Extending your play at the tables can be achieved by being prepared in advance.
Recently I was asked how I manage to keep my head above water while spending so much time at the boats. It got me to thinking about how we were successful when most of the players around us were losing. When losing, we seem to lose less than those around us.
Then there is the question of why we lose less, when everybody else is drowning. To survive in this game you have to be prepared to make changes in midstream. Your preparation before hand plays a big part in being successful more often than not.
In this New Year, 2008, we have been to the boat four times. We have come out ahead twice and lost twice but our bottom line is on the plus side.
Being successful in Craps doesn’t mean you just won more than you lost. It depends on how you played the game. Are you prepared for this sport? Have you been working out? Are you prepared to make quick changes and react to the ever changing hot and cold tables? Preparation is the key. Just like all the other sports, you have to practice to gain the skills needed to help you be the last man standing at the table.
You have to learn to rely on your own skills as a shooter and be prepared to back off everybody else. Be alert for other players that show skills like your own, but give them time to prove themselves. No matter how skilled you become, you are not going to win every time you step up to the table.
When and if you become an advantage player, be careful of all your friends who are going to want to go to the casino and do what you do. My daughter is one of them. She started out using the pincer grip. Her last visit to Vegas I noticed she was using a two finger grip and setting the V-3. I asked her why she changed. She said I read your book.
Even my own father-in-law remarked that if he ever goes to a casino, he would only bet when I had the dice. I told him he probably would lose. It seems every time I am at the table with my daughter, I can’t hit the broadside of the back wall.
Getting back to the longevity thing at the table, Laser and I have a few simple rules we follow. We will never play out of position. We consider SR and SL-1 and 2 are acceptable. We don’t play beyond our stop loss. We will try and defuse any consternation at the table. We watch the reaction of each others toss. When clubsodakenny is with us, he counts the tosses. We try to keep our crew at three and watch each other’s back. We prefer $10 tables and old felt layouts. We practice. We also take into consideration the compatibility of the table crew and suits.
We know our weaknesses and know when to pull in our horns or in my case, when to back off the C&E’s and get off the randy’s. In Laser’s case, he would back off the hard six’s and twelve.
I often bring up Laser’s name because he is a student of the game and the best student I have had the privilege of working with and now playing with. I worked with him for two months before we set foot on a boat casino. We did quite well for two guys learning and practicing on a pool table. Now we have been going first class and practicing on Clubsodakenny’s twelve foot regulation table.
Table longevity can be achieved by being well prepared. You must have a game plan and be prepared to go to plan “B”, depending on game conditions. The theme in my first and second book was “Wait and Fire.” That holds true to this day, “Wait and Fire.” “Wait.” until the numbers are running and then “Fire.” Good hunting………and keep it simple.
Charlie009
