Try a small amount of lavendar oil under the nose. It helped me when I first started shooting.
Clark

I recently made a slight adjustment to my toss and I get the shakes rather noticeably particularly at one casino. I just take a breath and the shaking stops just as I start the backswing. I have been getting very good results despite the shaking. It will go away pretty soon. I don’t understand why it has come back. Maybe that I am now winning?

OMC

Try Frank’s meditation DVD. It really helps.

Goddess

First, glad we finally got your subscription to work Wall 😀

This is something that everyone goes through. Frank’s DVD is great. You might also try something yourself. Get into your calm place before each shot by doing this …. for three straight weeks, 3 to 5 X’s a day, visualize something that puts a smile on your face, (just makes you feel good). This could be a great beach that you and your wife or girlfriend were at and the view was magnificent. Or a home run that you hit as a kid that everyone loved you for it. And while you think of this place grab your watch band, or put a rubber band on your wrist and snap it, or twirl your ring ….

Doing something as you visualize will bring you to that place every time you do it and that is what you are trying to do when you practice this for three weeks.

Dominator

The Goddess is right – th CD is great. Also everything Dom said is true.
I think we all had times when we were nervous when starting out. I know there were with me. Just the fact that you now are an advantage player really changes how you look at and play the game. The more you play, the easier it gets and the less you think about what you are doing. Eventually it all becomes normal and commonplace.

Nervousness – this too shall pass.

Jerry

Lots of great suggestions.

I’ll add limiting your caffeine intake before play and while at the tables.

Consider decaf coffee, water or soft drinks without caffeine.

😎 😎 😎

Find a table and crew that don’t give a darn about you and your throw. I have a couple places and times of the day that I will head to play, love the crew and all they ask is that I hit the back wall. And they just ask, no snide comments or trying to get under your skin.
I have found that this type of friendly environment helps me start out in a calm manner, just like playing with a table of friends. Nice when they are actually cheering for you!
From there, I move on to less-friendly environs with more confidence.
Good luck in your future rolls!

All great comments here. I’d like to add, but I think everyone is spot on with this. It’s great to see our folks, instructors and students alike with the same thought processes helping each other. This is what it’s all about.

Wall, it is a mind game like Dom said. Game on both sides of the table as well as in the head. Just like good practice makes great play in many sports, the mind gets overlooked with this same approach. Previsualization of the game, the toss, the grip is all paramount to getting a good zone. Once you’ve played it enought in your head, your marbles will not think anything about doing the real thing. You just might find your nerves will go the wayside. I think Timmer mentioned caffine and other stimulants should be a No No before going to the tables to wage hard earned money. That would be the Advantage Play here.

My two cents….

SectionEight

TheWall:

I struggled with the shakes in the beginning and it is all about controlling your adrenaline flow. I also had the same nervousness just before an air show knowing thousands of people were watching every move during our 15 to 20 min routines. My formation team would constantly tell me to relax, breathe, and settle down. It took me a year to settle down flying 18-24" from my fellow team mates.

Meditation books and tapes did not work for me. I changed my diet and removed all sugar and caffeinated drinks. Giving up coffee was a huge struggle. I started taking B12 and B Complex vitamins which has a calming effect on the body. Omega 3 fish oils also are good for the soul.

Control your breathing at the tables. I found out that larger exhales worked rather than inhales. Work on this during your practice sessions and your shakes will eventually disappear.

Good luck.

I’ve talked to "the wall" before but this is real! Experience and time though will ultimately bring this under control. Right now even though you’re two years in doing this there’s still all the mind stuff going on. It’s there so acknowledge it, say "hi" and let it pass. Focus on what you do in practicing at home and this bump in the road will have a declining effect. It takes time but feeling calm and relaxed at the dice table will come and you’ll realize that "all eyes" are NOT upon you. It’s a learning and growing experience that we’ve all gone through. You’re performance anxiety esp. in front of the casino staff and other players makes you feel "out there" but the real focus is on the game not you. So at least try to have fun and enjoy playing. 😎 😎

Its weird how people look at you when you throw the dice.
Like the stick person that follows your throw moving her head from 1 foot from left to 1 foot to right . I am thinking that her neck must be killing her when she gets home.
Or the pit guy that just stares at the dice to see how I set them.
Then the pit guy that just before you throw he yells out that you need to hit the back wall before he even sees you throw.

On my last trip to the casinos I started telling the dealers that were I play craps you can NEVER miss the back wall or throw the dice off the table or hit a chip.They look at me with a strange look on their face and I tell them that there is no dealers at all to even talk too. It is a machine. But you can set the dice and throw them. It has been interesting to see their reaction.

Good Rolling. 😀 😀

Last Sept. in Atlantic City when I first started rolling my hand was tremoring so severely that the whole table saw it. I just said "wow I sure have the shakes" and just withstood it for the first 2 or 3 times with the dice and as I got more used to things it went away. It is caused by the brain putting you in "adrenergic stimulation", or fight or flight mode, and ordering your adrenal glands to secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenalin). In addition to the tremor, your heart rate increases, your blood pressure goes up, your pupils dilate (get wider) and essentially you have told your body to go into life or death emergecy mode. This state is not good for you for more than short periods of time as it taxes the body as a whole. Soldiers in a war zone live in a never ending adrenergic state until they can adapt and "get used to being close to being killed". If not they will wear out themselves. Try all the suggestions above. If the state cannot be controlled over time, there are very effective pharmacologic treatments, to only be used in collaboration with your doctor. The reason they should be avoided is to prevent your needing a drug to block the heightened adrenalin state. However, the drug propranalol 20mg (the lowest adult dose) with your physician’s supervision will work if you do not have high or low blood pressure, you have no heart problems, and are not taking other drugs that mix badly with it. It is called a "beta-adrenergic blocking agent" or simply "beta blocker" and its no. 1 off-label (unofficial) use is treatment of stage fright which is essentially what is happening at the craps table for you. You can read about propranalol by doing a wikipedia search on the drug (or its old tradename Inderal). Unlike dice controlling, pharmacology *is* my lifetime area of expertise. I have studied drugs since age 15. But I am not an M.D. and I would really try just adapting to the stress without any drug. Although propranalol is not a sedative or tranquilizer, it can cause drowsiness, will cause a slowing of your heart rate and a 12 hr. lowering of your blood pressure. Sometimes it also suppresses the conversion of short term into long term memories, and is being investigated to treat PTSD. No matter what you do, use no drugs without seeing and collaborating with your doctor, as self-judging medical status leads to improper conclusions.

I have experianced this same problem to the extent that I couldn’t hang onto the dice. After a fewe times with the dice it usually goes away. On a trip I will go outside and do some vedic breathing exercise.(deep breathing useing my diaphram. That and no cafine before a session.And like mentioned above I try to find my happy place.Good luck with it. just remember this to will pass.

Pabloxyz Hope you read this .
Good Rolling. 😀 😀

I brought 2 old posts .