|
The
Mad Professor's Shooting Bible In
Part Six
of this series we talked about aligning our grip in such a way that it would work with
the rest of our bigger power muscles, instead of in conflict against
them. Today, were going to take one
more step on our path to getting a more consistent on-axis toss, and a higher reliability
of primary-face outcomes. Feet,
Hips, Shoulders
Grip
Lets
say that you shoot right-handed from the SR-1 position (that is the first table position
to the immediate right-hand side of the stickman). Now
that we know WHERE you are standing, lets take a look at HOW you are
standing. Your
feet, hips, and shoulders have a HUGE and DIRECT bearing on how well your dice will stay
on-axis. Sure,
your arm, wrist and fingers have a lot of bearing on it too (and well return to that
subject quite shortly), but the whole on-axis thing STARTS in your feet (especially
how they are aligned in relation to the backwall). From
there, it works its way back up through your hips and shoulders. At that point, your arm, elbow, wrist, hand and
fingers carry out the signals that are being sent down from your brain. If
the foundation of your throw (your feet, legs, hips and shoulders) arent in proper
alignment; then the rest of your throw will probably be out of alignment and off-axis too. If
you want to make a nice consistent toss, then youll want to position your body in a
nice consistent and relaxed manner. That way,
your body (from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head) is working WITH
your toss, and not fighting AGAINST it. This
isnt rocket science; its just one of the basic elements that I use to achieve
a consistently repeatable on-axis, primary-face outcome.
Let
me put it another way. If
your major muscles (legs, chest and shoulder) are fighting AGAINST your fine muscles
(wrist, hand and fingers), I can tell you right now that the big guys (the major muscles)
will win or at least conspire against and screw up what you are trying to do to two
lightweight cubes of cellulose resin (the dice). For
reliable, repeatable and CONSISTENT dice-results, we want both muscle-groups (major/power
muscles and minor/fine-control muscles) to work IN HARMONY together, and not in conflict
AGAINST each other. Power
Throw vs. Finesse Throw
If
you need to throw an object with a lot of power or to a far away target; then you have to
position your body so you can exert maximum throwing force into it. In that instance, whether it be hurling baseballs
or whacking golf balls, a side stance works best. That is, our upper-body will rotate in the
direction of the throw, and our arm will cross in front of where our chest was
during the wind-up motion. In
baseball, we wind-up in preparation for the toss, then uncoil our body in a vigorous
twisting motion that imparts and transfers the most power to the object that we are about
to release. In that case, how we position our
feet, hips and shoulders at the beginning, middle and end of our motion will determine how
much power we transfer into the object being thrown.
We use our body/arm combination as a sophisticated slingshot which works
quite well in transferring maximum power and force to the baseball throw. Now,
lets take that to the other extreme. Take
two dice and toss them less than six inches from where you are standing or sitting now. It doesnt take much effort does it! Somewhere between the two extremes of hurling them
as FAR and as FAST as we can, and the simple effort of moving them a couple of inches, is
where a controlled and consistent Precision-Throw comes in. How
Far to Go, and How to Get There
On
most casino tables, we are throwing the dice to a target that is from five feet all the
way up to fifteen feet away. Though
we dont need maximum POWER for the dice to get there, we do want maximum CONTROL. For that reason, we set a firm foundation (feet,
legs, hips and torso); then we build in the fine-control (arm, wrist, hand and fingers)
from there. If
you align your major muscle groups to work in concert WITH your fine muscles; then
youll not only be doing what your body WANTS to do, but your on-axis results
will improve NATURALLY and dramatically because of it. Some
Settling May Occur During Shipping
Many
people who shoot from any of the Stick-Right (SR) positions, Set and Grip the dice while
their body is facing across the table. Their
belly is against the table-rail instead of their hip.
From the SR positions, that means that the dice are passing in front of and
across their chest during the release motion. A
left-handed SL player may encounter the same across-the-chest type of release as
their belly-to-the-bar counterparts on the SR-side of the stickman. In
either case, most people who shoot this way are often frustrated that their dice results
are less than consistent, and find that they are just as likely to throw off-axis as they
are in being able to keep the cubes on-axis (about 50% of the time). In
most cases, the cause can usually be traced to the fact that a side-twisting (off-axis)
motion is unintentionally (and unknowingly) imparted to the dice upon their release. As a result of this upper-body twisting motion;
not only arent the dice-faces square to the backwall, but they also are not square
(flat) to the tabletop. The across-the-belly
release imparts an uneven twisting torque that forces at least one dice to yaw (twist
sideways) off-axis as well. Most players
dont even realize that they are doing this, and they certainly dont realize
that the dice are not only leaving their hand un-square to the
backwall, and they are also leaving their hand while un-square to the
flat table surface. In both cases, the
results are rarely satisfactory for any sustainable number of throws. When
you add up all those twisting, off-axis torquing forces that are imparted to the dice upon
their release; its a wonder that they even manage to stay on axis the 44% of the
time that a random-roller accidentally manages to accomplish. In a lot of respects, an unbalanced throwing
motion can cause a worse-than-random result, whereby you have an even higher
expectation of 7ing-Out than a random-roller does.
YES there is such a thing, and that is also WHY you see so many perfect
on-axis 7-Outs as well. Yes
it is frustrating, so lets do something about it
A
Basic Truth
If
you are throwing the dice across your body, so that the dice pass from one
side of your body, across your chest or belly, to the other side of your body when you
release them; then you may be putting too much POWER into your toss, and not enough
FINESSE and control into it. At the same
time, you are probably imparting too much side-twisting energy on the dice which causes
them to yaw and land off-kilter. Sure,
you can TRY to reduce the power and energy of this type of release/throwing motion, but
your body just naturally WANTS to throw it harder when its in that position, and it
also wants to contribute a natural yawing motion at the same time. The more control that you have to INPUT to REDUCE
(hold back) the power of your throw, the LESS control you will have over the controlled
finesse that is needed for on-axis primary-face results. In
other words; the more you have to harness and restrain your power; the more difficulty you
will have in regulating fine-motor (muscle) control. If
you are constantly re-adjusting and inputting ever-changing amounts of fine-muscle control
in fighting AGAINST your major muscle groups, you will have LESS control over your minor,
small-muscle-groups. Your fine-motor skills
may LOOK smooth, but the results (dice outcomes) will actually be ragged,
haphazard, and dare I say, mostly RANDOM. Yes,
you will get everything to work in unison SOMETIMES, but NOT MOST times. The idea behind this series in general, and this
article in particular, is to get the good tosses and good outcomes happening MOST of
the time. Hip
vs. Belly
If
you stand at the table with your shooting-side hip next to the rail, instead of facing it
with your belly, its easier for your arm to get a proper dice-release alignment to
the backwall and to be properly positioned in relation to the flatness of the table
surface. That way, your actual release-motion
will be much smoother and squarer to both surfaces (backwall and tabletop). Regardless
of whether you are using a pendulum backswing or an off-the-table release, the idea is to
impart minimum power and maximum control. By
having your body squarely facing the backwall, you are less likely to impart any
unintentional, but barely noticeable side-twisting force (yaw) to the dice upon their
release. So
What Do I Do Now?
With
our body facing forward (towards
the far wall of your rig),
and the dice on the table, we are going to set and grip the dice as though we are going to
throw them at the boxman (as if there was one at our Practice Table). That is, we are going to set the dice in our
normal set up (side-by-side) in whatever set we normally choose (V-3, X-6, V-2, S-6, P-6
or whatever permutation you want). Again we
are NOT aligning the dice to the backwall, we are aligning them to FACE the boxman. Why? Well
as we discussed in my Shooting Bible Part Six,
thats the way our fingers and wrist WANTS to align them when our body is facing the
far wall. Remember, they are most relaxed
when the palm of our hand is facing our leg, and the back of our hand is facing the boxman
(from this SR-1 position). If
your Grip starts out comfortably and is correctly aligned on the dice; then they are
likely to stay that way, and release from your hand more naturally and more consistently
than if you are trying to do something that any number of your muscles are fighting
against. If you get your body parts to work
together; then the dice are also more likely to travel, land and stop together. Simply
stated, LESS muscle conflict means MORE dice control.
More CONTROL means more PROFIT. Keep
Your Hands Where I Can See Them
Now
that weve talked about what your shooting hand should be doing, lets discuss
what your free, non-shooting hand is supposed to do while all of this is going on. Does your free hand play any role in getting more
consistency out of your dice-tossing? Yes
it certainly does. Your
free hand can actually play an important role in the solidity of the foundation that you
have built by properly positioning your feet, legs, hips and torso. One of the best ways is to use your free hand to
brace and support your body-position against the rail as you shoot the dice. In a way, it can act like structural cross-brace
which brings more stability and sturdy control to your lower, mid and upper body. For
that reason, many accomplished shooters place their hand on the chip-rail to support and
stabilize their body during the throwing process. Ill
quickly add that some players like to rest their free hand on their outer (non-table) hip,
or hanging limply slightly behind their back. If
either of these positions helps you deliver an astonishingly high number of on-axis,
primary-face dice-outcomes, then I would suggest that you stick with it. However,
if you are less than satisfied with the results while your free hand is in either of those
two positions; then it is probably causing and imparting undue yaw into your dice-release. Again, the tendency of our body is that it wants
to give a slight off-axis twisting motion to the dice as we release them. The more we allow our upper-body to twist and
swivel during the release; the more well see off-axis yawing, popping, hopping and
scatter during the outcome. WHOA
There Pardner
The
first thing that anyone should learn when they are starting out as Precision-Shooters, is
to SLOW the dice down. When
I watched the A&E Network Take This Job
television show,
the first thing I noticed was how hard the dice were being thrown by Sharpshooter,
Scoblete and Dominator. Obviously then, I
wasnt at all surprised to see that they were having tremendous difficulty in keeping
the dice on-axis, let alone making any honest money off of their own rolls. You
can have the perfect grip, the perfect release, the perfect backspin and trajectory, and
hit the perfect target area; but if the force of your throw is too powerful; then most of
the time, the result will be a less than perfect outcome.
Heres
a simple equation: More Power = More Randomness Putting
It All Together
As
you can see, there are a lot of different aspects to keeping the dice on-axis
consistently. It takes a lot of practice and
fine-tuning to put it all together and keep it all together when you bring your skills to
the real-world casino tables. The
Set, the Grip, and the Release are the culmination of what it is we are trying to do. By imparting less off-axis upper-body twisting,
and less throwing-force energy into the dice; your results should start to show a higher
degree of on-axis control and primary-face consistency. Well
continue this discussion in Part VIII. Until
then, Good
Luck & Good Skill at the Tables
and in Life. Sincerely, The
Mad Professor
|
|