Great post. I have tried because I get relaxed and am calmer when talking to a friendly dealer but have not had any successful rolls when doing so. I try to stay somewhere in between so that I am loose but focused. Not sure if it was Doc but I remember a post regarding focus by picking out something to look at while the payouts are happening and someone else mentioned not looking up from the table. I use both depending on what is going on and have found it best for me. I personally need to not get engaged with table talk, eves drop on weird or stupid table conversations and do best when talking to myself in my head, coaching and cheering myself on. And if I get angry at someone for doing something stupid at the table I might as well call everything off.

If you can get it to work for you it is probably a good thing. And if you can I would certainly like to know more about what and how you are doing. I think sometimes you can get too serious-not necessarily focused, tense up some or get a little shaky and don’t realize it but it impacts your throw and you see the outcome.

Good rolling to you,

RichardM

Both good posts. We find that "focus" can be all over the place. Usually we am looking at a spot on the table or at the dice in the middle to determine what we need to do to set the dice quickly. We am not interacting with someone at the table to a great deal.

However there are times that we have to interact with someone at the table. It simply can’t be helped as they won’t shut up or are as loud as hell–probably drunk as well. It may be someone on the pit crew or it may be a player. We simply have to make that interaction as little and quick as possible which is what you were probably doing.

Do you practice refocusing at home? Keep the TV on during a ball game on Sunday–as we write this there is always a Winter Olympic event in progress. For example, watch a contestant skiing down a slope and watch him or her complete the run. After the run take your attention away from the TV and refocus on the craps practice at hand. We do this from time to time. Refocusing is a skill that can be learned, if not always perfectly. After an interruption we always take a little longer setting the dice (2 or 3 seconds at most ), take a deep breath, let it out, and throw. If you get lucky for a couple of throws and the ugly 7 does not appear you are probably good to go.

Believe it or not, at home when Doc is practicing and Rose walks in the room and asked some question or makes a statement, Doc actually likes this as it helps him work on getting his focus back. I used to get upset in practice and in the casino but now Doc doesn’t get as upset because he has worked on this skill at home. Give this a shot

Yes this dice control think is a lot in the head.

Alligator Rose and Doc

PS–the only thing Doc can’t get Rose to do is—dress in some sexy outfit, tap me on the shoulder and ask if he wants something to drink. Sadly such is life!!!!!

Sevenout:

Was this incidence at the beginning of your trip?

I will often talk to the dealers when I am shooting. I think I wrote about this before. I even talk to them while I am setting and gripping the dice. But once I turn to look at my spot all conversation stops. I focus completely on where I am trying to throw the dice. At that point, I am able to quiet my mind and turn everything off so that I only focus on my target and my toss.

I find it helps me because it is too quiet if I am not talking and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me while I am setting, gripping the dice and getting ready to toss. That can be more distracting to me than my talking in between shots with the dealers.

But then there are days when I do not want any conversation. On those days I will either focus on the dice while they are in the center, deciding how I am going to turn them to set them once they are passed to me. Alternatively I will find a spot on the table, usually the place 6 or place 8 area, and focus on that until the dice are passed to me.

Pit Boss

Middle of the trip. Day 2 of 4 play days. No playing on travel days, or if I do, I’m just there to gamble.

There are two people that are the best at talking to the dealers while they set and grip …. Skinny, and Billy the Kid. I am just amazed at them when they shoot how they can do this.

Myself, I don’t talk to anyone except for myself. 😀 I am saying to myself exact numbers that I want to throw or I might sing a song.

Dominator

The best person that i have seen, is my buddy B-Man, he can BS with the best of them, seems to know every dealer, and most pit bosses in town. As for my self, I enjoy the banter and chit chat with dealers untill I get the dice, then it’s time to focus.
Kurt

LOL Dom,

You just reminded me of when I had my 70 roll (a personal best) of the conversations I had during that roll. There was a new player on my end of the table with whom I had been chatting earlier. She did not want to shoot and I talked her into rolling. Unfortunately it was a short roll and then I got the dice. We were still chatting and as the roll progressed she said, "See, I should have passed the dice to you instead of shooting". Then she noticed I was doing a combination of come bets and place bets. She wanted to know what the come bets were. I knew that could become a complicated conversation so I told her to ask the dealer to explain. Her questions started to get to me so I quit talking to her but I kept on talking to the dealer.

One dealer on my side was a bit slow and I did not want the stick to run her over by passing me the dice too quickly. In addition, I had run out of room in my racks so I was exchanging smaller denomination chips for larger ones as she was giving me a pay off. Say you are collecting $70 for a place bet. I put down 6 nickel chips and say please give me a black for $30. This would reduce the chips in my rack and make room for future payoffs. I kept the banter going so it would not look like she was taking too long to make the pay outs.

I was shooting from SR1, Sandtrap was at SL1 and The Goddess was at SL2. I don’t remember if Raging Baritone was at SR2 or not. Anyhow, Sandtrap was having the same problem I had with too many smaller denomination chips. At one point he stacked up a bunch of nickel chips for his PL and Odds wager. They were not in my way at all but when I looked over there the first time it looked like the Tower of Babel. Charlie said he realized after he did it, they might be a distraction. But he was in a quandary. He was afraid to switch them because he thought that could cause more confusion so he did not know what to do. That was somewhere around the 40 or 50 roll. It had no impact on me at all. Later we had a good laugh over it.

My point is things are going to happen at the table. You need to train yourself to ignore anything that might disturb you. I find it easier to create my own distractions by talking with the dealers and sometimes the players. That does not work for everyone but it actually helps me to not get upset with disturbances that occur naturally.

A huge percentage of the game is between the ears and you can never count on what distractions may show up. So I plan for them to arrive and mentally make the best of it by telling myself that the cigarette doesn’t smell that bad and thankfully it’s not a cigar or the ones with real horse shit in them. Or players rattling chips in their hand now just gives me the image of making money. Or the people calling out numbers for me to throw for them, I just tell myself they must really have confidence in me and that I am rolling well. Cigarette smoke, chip rattling and other player calling out numbers used to drive me crazy but not any more as I have made the decision not to let them and that I am in control.
When players throw chips or money on the table as I am about to roll I typically pause, think about times in the past when I did such stupid things and overlook it, clear my throat, maybe even ask the dealer if he of she would prefer I wait a minute as they straighten out the bets, then I finish my roll. Getting pissed off at any of the typical distractions is the kiss of death for a good roll as far as I am concerned so I don’t allow myself to.
Once I have the dice I do not engage in table talk and try my best not to make eye contact with anyone. I look at the pass line area see the word Focus spelled out and talk to myself about the inside numbers and hard ways numbers. I even do a little coaching based on what I have seen the dice do on the last roll. These techniques have made a big difference for me and improved my concentration and attitude at the table.

RichardM,

You could come to Colorado. There is no smoking in any casino. One distraction gone. The biggest distraction for me is the guy who "yells" the point number just before you are about to release the dice. I am courteous but firm and speak directly to him. Most turn red and shut up, many times a dirty look works also. I am usually playing with others that know me at the casinos I frequent and often they will help out by speaking to the offender. Sometimes takes an effort to re-focus before throwing again.

OMC

Colorado’s tables are great on Sunday mornings.
You can pick tables with no one else, or go to casino’s that are loaded.
I personally like a empty or 2 person table.
After a drive to the mountains, it takes a while to get acclimated to the altitude and to get settled down to the atmosphere, not alone the noise.

Gene