Friday

Did OK until the table filled up and became disruptive. One player in particular saw me throw a hardway and started placing them and hopping them every throw, really late, just when I was getting ready to toss. He was losing, as I was throwing 5/3 and 4/2 combos instead of hardways but he wouldn’t stop calling for hardways. My initial spread was $10 passline, $10 odds, and $12 6&8 each. Left with a four dollar profit after about 30 mins of play. This was early afternoon.

Found a $5 table and felt grooved in from the get-go. Left die seemed to be doing whatever it wanted and often showed a 1, but that worked just fine—1/5 and 1/3 are paying combos. Started to lose my focus when someone at SL2 began to hop numbers and throw in late bets… at a casino that doesn’t have hop bets. I drowned out that disruption as much as I could, as my bets were getting pressed up and the throw looked good. Point of 4, max odds, 6&8 pressed to $60, just ready to toss when… “HOP the hard ten!!!!” was shouted from SL2, right into my ear. The player was told, maybe for the 10th time, that hop bets would not be booked. I took a deep breath and tossed a 7-out right away, with the precision of a sniper. Grrrrr!!

Changed tables in order to flee from Mr. Disruptive Hop Bets. He followed me and stood at the end of the table, right at the end of my target zone. The dice went around the table and I bet on random rollers, a little afraid to miss out on any big rolls. Well, I lost most of my bets and the big roll never came. Mr. Disruptive Hop Bets, standing at table end, kept making eye contact with me but stopped trying to hop anything. At SL2, there was a quiet older gentleman putting lots of action on the horn bet and the any 7 bet, and always pressing the first hit.

The dice came to me. My eyes darted to Mr. Disruptive Hop Bets, then to the dice, but before I could set and grip, the Older Gentleman placed a $50 any 7, and a $100 horn. I grip and toss a 5/3. Dice are back, I look at them, Older Gentleman places his horn and any 7 bet, then I grip and toss. This became a reassuring routine and somehow calmed me down. I toss a few numbers, make a point, and continue shooting. The next point took an entire stick change to make, and all the while Mr. Disruptive Hop Bets did nothing to disrupt my throw; he just made eye contact and collected his wins, and the Older Gentleman’s late bets somehow helped me focus. The point is made. I’m elated and Older Gentleman gives me a high-five. I see that in addition to his horn and any 7, he is now come betting and covering the hardways.

His hardways are soon bumped to about $150. I’m not betting the hardways and ain’t keeping track of them, but between that and the come bets, Older Gentleman is doing very well. We’re now high-fiving discreetly and softly after every throw, and a few times he took to rubbing my left shoulder—surprisingly, that didn’t disrupt me, it felt reassuring.

The stick changes, I look up and see two suits watching me, then a third one joins them and all three are now watching intently. I am told to hit the back wall with both dice even though that’s what I’ve been doing the whole time. Older Gentleman rubs my left shoulder, I focus and toss a hard 10. He gets paid, high-fives me and the roll continues. I do notice that he’s the only player with bets above $500 on the layout; the second highest bet isn’t even at $300. My own bets are $25–5, $60–6, $5–9, and $5–8 with max odds. It’s been two stick changes but a slow going and not a lot of points. I never made the point of 8, throwing instead a bunch of 5s (up a unit with each hit) and a few 9s. Well, that was enough to more than double my buy-in and make fast friends at the table. Had one last short roll at this casino, breaking even on that roll. Left to go eat. It was close to 5 pm by then.

This part is for the gluttons like me: I had a comped seafood dinner, consisting of lobster, crab cake, shrimp, mashed potatoes and asparagus, and a tequila/agave nectar/lime/club soda cocktail (a large one, ehehehe).

It’s now close to 8 pm and I’m at a different casino, all fed and relaxed and happy. I have a tremendous start and in no time I’m close to doubling my buy-in. Then a losing hand comes, then I bet on random rollers and lose. I actually started out with some restraint, but then someone would roll a 6 or 8 and I would lose control, feel like I was missing out and bet on them. Now it’s close to 11 pm and I’ve lost all my profit for that session. I’m frustrated with myself, impatient, crestfallen and wishing I hadn’t bet on the RRs.

I stick to the grind and wait, averaging a $90 win per hand, and recover half of my profits. A super friendly Asian girl noticed that I wasn’t betting on anyone else but myself. I hoped she would do the same but she continued with her aggressive 2 units on every place bet, 1 unit on the field, and lost on everyone else but me, so much so that she begged me to stay when I colored out. But fatigue was setting in and that cemented my decision to leave. Ended the day with a 49% profit over my buy-in and returned home.

Thursday

On a $5 table, started out a bit rough. My dice have a lot of energy in them and I’m not hitting my bets. After a few turns around the table, the dice are mine and I focus with a come-out 7, then a Yo, then a point of 4. My spread was $6 6&8, $5 passline and single odds. Proceeded to toss the 6/4 three times in a row, the 5/1 four times in a row, then the point. The box critter tells me to hit the wall, even though that’s what I was doing, excess energy included!!! Little shit can’t even look me in the eyes when he said that. The dealers were piggy-backed on my 6&8 and the stickman said to me, reassuringly, "You’re alright, you’re doing fine."
I was still unnerved and now my dice had even more energy, but I was hitting my numbers. Doubled my buy-in and locked that in before continuing to play. That was the most consistent I was all day, never going up or down for the rest of the day, and avoiding RRs like the plague. If you care to know, I lunched on lobster tail, grilled steak, roasted potatoes, and drank malbec wine. Watched a show in the evening and then just walked around, neither taking the dice nor betting on anyone. Discipline, y’all!

Wednesday
OMG, so happy to be back in AC! Checked in then hit the tables. A few familiar faces, we acknowledge one another, and it’s play, play, play! I visit two casinos but can’t get SL1 in either of them so I settle at SR1 and proceed to have fun. Betting on RRs, I am mostly losing. I do OK throwing from SR1, I keep afloat and I feel like someone is going to have a nice roll before I retire to bed. Didn’t happen. In just two hours, I was back in my room, having lost an entire buy-in. 😐

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