The Dice Institute

What is the Great American Crapshoot, GAC for short? It is a lot of fun, a lot of work, a lot of tossing the dice, and a lot of talking about craps. The instructors, on the Friday prior to the unofficial gathering on Friday night, held three (of them) to one training – tune-up sessions. I got to meet Irishsetter, and Maddog for the first time. These two guys are “Heavy Weights” in our little community. Then there is also Heavy himself, whose personality and common sense is a large part of our little world.

Just being with 20 something people with a like-minded goal is a great feeling. The great chitchat and banter between us made the trip worthwhile. Did we get our butts kicked at the tables? Yes we did. Did we have some unbelievable hands at the tables? Yes we did. Several times I was to double my buy-in. Think about that for a second. Did I walk away shaking my head – wondering what went wrong? Yes I did. Remember I am about 6 months into my journey. My money management skills were severally lacking, and my toss was just in its infancy.

This is now to be an annual event, and I will be in attendance for some time to come.

I met Charlie009 there (an administrator of this board), at this event and we have had other trips together in LV and are planning one as I type this article. I am living proof that Signature Number does not exist. Charlie009 is living proof that they do. When he tells you his number (I’m not gonna reveal it) BET IT!

From one of my post:

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…….some sessions can be fun. On one of these sessions Charlie009 kept sticking his head around the Stickman and asking, “What took you so long?” after each point I made. I made 3 points in 10 tosses …….

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At the tables, a little fun can be had.

In the “No 7s Competition”, in the finals it came down to Wildchild, Maddog and myself. I was up first and with one toss IrishSetter “well we now know who is gonna finish 3rd.” Maddog was to become the first instructor to ever win the “No 7s competition.”

Wildchild being the character that he is started (even before the GAC) saying “SAVE A HORSE.” To which someone would reply “RIDE A COWBOY.” This was to be heard many times over the next few days.

The following is my actual Trip Report from this event: The terminology and abbreviations are explained at the end of the report. Please note that I am retired from the USAF and I wrote the report as if it was a battlefield report – This is in no way intended to make light of the actions our troops in the field and around the world.

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Battle Damage Assessment

The Air portion of the assault terminated at 12:15

Mobility ops commenced at 1300 hours.

Arrival at billeting was uneventful. Quarters are sparse. Chow, Cot, Hygiene Facility, and White Noise Machine – just the bare bone basics. (A water softener would be nice hard water is ruff on the hair and skin!).

Recon of TI showed a target rich environment. Recon went well, so “minor” operation followed, in prep for full-scale ops. Minor skirmish was also most a total disaster. Ops started out really well. The enemy’s units were captured by total surprise and the enemy had to resort to their one time use of MAD (or so I thought – but I was to learn all is not fair in war). After clearing the field of battle of these unorthodox tactics the battle resumed but the surprise was lost and retreat was ordered and the casualties were counted. It wasn’t pretty.

Meeting with “Writer” is set for 1800 hours. The meeting went off with only minor hitches. Writer gear had been misplaced but it was recovered. At this late hour it was time for “C” rations.

Again the decision was made for late night Recon ops. With Writer taking the lead, we sought out the enemy units and no serious damage on either side was noted.

Friday Ops: Two SITREPS. First contact was a little bloody and a retreat was need for Marverick and myself. Writer is of hardy stock and continued the battle alone. We rejoined the campaign later and caught the enemy off guard and prisoners were taken.
TSOMM decided on personally interrogating the prisoners. They were never heard from again. (Someone should call the Geneva Convention!)

I was off for some Field Evaluation. I thought the training went well but I’m sure the instruction were sure this rookie would be a sure fire casualty before the next sunrise.

A few more minor skirmishes that night again nothing major. – but with each conflict casualties were sustained.

Saturday morning: Caught the enemy totally off guard. Within minutes the prisoner units were be gathered in great numbers. Writer was to join the battle about 15 minutes late and would later comment “that (^*#!* cup of coffee cost me 300 buck!”

Field note: This was to be my best solo performance of this trip. In 40 minutes had two hands and I was able to double buy-in. I was at the table mainly by myself until Writer made his appearance.

On to the Saturday morning scheduled event - tuning up the troops. It was a long hard day, and El Jefe warned us not to engage the enemy in our current state. We were advised to rest for the events schedule for Sunday.

Saturday Night Massacre! Massive losses were taken due to fatigue and the battle plan not being followed. Twice “Major” ops were put in motion with disastrous results

Sunday Morning: Object – Paris. El Jefe had set the battle plan the following day. And Ops were to commence at 0800 hours. It was to be a two-pronged attack. We will have to call this battle a draw one prong made good advance and the other was soon in retreat. I was to suffer an injury dodging the attack of the “Red Head” and was given a “Battle Field Citation.” Before we departed this field of battle we brought out our “BIG” gun El Jefe himself. He took up the call to battle and lobed salvo after salvo from long range. The enemy wasn’t able to sub-stain such losses and had to call for them numbers to be replenished. (“It’s a beautiful thang.”)

This was to be the end of official activities, but the troops had the smell of blood and wanted more. So quick plan was drawn for target “R.”

Several of us now seasoned campaigners met at the TI and against Writer’s advice we left a very lucrative field of battle to join the main force at “R.” When we arrived the battle was already engaged, and we were held in reserve. Soon we were redeployed to our previous positions but the enemies were ready for our every move and we were forced to withdraw, and lick our wounds.

Monday I met up with Maverick and we found Writer at his best location in his favorite position. Soon Maverick’s best position opened up and he went in and I was able to take 2nd position.

Field note: As noted in my other posts – when at a table I lose awareness of what is going on around me especially when the dice are in my hand. Before I knew it there were a total of 6 + 1 (you figure it out) DI’ers at this table.

As this battle proceeded – again the enemy felt the need to replenish the field troop, as our numbers of captured prisoners grew. This was a great battle and the enemy was not prepared for this on-slaught. A great victory was had.

I see the need in acquiring the long-range weaponry. In my current arsenal there isn’t any long-range weapons. And I may not always be able to get close enough to fully engage the enemy.

Tuesday’s Ops. Operations were not scheduled to commence until 1200 hour at object “C”. But minor ops were held at TI and this time they were ready and again we retreated licking our wounds.

Object “C”. I commenced ops at 1100 hours in a solo op. It was not pretty and when other friendlies arrived in the area, the blood letting continued. I was to beat an early retreat. Others will have to report on the final outcome.

I was to try one more solo attack again. The Gods of War had turned their backs on me and it was time for me to retire to friendlier territories.

I met with the enemy’s rep to work out the final details and a very nice disarmament agreement was settled on.

The next morning all hostilities are over and stopped by to pay my Toll. The enemy does not play fair. They had deployed MAD time and time again. What I thought was a break-even battle turned to a minor disaster. I vowed my revenge and will rest up and re-engage in about 65 days.

Double Trouble, Greenchip, Harleyhorn, Crimsom Tide, Wildchild, PAB, Ahhcraps, Bermuda, Lineoff, Big Mac, Butch, Travelier, Dicast, Charlie009, Grits, Greens, Heavy, Irishsetter, Maddog, Roadrunner, Dj_Swim and RuffNRoudy ----- I await the call to battle. (If I forgot anyone please forgive me, I’m very tired.)

Air evacuation commenced at 0910 hours and terminated at 1345 hours.

B = Bally’s
Battle Field Citation = Golden Arm Champion
C = Cannery
C rations = Steak House at the TI
Chow = Room Service
Cot = King Bed
El Jefe = Heavy
Enemy’s Rep = Host
Field Evaluation = 2 on 1 training
Hygiene Facility = Bath Room - No Jacuzzi!
MAD = Mother of All Distractions (see TSOMM)
Major = up to 120 per box number
Maverick = RuffNRoudy (not a part of this official operation)
Minor = no more than 30 per bet box number
P = Paris
R = Red Rock
Recon = Qualifying (minimum betting)
TI = Treasure Island
Toll = Hotel Bill
TSOMM = The Spender Of My Money
White Noise Machine = TV
Writer = Charlie009

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The above report is just one post of over 200 made on and about the GAC. As you can tell I decided to put a little military spin on my report. There are many ways to write a trip report. I try to be a little creative – sometimes. Some of our members can’t get to a table all of that often, so I try and make my reports “interesting” for the readers. As there were several reports written on the GAC I took a slightly different approach. Lately I had decided to make my reports, when possible, very “toss” detailed. After all, the toss (and results) are what the bottom line is all about. And what is the bottom line all about? It’s the bottom line.

The highlight of the trip was winning the Golden Arms Championship. The competition is held at an actual casino with real money on the line. What happens is we all gathered at a table and who ever had the most tosses won the Golden Arms Championship. What happens is that we are all at a table and all of your newfound friends are putting their money on you (the shooter). I had a 25-toss hand – just think about the pressure. Side note here: Heavy, being an instructor was not part of this competition. This was a good thing for me as he had a 30+ hand, while shooting out of position. Again think about the pressure here, he had all of the students and the other instructor at this event. Some of us like being in the kitchen and some of us like being the cook.

The GAC was a very serious event in my journey in attempting to influence the dice. I had a good showing of myself, but I knew that I really hadn’t been giving it my all. I want to be one of the best. After watching so many accomplished shooters, I vowed to really concentrate my efforts on my practice. Our practice routines may vary, but it is not hard to tell how much time and effort that each and every DI’er puts forth. Practice is a common subject in many threads, as it should be. We, on average, probably toss 100 times more in practice than we do on an actual table.

Next up - it’s time to focus on practice at little.