A few weeks ago Hard Nine contacted me and suggested we meet up and play in the Poconos. As I live fairly close I made a hotel reservation for Sunday night and Sunday morning Melanie and I made the 2 1/2 hour drive up to the casino. It was a nice drive up through the mountains and we arrived around 12:30. We didn’t check into the room but put our bags at the bell desk and went to the tables. When I got to the tables I found Hardnine and Big Daddy-Revs already settled in at SL1 and 2. I bought into a spot at the SL end of the table.
I was 5 or 8 counting everyone then placing the 6 and 8 for $12 each. Unfortunately it was one of those days that I didn’t get many hits on my bets before the shooter would seven out. When the dice came to me I gave it a shot as I was taught in the advanced class but I haven’t practiced this at home and my shot showed it. I was playing the TBS on a 12′ $10 table with 3x4x5x odds. Just when I got my 3 number spread (4,6,9) out there with max odds the seven came. So much for throwing from the end of the table. Soon after that Big daddy-revs indicated he was ready to move out of SL1 so we told the dealer what we were going to do and when there was a break in the action I moved to SL1 and he and Hard Nine moved over to make room for me at SL1.
At this point I stopped betting on the Random rollers. There was one player at SR1 who looked like he was self taught. He was using the Captain’s three finger grip but his dice weren’t looking good. So I placed the 6 and 8 on him after he made it through the 5 count but no hits lost the bets. Then I got the dice. There was a player at the SR end with her pass line and odds right where I wanted to land the dice. I can’t get up on my toes because of the brace on my left leg and since I am a short guy I couldn’t get out over the table to get a better angle. That hand was an 8 losing my 3 number spread again with no hits. The dice came around to me pretty fast about 15 min but when the dice got to SR1 I looked down at my chips and realized I didn’t have enough for my beginning spread. I purchased enough to be able to play my game.
While I was waiting for the dice I looked down the table to see that the player there was still blocking my desired landing area so I started considering my options.
If I throw to the left of her chips I am hitting the back wall on an angle and I can’t get out over the table any further than I am to reduce the angle. I can try and hit the area behind her bets. Or I can aim for the narrow slot to the right of her chips that has me flirting with the mixing bowl. A third option would be to throw a lower trajectory and hop the dice over her chips hopefully dying at the back wall. I went with the landing area behind the chips which was working but as the dice rolled out they were running into the chips. I was getting lucky with no seven but I was also occasionally hitting the back wall first which sent the dice all over the place , still getting lucky but I was seeing the 1 and 6 too much. So I tried for the slot to the right of the chips and that was working well till the left die nicked the pass line bet as it rolled out giving us a 5:2 seven out. That hand was a 24 and brought me back pretty close to even. A small loss for the trip but not any real damage to my 401G.
At lunch which cost me more than I lost at the table Mel and I decided to cancel our reservation for the night and drive home. One of the factors in that decision was that Hard Nine and Big Daddy-Revs were both done and going home.
All in all a nice trip with a very small loss. I did take some positives from the day. A nice drive through the Poconos, Two great guys to play with and being able to make some adjustments and come back from being down a big chunk. 😀

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