I know we’ve all noticed the increase in the number of players who set the dice, and we have also noticed how truly random most of their outcomes actually are.
On one hand, this is a good thing in terms of having all kinds of other players who set the dice, but don’t produce meaningfully de-randomized results; and so with all that ‘precisely-set, randomly-tossed radar clutter’, it’s much easier for our own successful dice-influencing efforts to avoid detection.
On the other hand, once those same players see how beautifully correlated some of our results are, they are much more likely to seek our at-the-table advice about what they are doing wrong with their own toss. Unfortunately, most of the talk about dice-influencing is often in clear earshot of the pit-dwellers.
This is where we, as skilled shooters, are sometimes of two minds.
Part of us wants to help anyone who understands what it is we are trying to do with the dice, and to share our hard-learned knowledge so that others won’t have to struggle with the entire process as much as we did. So it’s natural that we’d want to cheerfully answer their many questions about how to do it better.
However, a different part of us is loathe to discuss anything about what we are trying to do out of concern for our own D-I longevity, and to stay as much under the radar as possible. Though we might sympathize with their plight; discussing ways to maintain a higher axial consistency, or how to cure a horrid double-pitch problem while we are standing at the casino table, is the last place we should be openly discussing these sorts of things with our friends, let alone a complete stranger.
My response to at-the-table D-I enquiries is usually along the lines of, “I’ve seen other players do it, and even though setting the dice may not help my game, I figure it can’t hurt it any worse than any of the other superstitious mumbo-jumbo stuff that others often try”.
So instead of being caught up in the giddy enthusiasm to share everything we know about dice-influencing with whomever will listen; our in-casino sessions should instead be focused on our own shooting and our own betting...and that sort of discussion done AWAY from the tables.
Every once in a while though, you are going to run into a dicesetter who really has his dice-influencing act together, perhaps even as good as you do, and that is the kind of player you’ll want to watch very carefully.
~You can study the mechanics of his toss and look at the smoothness of his toss or the angle of his release-point.
~You can shift around to get a better view of the fluidity of his entire toss-motion from start to finish to follow-through.
~You can look at his initial touch down spot and his secondary landing area to see if it coincides with yours or to see if perhaps he's been able to adapt to that table a little better than you have.
~You can try to gauge the speed of his toss to compare it with how much energy your throw typically carries into the backwall, and you can carefully observe how tightly grouped his backwall rebounds and rollouts are.
~You can also take a critical look at how closely his bets are matched to his actual outcomes by paying special attention to how much betting-weight he puts on each of them and whether his presses and/or regresses advantageously mirror the results he is producing. Based on that, you may decide to re-adjust your own bets in order to better capitalize on his current hand.
You can do ALL of that, and perhaps integrate some of what you see into your own game, but when you are at the table, PLEASE don’t make a big deal about how great and talented his shooting is, or trumpet the fact that he is skilled in any way whatsoever.
A knowing glance or an approving nod between you and the shooter is really all it takes to acknowledge your shared objective of turning some of the casinos money into our own money.
By the way, if you happen to ask him if he is the Mad Professor; don’t be surprised if he says something along the lines of, “No, I just get lucky sometimes and I’ve seen other players setting the dice so I figure it can’t hurt, but um, thanks for the compliment”.
MP