I read it. I am still a bit confused about
the use of Steep Regressions. I set the Passline-Point and then put $25 or $30 on each of
the Inside Numbers, or on my Top-3 Signature Numbers. Okay, so far so good.
I
back up my PL-Point with enough Odds to equal my normal initial Place-bet (pre-regression
level) if my PL-Point is also one of my Top 3 S-Ns.
Okay, Im still on board in understanding everything at this point.
After
I have one winning-hit on any of my Place-bets, I regress them down to one-unit each. I realize that Ive now got a locked in
profit, especially if I reduce my PL-Point Odds down to 1x.
So far, so good.
Now
heres my problem:
As
the hand continues, I frequently manage to press my Place-bets back up to 2 or 3 units
before my PL-Point finally repeats. When the
next PL-Point is determined, do I leave my Place-bets as is and continue on with Pressing
them, or do I start over with the five unit initial bet ($30 on the 6 and 8, and $25 on
the 5 and 9) and do a Steep Regression again?
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A: |
It
really comes down to YOU, your comfort level, and your tolerance for risk.
For me, I would keep them at the pressed-up level after the new
(second PL-Point) Come-out. How I "get used to" the new betting-levels,
is to keep them there (instead of further pressing, I call that a bet-plateau)
for a couple more hits. By that time, I am no longer thinking "Gee, that's a lot
of money I have wagered out there", instead I start thinking, "Gee, I'm
getting some good paying hits at this level, maybe I should start pressing it up again". |
The
problem is if you are thinking too much about the money, then you AREN'T thinking ENOUGH
about your next throw. That slight shift in thinking is often enough to blow your next
toss into a 7-out loss.
I
cover the whole "betting comfort-zone" idea in my "How
to Get THERE From HERE" series of articles.
Again, it's a matter of getting comfortable and locking in a profit along the way. As you
plateau your winnings, you will develop a newly "desensitized"
(detached/disconnected) feeling towards the amount of money you still have on the layout
(after your initial Regression), because of the amount of money you already have locked up
in your rack.
Q: |
New
Gaming Channel
MP,
during one of the Monthly on-line Chats you mentioned that they might be starting up a
dedicated gaming channel somewhere. Can you
share any more details?
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A: |
With
the hyper-specialization of niche television (PetTV, Game Show Network, Aquarium
Channel, Cartoon Network
I think theres probably even a Toenail
Clipping Network out there somewhere), it was only a matter of time before a 24-hour
gaming channel hit the airwaves.
In fact, there is
already one gaming channel on the air right now, and a couple more that will be beamed to
you VERY soon. |
On the air right
now is the United Kingdom based Casino TV.
You can pull them in on the AsiaSat 3S satellite (or one of its
re-bounce transponders). That channel is
mostly dedicated to on-line gambling (well, on-satellite gambling if you will).
It is bankrolled by
Stanley Ho of Macau casino fame. Hes
the guy who owns the eight casinos and Jai Lai frontons (Lisboa, Macau Palace, Kam Peck,
Kingsway, etc.) in the former Portuguese colony off the south coast of China (where Steve
Wynn and Shelly Adelson are currently building their own Asian versions of Wynn-LV and
Venetian, respectively). Along with that, he
owns another five casinos in Cotai and Taipa; so hes well financed as far as backing
a fairly ambitious broadcast undertaking is concerned.
I mention all of
that because it means that he has a built-in sponsorship/advertising base, so this
single-channels longevity looks pretty good. His
on-line gambling uses actual live dealers that deal out real cards to you on your
TV screen (unlike a computer-generated deck of cards in online gambling). Right now however, the non-gaming portion of the
programming content on Casino TV is a bit on the light side
well, in truth
its on the EXTREMELY light side, with short-segment 3, 5 and 10-minute
infomercial/TV magazine (Entertainment Tonight) type of shows, along with a ton of
instructional How-to-Play demonstrations.
The
Casino
and Gaming Television Network
is currently in pre-launch mode as they
sign up digital cable providers in North America and secure a dedicated satellite channel. With shows such as their poker-expert based "Winning
Hand" and their "Dusk 'Til Dawn" night-spots tour of Las Vegas,
Atlantic City, Bahamas, Sun City, Monte Carlo, and Baden-Baden, etc., the content appears
to be of a much higher quality than Casino TV.
Id probably put it on par with STAR-TV or the E!
network.
EdgeTV, to be launched
early in 2005, will be the first 24-hour network
dedicated
exclusively to casino-gaming. It is
bankrolled by the new owners of LVs Bourbon Street Casino-Hotel (Reagan Silber,
Keith Richman and Charles Katz
each one of their fathers is fairly well-known within
the banking and real-estate development communities), and theyre in the middle of
signing up some major casino sponsorship. Like
CasinoTV, they have a ton of pre-commitment ad-contracts from popular on-line
internet-gaming sites like goldenpalacecasino.com.
Currently, EdgeTV
is headquartered in Beverly Hills, but it appears that before its early 2005 on-air
launch, it will have a production and broadcast operation right inside a major Las Vegas
casino. Word has it that the Golden Nugget,
The Palms, Mandalay Bay, The Hard Rock, TI (the resort formerly known as Treasure Island),
LV Hilton, MGM Grand, and Green Valley Ranch are on the short-list. Of course, that seems like a pretty LONG
list to me, but
more details to follow.
Q: |
Toking
to Buy Latitude
Does
toking the table-crew get you additional latitude for your Precision-Shooting?
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A: |
If
you are an unknown player to them, you have to build up their "tolerance level"
by priming the pump with a few tokes (and maybe a couple of jokes) before you even get the
dice. However, you can't have the attitude that the tokes are "buying" their
favor. That makes them feel like whores, and when is it ever in your best interest to make
a whore actually feel like one? |
Instead,
you have to do it on a friendly "we're-all-in-this-together-so-let's-make-some-money-together"
approach. Once they see tokes consistently coming their way, they'll be as accommodating
as they can be. However, if there is an anal-retentive I want to see the dice
rebound at least five feet off the backwall Pit Boss hovering nearby; then they
may have to rein in their enthusiasm a bit.
Likewise,
if theyve just been chewed out by the Table-Game Supervisor because they didnt
properly wash their hands during the last stick-change (the process
where they lightly clap once, then spread their finger and turn over their hands to show
they havent palmed any chips); theyll likely be in a pissy mood,
and start to over-enforce the game rules. Its
nothing personal..its just human nature.
If you are looking for a greater in-depth view of the role that
tokes can play in your Precision-Shooting toolbox; youll want to have a look at my Tipping: Is
There Two Sets of Rules article.
Q: |
At-Home
Practice
MP,
can you explain to me how practicing at home can replicate casino conditions. To my way of thinking, it makes no sense to do
that if the table you practice on isnt exactly like the table that you gamble on.
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A: |
For YEARS I thought the same way as you do about practicing
at home. I figured that at-home sessions
could never come close to replicating real-world casino play, so I perfected my game
in-house. Now THAT has got to be the
world's most expensive dicesetting course EVER! |
I
can freely admit that that way of thinking was just plain dumb and uninformed on my part.
When
I'm in the casino, that is the LAST place I should be experimenting with grip,
motion and toss alterations to my throwing mechanics or with hereinbefore untried
set-permutations.
It
took me a long time (and a TON of money) to realize that I could hone my skill at home
and develop new methods and techniques on even rudimentary, non-regulation surfaces. Without money at risk, I was better able to test
the boundaries of what I THOUGHT would be the best way to throw versus some
counter-intuitive experimentation which ended up bringing some really innovative and
PROFITABLE improvements to my game.
If
youre ever wondering how I come up with so many innovative ways to keep the dice
on-axis, and hitting on the four primary-faces that I initially set them on; the answer is
that Ive been able to perfect my game on a Practice Rig, and then transfer those
ground-breaking skills to the real-world tables where I turn that talent into real-world
profit.
Nowadays,
I do very little "tweaking" of my actual throw while I am in the casino. Yes, I still adapt my throw to the characteristics
of each table, but if the dice aren't doing what I want them to do after making minor
adjustments; then I cut the session short and take my toss back to "the lab" for
further analysis. It's a lot cheaper than
staying at the tables and trying to correct it; plus it's a lot less frustrating in that I
don't have to wait for the dice to cycle back around the table for yet another opportunity
to make even more bad throws.
Q |
Casino
Marker Discounts
Hey Mad Professor, I had to tell you about something pretty funny
about one of your articles. When I first read
your Casino
Credit Update Part Four article about a year ago, I thought it was a good
idea, but I had no need for casino credit at the time, so I put it out of my mind.
About
four months ago, I opened my first Line of Credit and have used it quite a bit since. In following your advice from Profit Skimming 101,
I have been able to color out what looks like a loss even when I have good
wins, and when I have a small loss, it looks like a BIG one thanks to your ideas.
The
real reason that Im writing is to thank you for that Casino Marker-Discount idea
that you talked about in your CCU-P4 article. Now
that Ive increased my betting and increased my apparent losses,
Ive been able to negotiate fairly substantial discounts on my casino-credit markers. This alone has increased my profitability by
another 4% to 5%. Obviously I dont need to tell you what this has done to the
quality and frequency of Comp offers and the monthly cash vouchers I receive in the mail
from them now. Thank you very much. So can you tell me if you have any further Casino
Credit Update articles planned?
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A: |
Its
gratifying to hear that many players have been able to use some of my profit-generating
methods for their own benefit.
As
I mentioned in that above-noted article, the Marker-Discount method is best applied with
players who meet the minimum credit-use threshold of at least $5,000 or $10,000
during their stay. Below that point,
its rather difficult for the casino to justify giving you a discount. On the other hand, the lower the casino is on the
credit-granting ladder (Bellagio, Venetian, Caesars, and Mandalay is on the top rung;
while Sahara, Plaza, Tropicana, and Fremont
are nearer the bottom rung, but still
offer good-to-excellent playing conditions, as well as a much lower threshold in granting
Casino-Credit Marker Discounts) the more willing they are in offering a discount on your
apparent losses that you have to pay back.
Ill
also add that you have to skim your profit or increase your visual rack losses
in a subtle way. You have to do it gradually,
without looking like a paranoid junior G-man undercover spy.
The
freshly milled Casino Credit Update Part Five article is ready to go, but
frankly there are literally scores of other, more mission-critical Precision-Shooting
articles that I would rather give posting-priority to. |
Q: |
No
Call Bets
Though
I see the words No Call Bets stenciled onto the craps table layout, I never
knew what it meant until I read your Tipping:
Is There Two Sets of Rules
article.
Last
time I was at the Claridge Hotel in AC, the female box lady was upset because a
loud-mouthed punk had made a $300 Call-bet on the Dont Come, and a 7 rolled. Then
his partner said, Dont pay them, you didnt have your money out.
Punk No. 1 obeyed and didnt pay, then they were ordered to leave, but he came back
by himself to the SAME table a little while later, and security was called. As security
was leading him away the upset box lady, said to the dealers, Unless I know the
person, then no more Call-bets. Can you
explain the whole No Call Bet thing a little more?
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A: |
The
rule on "No Call Bets" is to avoid bets being made by players who either
don't have the money (at all), or who don't have the money (chips or cash) out on the
rail.
I'll
give you an example of a Call Bet CATASTROPHE (from the casinos point of view):
A
player is about to throw the dice. A new guy
walks up to the table as he is reaching into his pocket for money, he loudly calls out,
"Twenty-Two Inside".
Out
of automatic reflex, the closest dealer says, "You've got a bet, twenty-two Inside". At that moment, the stickman calls out, "Five". Mr. New Guy pulls out exactly $2200, and
throws it down on the felt.
The boxman looks at the wad'o'cash, then looks at the new guy, then looks
at the dealer who booked the bet, then looks at the wad'o'cash again, then looks at the
new guy one more time and says (in a disgusted tone) to the now wide-eyed dealer, "Set
it up, then pay it." |
The
new player happily collects his payout, calls off all of his wagers, and orders the dealer
to take down all of his bets. Quite
nonchalantly Mr. New Guy goes to the cashiers cage to cash out his $700 INSTANT profit,
and then he is off to make the EXACT same CALL BET at the next casino down the
line.
Oh,
in case you haven't figured it out yet; if the dice roll resulted in a non-Inside Number
outcome (especially a 7-Out), then Mr. New Player would have pulled out his OTHER
much smaller pack of money containing exactly $22.00.
That's
a fairly strong argument for "No Call Bets", but I'll give you another.
In
the case that you witnessed, the guy who called the $300 bet probably didn't have the
money out on the rail, either in chips or in cash.
If
the money (in chips or cash) isn't "out" in plain sight, then the bet is
"unenforceable" by both the player and the casino. That means that the casino cannot legally collect
on the wager if it loses, and the player can't collect on that bet if it wins (if the
casino decides to be a prick about it).
In
most cases where the bet would have won, the aggrieved (winning) player puts up a huge and
loud stink, so the casino pays him anyway; but theyll certainly start enforcing the
"No Call Bet" rule a little more stringently
and that player may find
himself excluded or barred from the premises.
Let
me ask you this:
What
happens if the dealer books a players Call Bet of $1000 No-4. The player is rummaging through his pocket as a 4
rolls. The player says, "Oh, sorry I
don't have it on me". The casino just
"lost" $1050, so who should pay, and who is at fault? The player can argue that he thought he had the
money, but since he didnt, the bet couldnt legally be booked, so therefore he
shouldnt have to pay.
If
a 7 had rolled and the bet won, should the player be paid even though he can't produce the
$1050 that would enable the casino to legally convert cash to cheques (chips) and then set
it up so that it could be paid? Is he
entitled to the winnings on a bet that couldnt be booked in the first place? Thats the basis behind No Call Bets.
Obviously,
there is a lot of leeway that the casino will extend to its customers, especially ones who
are known and highly-regarded (this is where toking comes into play). On the other hand, a "shot taker"
like the guy that you mentioned, will usually be unceremoniously kicked out of the
premises.
However,
if a player has enough money in his rack to book a particular bet even if he can't get it
out on the felt-layout in time; then the casino will usually allow him to "Call"
any bet up to the table-maximum, or at least to a maximum of what he appears to have
available in his rack.
That
type of "Call Bet" is permitted in most, if not all gaming jurisdictions in
North America, Europe, Australia and the more sophisticated joints in South Africa. In that case, the bet was legally made because the
dealer verbally confirmed the bet, and the player clearly has the necessary amount of
money available in his rail to cover the wager. So
the bet will be paid if it wins, and is also legally collectable by the
casino if it loses (and yes, it can be FORCEABLY collected by security personnel if
necessary).
In
some casinos in the Mediterranean (especially Turkey, Greece, and Crete), the Middle East
(especially Israel, Egypt and Lebanon), South America (especially in Argentina, Peru and
Ecuador) and in North Africa (especially Tunisia, Algeria and much further south in Kenya)
plus the resort-town casinos along the Adriatic coast; your bets have to be on the
table and fully set-up in their proper place on the
layout before the next roll, otherwise its a no bet
situation.
As
an added layer of game-protection, late-betting (making any bet after
the dice are sent out from the center area of the table to the shooter) is not
tolerated in most of the foreign places I just mentioned, and will often lead to having
them tell you to leave the premises
immediately
with just one prior
warning. Its very telling, when a
tourist throws in a late-bet at those casinos, the first thing the heavily-accented boxmen
usually says is, Your American arent you!
Q: |
Shift
Changes
I
read in your Creating
More Shooting Opportunities article that we should look at dealer shift-changes as
a way to find newly opened, but still empty tables. When
do most casinos change shifts?
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A: |
Normally
the shifts are:
Ø
10
am until 6 pm (Day-shift or Days)
Ø
6
pm until 2 am (Swing, Evening or Night-shift)
Ø
2
am until 10 am (Graveyard or Sunrise)
Ø
Some
casinos do it on an 11 am to 7 pm, 7 pm to 3am, and 3 am to 11 am basis. While still
others prefer the 4:30 am til 12:30 pm, 12:30 pm til 8:30 pm, and 8:30 pm
til 4:30 am route.
If
you call ahead to the Dice Pit at your target casino, theyll be able to tell you
when their shift-change is, and what time you can expect to find newly opened additional
tables. |
Q: |
Bet-Progressions
During a Hot Hand
I was reading one of your Discussion Forum posts about the
dealer-turned-boxman, where he told you how to improve your profit by doing a strong
Press-progression on your Place-bet 9. You said you won quite a bit more money using his
approach than you would have made by betting with your normal way. Would you care to share
his method and whether or not you continue to use it?
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A: |
Yeah, that was white-haired Rocky who was sitting box on that game
when he used to work at the Frontier. I
remember that event as though it happened yesterday.
Ill tell you why I remember it so well in a moment. |
Instead
of the one-unit press on every other hit that I had been using up until then; Rocky told
me to:
Ø
Single
press on the first hit;
Ø
Then
double press on the next hit,
Ø
Then
triple press on the next hit after that,
Ø
Then
quadruple press on the fourth hit,
Ø
Then
do at least a five-unit ($25 or $30) press on EVERY hit after that.
It
was much more aggressive than I was used to at the time, but I've integrated it into my
betting-regimen now if I get on a hot roll. In
fact, youll find some additional details of how I currently Press and Plateau my
bets in the entire eight-part How to Get THERE From HERE series of articles.
The
reason I remember that event as though it happened yesterday, is because that was the
basis for the realization that I had been passing up all kinds of profit during my medium
to long-roll hands. From that point forward,
I began to get more and more aggressive as my rolls got longer and longer.
In
doing so, Ive been able to extract so much more profit from the same number of
comparable rolls, that I refuse to look back and consider just how much profit that I
missed out on grabbing from my previous Precision-Shooting skill over the years. Instead, Im satisfied that Ive
corrected my betting-methods so they more accurately reflect my current shooting skills.
And
frankly, with the amount of profit that my craps play is generating right now,
theres no need to look back and wonder about what might have been.
Q: |
Getting
Priority Service from Valet Parking
When we go to Vegas, we always valet park our car. If we go to a show or a boxing match or something,
we come out to a sea of people waiting for their car.
Weve waited up to 90 minutes with the other cattle in what has got to
be the most aggravating wait. What can I do
to get my car faster? Ive been tempted
to go and get the car myself, if I only knew where it was.
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A: |
Here is what you can do to avoid it:
Ø
When you drop your
car off in the first place, simply give the valet car-hop $5 and ask that your car be put
in the No Wait or VIP area.
Ø
If you have a gold
or platinum or diamond Players Card from that particular casino or from its
corporate-family, theyll often do this as a matter of course, with or without the
need to pre-tip.
Ø
By the same
standard, if there is a sign that says "Valet Parking Full", a $5 tip will
usually make Valet Parking "un-full"
quickly. Or you could tell them you that are just running
in to cash a sports-bet ticket, and theyll likely accommodate you.
Ø
If you come out to
a sea of people who are also retrieving their vehicle, and your car isnt in the
No Wait or VIP area; then you could wrap a $5-bill around your
valet receipt when you are handing it in, and tell them that if theres anyway they
could help you out (speed wise), it would be appreciated.
Ø
My preferred method
is to get to know the valet guys and girls on a first name basis, especially when you are
handing them a tip. That way, they remember
you (or your car, especially if it is an exotic, vintage or classic), but moreover,
theyll remember you because you are a frequent toker. Just like at the craps table, the frequent tipper
is almost always given priority attention and premium service.
Ø
If youve read
my seven-part Match-Play
Coupon Circuit series, youll know that the valet-parking personnel have
some unexpected connections that can come in handy for a variety of purposes. Well discuss that subject a little more in a
moment. |
Q: |
Reaching
Past the Stickmans area
I often wondered how
far into or past the center-of-the-table Prop-bet area you are allowed to reach for your
throw from SL-1 or SR-1 to be considered illegal. I
see this as an advantage in being able to release the dice as close to the far wall as
possible. How far can this reach be "pushed" and how often?
The reason I ask is
because last week I had two
different dealer-stickmen tell me I couldnt throw across them during my toss. I had never heard this before and it rattled me. I
7d-Out right after it happened. Do
other players run across this often? I was
the only player at the table toking the dealers.
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A: |
The reason you are
not supposed to extend your hand into or over the Prop-box is because of Game
Protection.
Ø
The stickman is
supposed to be watching the dice, NOT where you are putting your hand when you
throw the dice. The base-dealer on your
end of the table is supposed to be watching that, along with his end of the
table (not hawking the dice at the other end).
If you are putting
your shooting-hand in or near the stickmans work area, then you could possibly:
Ø
Steal a few chips
from the top of his "working stacks".
Those are the two or three piles of cheques that he uses to set up new bets and to
collect and store losing wagers.
Ø
Steal chips from
the Prop-area that have already been set up on the layout. As they throw and release the
dice, some social miscreants will swipe a few chips off of the stickmans Prop-bet
layout at the same time as they withdraw their hand.
Ø
"Past-post"
a bet in the Prop-box (AFTER you see the dice outcome), and thereby collect an
illegal win.
Ø
Some stickman just
feel the need to jealously guard and protect their "territory" from interlopers.
You
shouldnt take it personally (I dont), and if it throws you off your mental
focus; then its probably a good idea to call your bets Off, and regroup
your emotions. Its part of the rules of
the game, although it is haphazardly enforced. |
Q: |
Supreme
Compliment
MP, I mostly play in Tunica.
A few players have taken to following me around from table to table and even
casino to casino, so they can cash in on what hopefully turns out to be another good hand. A few of them even ask me when Im coming
back, or where and when Ill be playing next. Have
you ever had to deal with this sort of thing, and if so, how do you handle it?
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A: |
I
first wrote about the Pied-Piper phenomenon in my The Pied
Piper of the Pass-Line article. As
I said then, and as Ill tell you again now; when it happens, it really is a SUPREME
compliment in regard to your Precision-Shooting abilities.
On
the other hand, when you have to deal with a bunch of players who are giddy at the
prospect of yet another great hand courtesy of your good throwing; they naturally have a
hard time hiding their enthusiasm, so it does not follow the conservative precepts of
flying under the radar too well. |
The
last thing on their mind is the idea of making money virtually undetected. For them, the thought process is a lot simpler. They have found a golden goose and they want to
hear it quack loud and quack often, and they dont care if all the quacking draws a
lot of attention. They dont care
whether the golden goose gets killed AFTER a mega-roll, as long as it produces some
golden eggs for them RIGHT NOW!
The
whole pied-piper thing often gets infectious after awhile, and players who get charmed and
mesmerized by your consistency, will even get on their cell-phones to call spouses,
friends, associates and other loved ones, so they too can get in on the betting frenzy and
unbridled excitement. Suddenly your craps
table looks like the Frozen Pork Bellies trading pit at the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange
only not quite as genteel and reserved as the Merc. Hands full of cash are being waived about in vain
attempts to force open a space at the table; the cacophony of yelled bet-orders are only
drowned out by the roar of the collective crowd when yet another heavily-pressed Place-bet
or PL-Point is repeated
unbelievably
AGAIN!
Listen,
Im not complaining about people making money off of my rolls
far from it. However, these kind of hot-rolls draw an attention
all on their own even when a random-roller is tossing the cubes, but if the same old face
(yours or mine) is the one who constantly seems to be able to roll the mega-hands; then
theres an ever growing chance that theyll somehow
oh, I dont
know
associate the disappearance of their money with our faces.
Dont
underestimate the collective intelligence of some casino management. Okay, well dont underestimate it THAT
much
because sooner or later even Homer Simpson could clue in to what is
happening, and you might find yourself persona non grata (not welcome) at their
house.
As
ego-gratifying as a string of long, hot hands with a bunch of groupies and hangers-on
watching your every move and wildly cheering your every roll is great for your
self-esteem, you have to take a somewhat longer view beyond the rush you get from the
momentary adulation. As intoxicating as it
may be at the moment, and believe me, I know EXACTLY what its like; you also
have to keep the best interests of the entire Precision-Shooting community and dicesetting
fraternity in mind too.
What
separates the occasional good roll" player from the consistent,
money-making professional Precision-Shooter is the ability to make it look SO EASY without
making it look so OBVIOUS. I prefer to pass
my mega-rolls off (to them) as just an incredibly good run of luck, and try not to make my
entry or exit from the table look like the running of the bulls in Pamplona.
Q: |
Access
to High-End/Premium Nightclubs
How
do you get into exclusive places, high-end nightclubs, limited-access clubs or
(semi-)private parties that are booked way in advance or not open to the public? How do you dodge the lines at the premium ones?
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A: |
Ah,
thats an excellent question.
Well
I dont want to give you ALL of my social-activity secrets, but Ill
share a few.
Ø
Some
of the maitre d's for a number of the top Las Vegas restaurants are able to make the
appropriate arrangements at clubs, parties and exclusive events which are located in the
same hotel. The better you know the
maitre d (as either a frequent customer or a good tipper, or both), the better your
chances are of him being able to do for you.
Ø
Likewise,
your hotel-concierge is very astute at making such arrangements for an even wider variety
of exclusive places
thats what they do
thats their job
and that
is why they are paid (and TIPPED) so well. Money
lubricates the social-machinery in any town, and it is even more so in Vegas.
Ø
Another
thought regarding using hotel-concierges for your partying needs, is that the better
hotels tend to have the best concierges with the best contacts; which means they are more
likely to be able to satisfy your requirements for events outside of their
home venue.
Ø
Your
Casino-Host has the best line on most of the things that are happening in-house, so
that is the first place I would start, but if you arent successful, it certainly
isnt the last place Id stop. Do a
lateral move to the Shift-Manager or the General Manager of the casino for your next step. The more highly they regard you as a player; the
more likely theyll be able to accommodate your request.
Ø
Sometimes
a Pit Boss or Casino Shift-Manager can get you VIP'd (at no charge and no tip) to even the
most elite clubs and exclusive events. This
is an especially cheap and effective way to get into the private and semi-private parties
for the entertainment (music and film) industry.
Ø
If
you are willing to pay the "bottle charge" which consists of a few hundred
dollars spent on booze for your group, then that sometimes puts you right into the VIP
area of some clubs all on its own. Youll
find that especially true for clubs at Caesars, Bellagio, Venetian, Mandalay (excluding
House of Blues-Foundation Room), Rio, and The Palms.
Ø
Casino
hosts are an excellent source at one end of the food-chain while valet-parking guys and
limo drivers are an excellent source from the other end.
Your casino host is, or at least should be incredibly well-connected to the
entire entertainment side of the casino equation just because that is part of their
job-description; while the valet and limo guys are more into the trading of sold-out
tickets and VIP passes purely for the Im a player monetary/ego
gain.
Ø
Security
guys are another great source (especially the old line, high-ranking guys) because of
their peer contacts with other similar-type short hair/big shoe guys all over town. For example, if you know the head of security at
lets say the HardRock Hotel-Casino, hell not only be able to set you up with a
line-pass, or VIP access to the H/Rs own venues and parties; but hell usually
be able to do the same thing for similar functions across town at equally exclusive
events. The same thing goes (on a much
smaller scale) for the club-doormen who are looking for ego-acknowledgement (and a little
jui$e) in order to maintain their erection.
Ø
A
number of clubs around town have what they call Service Workers Night,
where casino-hotel employees from any resort, get in for free. Youll often meet people there from a variety
of other high-end venues, which comes in handy when you run into them again at their own
joint. Thats all Im prepared to
say about that particular angle.
Ø
There
are also a number of internet-sites that sell VIP and/or priority line-passes to some
clubs, but Im not entirely familiar with any of them, so I cant make a
specific recommendation. |
Q: |
Hey
Mad Pro, Im not convinced all of these great Precision-Shooting ideas, concepts, and
inspired theories that youve come up with, arent actually the collective work
of some kind of dicesetting group that hasnt yet been revealed to the world. I dont mean to take away from what
youve written, but I just think that there has got to be a dozen or more guys who
assemble all of this incredible stuff and post it under the same MP name and banner,
because in my mind, no one person could possibly know as much as you do.
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A: |
Ill
let Georg Hegel respond to your comment. No,
Mr. Hegel isnt part of some secret, none more secret, oh so secret sect of
dicesetting geniuses. Rather, he was a 17th
century German philosopher, whose quote seems especially appropriate right now.
No
man is a hero to his valet. This is not
because the hero is not a hero, but simply because the valet is a valet. |
Well
folks, the mailbag is a little lighter now, so lets return to the Practice Rig to
reinforce our strong Precision-Shooting skills and re-fortify the fragile ones.
Until
next time,
Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables
and in
Life.
The Mad
Professor
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