CJ 029 | Session Report #21

Casino : Treasury Brisbane

$300 buy in

Half table – Right side
SR-3
4 players – all seasoned
3V equivalent set

Same guys as last week.

Took a small notepad with me today for first time to chart my performance. Once again no one said anything from players or staff. I just leave the notepad in full view on the chip rail.

Haven’t played in SR-3 before, and I don’t like it much. I don’t like having 2 players + stick in front of my trajectory. I found it much harder to focus on my landing zone.

The table was choppy to cold. The others were bleeding chips every hand.

Kept with SIA OHCM $10 DP and $6 six and eight, which kept me in front a bit. Also lay single odds on DP if point was 4 and 10.

Surprised today because the $10 DP routinely got taken by a come out seven. Even the others were scoffing at me when that happened, but I don’t care what other people think of my betting methods.

If my $10 DP got knocked off I would still go up on $6 six and eight, and do a $10 DC.

I found it amusing that after my longer throw the other players were trying to remember what numbers rolled and I didn’t have the heart to tell them the real counts, since I had it sitting right in front of me on my notepad.

Longest hand for me today was 13, but really need to get a hand in the 20’s so I can benefit from my press method.

Doing a $44 inside and press up method really is no good unless you can hit a number 5 times.

Here’s my hands

11, 6, 10, 6
6, 3, 8, 9, 7

10, 5, 8, 9, 6, 11, 5, 9, 9, 5, 9, 10
5, 9, 7

11, 5, 4, 6, 4, 3, 9, 7

5, 8, 5
6, 5, 10, 11, 7

Finally got 9 up to $50 and hit it. $10 goes to $15 goes to $25, same bet, next hit goes to $50, and take and press from there. So got a $70 hit. Felt really good.

But I was happy just to get moving on a hand to test it out.

None of my other hands paid off and I lost money.

So from a profit point of view, it’s actually better for me to do $66 inside (as Heavy suggested), 2 or 3 hits, and regress to $22 inside and then build up and out from there, so I’m actually making some money on as many of my hands as possible.

Otherwise I’m actually dropping $44 per hand + the unrealised profits I’m adding to the bets to get them up to 5 units before taking any profits out.

Took a longer lunch today and spent 2 hours at the table. Less time pressure was good and a real treat for me.

Had a bit of a chat with the dealers and it turns out that management are questioning having the craps table in the casino. The numbers apparently aren’t stacking up for them. I don’t believe it, as every Friday afternoon that I’m there they are pulling in stacks of cash from the regulars that don’t seem to be able to make anything happen. But the dealers were going on about the occasional $22K drop on the table when a few people win, and basically crying poor. What a croc of crap (pardon the pun). The real issue is that there isn’t enough new players. The dealers were talking about times when there are no players at all, and the management walk past an empty table and then blame the dealers and justify their position of closing the table.

Many times newbies come up to the table but they are made to not feel welcome to put their money down by the regular players. It’s up to the dealers to not let that happen. And I’ve noticed that the dealers have trouble enticing the new players to join in. If asked, they try to explain the whole game to the players, that then get confused and just walk away. I think they need to keep it super simple and sell the new players into the game with a $10 on Passline and get them into the game, and explain the rest later. This to me is a management problem where they need to look closer at the game, like I have seen over the last few months and they should be able to see where to fix it.

Craps is an expensive game to run compared to every other game in the joint. 3 staff minimum. It would be ashame for Brisbane greater metropolitan area (3.4 Million) to lose it’s only Craps table. I’m sure there is a solution and I hope it’s not to close down the Craps table.

Colour in $378 (+$78) in 2 hours

CJ 028 | Session Report #20

Casino : Treasury Brisbane

$300 buy in

Half table
SO-L
5 players all seasoned (I now consider myself in this category)
3V equivalent set

Bought in and I wasn’t settled yet and dice came straight to me, I passed. Looks of surprise on the other players faces. I should have shot straight away, as I didn’t get the dice for another 20 minutes and once again I’m on the clock, playing in my lunch break.

What was most different about this session is that I tracked my roles on paper not just with a chip count! Up until today I felt self conscious and embarrassed about it, because I have not seen anyone one else doing it. Granted I haven’t played a lot of craps over the years, and since I became a student of the game, I have logged only 18.15 hours table time so far.

I thought I’d make it look like I’m part of the crowd and grab a Baccarat tracking chart and pencil and just use that rather than bring out a little notepad.

Now that I’m no longer a charting virgin, I don’t feel bad about it all, no one paid me any attention about it, either from the players or the crew. It only took less than a second to write down a number after a decision on the dice, so I’ll now be tracking my rolls each and every time. I’ll even get a little note book for next week session.

Basically it was another chop session, with little in the way of break away rolls from anyone. In fact I had my worst session yet in terms of shooting. See card picture.

3 rolls, 7 rolls (made 1 point), and then PSO. So embarrassed by it, but learned a lot again.

Straight out is hard for me, as I have a right shoulder problem at the best of times, and find it hard to get the dice down the end together. I also fell down some stairs a few days ago and my back is now shot.

No excuse I should have therefore bet accordingly and went dark side across the board.

I used SIA one hit can’t miss, $10 DP and $6 six and eight on all other shooters which kept me level and ahead a bit. Then tanked badly on my own rolls.

Hmmm lots of lessons for me there. Nothing wrong with using the same strategy on myself until I warm up.

I was about to change strategy to $44 inside 2 hits and down on all players to get my chips back, looked at the clock and was at my time limit. Oh well.

Have to recoup my losses next week.

For those that are following my journey, here’s a summary of my sessions to date…

Buy In Colour Out Delta Percent
$ 4,850.00 $ 4,573.00 -$ 277.00 -6%

Coloured in $227 (-$73) in 1 hour and 30 minutes.

CJ 027 | Session Report #019 – My First Baccarat Game

Casino : Treasury Brisbane

$100 buy in
Mini baccarat

Found a computer terminal with a live dealer in front so I could watch them deal and reset the shoes. They deal 2 different games back to back. Must be boring for them with no interaction with the players.

First time playing baccarat, and it was very confusing as the dealer was not standing on hands that I thought he should stand on. And there was one hand I was sure player had won but he gave it banker and I lost my bet. I felt cheated.

But you can’t talk to the dealers with these electronic machines.

Treasury casino only has $25 min tables or $10 minimum computer terminals.

Speaking with my friendly craps dealers I’m getting to know. The casino is allowed a certain amount of pokie machines per fixed table game. Since they don’t have the space they put all these computer terminals in playing multi games (baccarat, roulette, sic bo) and each terminal is classified as a full table. Then they are allowed more pokies. Amazing way to get around legislation.

Anyway it was good to play a game sitting down. And test out some basic line bet strategies faster than at the craps table. Each hand happens every 45 seconds.

I have watched the full baccarat tables and even watching it is painful. These idiot players squeezing the cards and taking 1 minute to reveal the card they’ve been dealt. I just want to reach over and turn the damn thing over for them. What a joke.

Trying out a trend / anti trend strategy coupled with a win and loss progression and regression.

Got down to $25 then back up again, didn’t follow my strategy properly as I kept getting lost in my position in the strategy until I realised you could write stuff down and even use your phone at the terminals.

I like the speed of the game but dislike sitting alone tapping on a screen while at the casino without a dealer in front of you. Seems kind of wrong. Also I dislike that you have no connection to the outcome of the hand. Which is why I always have and will continue to love the game of craps over any other game that people can come up with. Maybe the skill based computer games that are now coming out in some USA casinos might sway my opinion on that if they ever get to Australia. But in my humble opinion craps is still the best.

Looking forward to road testing more baccarat plays.

Colour in $105 (+$5) in 1 hour

CJ 026 | Session Report #018

Casino : Treasury Brisbane

$300 buy in

Half table
SL1
1 to 2 other shooters

Got to the table just as they were opening. I have never seen this happen before. Lots of rituals and processes they have to go through. And paperwork! The pit boss brings out the keys to unlock the chips and a secure ziplock bag for the dice. Nice new purple ones today.

Quizzed him on why they can’t the give / sell me some of the old dice even after they have drilled a hole in them. He said they had to stop that since the old dice were ending up coming back onto the table. Crazy people that think they can swindle the casinos.

Took them what seemed like ages to open the table. But it was worth it. Chatted with the dealers getting to know then a bit more. Got SL1 and first shot of the dice.

Was setting a 3V equivalent and doing three finger over hand toss with fingers right at the top getting some serious backspin and landing right up near the back wall.

Unfortunately could not get past 3 rolls. Dice were splitting apart and rolling over in the air. I could see it happening like it was in slow motion.

The other shooters were no better, and they were not dice setters but were at least not totally random rollers shaking and tossing. They had a decent toss method.

I switched and started shooting dark. $10 with single odds. And got my money back.

Sure I lost the dice but with only 2 shooters not able to shoot I got the dice back quickly and I’d rather have the money.

I actually love shooting dark avoiding the seven on come out and then pushing for the seven. Must be my sadist nature coming out.

Since I had the dice so much I was able to try out lots of things. Really enjoyed this session.

If I shoot myself in the foot and knocked off my don’t pass I’d switch to pass line and go for it. With $10 PL and $22 or $44 inside. And press up to 5 units before same bet. Unfortunately as soon as I got to that stage on one number. I’d seven out.

Sometimes I did a $10 DP and then placed $6 six and eight no matter what the point was aka Shoot it All’s one hit can’t miss play and went for a transition to playing right side for the rest of my hand.

It was a negative table run that’s for sure.

The most I could get was 11 tosses. Bulk of them were 3 to 5 tosses. Just enough to suck you in. So just went with it as best I could.

Clawed my way back to just over even after some initial losses. Did that mostly by going $44 inside 2 hits for $28 return and down. Still think this is a solid play. $28 a shooter isn’t bad. 63.6% return on investment is wonderful. If only it worked every time…

Wanted to do a $66 inside on my own toss as Heavy suggested but after such a bad start I couldn’t risk it. Will try that next week.

So did a $10 PL and $44 inside on my last roll of the session and promptly PSO! Go figure should have stuck with dark side.

Colour in $253 (-$47) in 1 hr 30mns

CJ 025 | Session Report #017

Casino : Treasury Brisbane

$300 buy in
Half table
SL1
Just 2 other players

Didn’t bother reading the table today. Basically jumped straight in with $10 PL only to test and watch at the same time until my turn.

Toying with a line bet trend / anti trend method to use when I don’t have the dice.

One guy burned through his money and left which is ashame as I wanted to test this system out.

Anyway the remaining other player was the mad Russian I’ve spoken about previously. He loves a $5 C and $5 E on nearly every roll and when it hits goes to the horn.

After 2 roles of my own, PPSO and putting out $10 PL and $44 inside I was starting to get frustrated I could not get moving.

The mad Russian who is a total random roller was also PPSO and he was getting really upset.

I said to him and the dealers I’m switching over and shooting dark side. The stick man said Darth Maul shooter coming out. I thought that was nice.

The Russian said WTF are you doing. And after the roll ended quickly and he lost his bets and I won mine, shook his head, swore and said why would you do that.

I said I’d simply rather have the money than not.

Anyway tried to convince him to play dark with me and go with it. But he wouldn’t have it.

Got some money back twice with $10 DP and lay $20 odds on my own hand. Set for seven and got it quick.

I love quiet tables. So refreshing.

3 newbies came to the table and even the dealers were groaning. Fortunately they decided to not play.

Tried going dark side the 3rd time and shot myself in the foot so switched over on second point and just went with it and got some profit.

$10 PL and $22 inside – then press up 1 unit then up 3 units to get to 5 units before same bet.

Had a few roles of 10 throws and two roles of 16 throws. I just use my chips to count my throws.

Almost pulled myself back to even but once again ran out time.

The dice move quick with only 2 players so got my throws in. For lots of nice practice.

Couple more players joined the table and I announced last roll for me as I had to get back to work.

Not bad overall for a really choppy run.

But once again, as I analyse my playing and growing confidence with the dice. After a couple of hands to build confidence at the table and my spot. I’m beginning to see that if I go out hard for 2 hits and regress I’ll be much better off.

Something like $66 inside would work best.

I will try this bet method on myself next week.

Colour in $277 (-$23) in 1 hr 30 min

CJ 024 | Session Report #016

Happy new year everyone. I’ve had a couple of weeks break from casino visits during the holidays. But lots of practice in the mean time.

Casino : Treasury

$400 buy in

Half table
SO left side

This is the first time I had to wait to get on a table. I waited 30 mins of my very small 1.5 hr time slot on Friday afternoon before needing to go back to work.

I was thinking no one was going to leave but a couple of sucker hands cleaned out 2 spots.

I didn’t mind getting straight out. As I’ve been practicing for that. I really wanted to shoot but had 3 in front of me.

I fumbled trying to get my players card out and missed my buy in opportunity. I thought I’d do the right thing and not buy in until the dice were off.

Of course the mad Russian guy was back and he was on fire and I was missing out.

Oh well.

Had a big spender to my right dropping $100s everywhere. He actually new how to play and wasn’t pissing his money away. Saw him regress and also doing $500 DP twice (which he won on both times). He had a nice soft random toss and I did a $22 inside which I wish I could have taken a photo of his chips next to my 1 unit on the inside boxes. The whale and the minnow.

My turn finally and I’m at 1hr 15min mark. I could feel I was under the pump with 15 mins left on my casino window.

Set for hard ways today.

I surprised myself with hitting my landing zone first time. I was aiming for snake eyes on the don’t pass line. Even the stick man commented with “nice toss”.

Didn’t trust myself as the time pressure was getting to me.

Did a $10 PL and $22 inside. Hit 1 point on the 10. And slowly pressing.

Did press the 9 up 1 then up 3 with $1 to get to $25. I’m happy with that progression for now.

Had a 10 roll hand.

Guess what, 7’d out around 15 mins.

Classic lesson there. Self fulfilling prophecy.

Colour in $437 (+$37) in 1hr 30mins

CJ 023 | Session Report #015

Casino : Treasury

$300 buy in

SL1
Half table
2 players to start and went to 6

3 new players at the table really slowed things down. Bad bets, late bets and hands all over place interrupting the shooting.

Glad I was at SL1

Thinking back I was never like that. I only played dark side no odds, which made it easy for me to not get into trouble.

Had 3 ok rolls today.

2 regulars had good hands.

The newbies were apart from getting in the way, farming the field and were enjoying the wins and not realising they were actually losing more than they were winning.

Did a couple DC action bets on the newbies.

Went in softly with $6 six and eight on the regulars. No SIA (Shoot It All – One Hit Can’t Miss) strategy today. Take and press and expanded out. Worked ok with $12.

Also did a couple of $22 inside on regulars that didn’t work at all. Oh well.

Concentrated on my own shooting. 3 finger over hand. But today I let my fingers go to bottom of the dice and not the top. I’ve been trying that a bit in practice to see the difference.

I was keeping the dice mostly together with not to much back spin, just focussing to get them neatly to the back wall.

Hands were 12 rolls, 10 rolls, 12 rolls respectively.

Did $10 PL with $44 inside and pressed one unit first then 2 units to get to 5 units then take and press.

Felt comfortable with that, so didn’t push it like I’ve been practicing from 2 to 5 units in one go.

Stuck around a bit longer than normal but the table was filling up and I had to return to work. At SL1 I should stay longer as I was getting comfortable with the position and the toss I was using. No dice off the table today.

The mad Russian was back and really got upset when one of the newbies got in his way to place a late $10 field bet. Of course 7 out. Even the dealers were warning the guy that he would get upset and he didn’t disappoint.

Just as I was leaving, the guy who gave me $25 to bet the hard ways couple of weeks ago came up to the table. Would have enjoyed shooting with him again. I said hello and thanked him for it again and told him I would have enjoyed hitting some hard ways for him again.

Colour in $407 (+$107) in 1hr 30mins

CJ 022 | Session Report #014

Casino : Treasury Brisbane

$200 buyin

SO left side
Half table

Just 2 players. Myself and an older Asian guy with his wife at SL2

Been practicing at SO so wanted to see how I’d do.

It was a fast game with just 2 players especially because we were not doing prop bets.

First 2 hands of mine were ok 8-10 rolls each, started with $10 PL and $22 inside. Made some money before 7 pressing one unit at a time.

Trouble was the dice kept jumping off the table. And I mean repeated no rolls. Even the box man was giving me tips. But not getting upset prob because no one at the table.

I got so sick of it I lobbed a bit harder one throw landed on the angled edge bottom of diamond and one dice jumped back into the dice bowl with the other dice.

I joking said same dice. Everyone had a little chuckle.

Since I was up a bit I thought I’d try something I’ve learned over at Heavy’s Axis Power Craps forum that I’ve been practicing at home.

$10 PL and $44 inside

Then on first hit press up 3 units by dropping $1 or $4 depending what number hit to get up to 5 units.

Alas it wasn’t to be and I 7’d out at 4 rolls.

But I can see the merit in it for when you need to back yourself.

Tried to recover a bit before my time was up.

But couldn’t make it happen – needed more time and evidently way more practice.

I should have moved to SL1 and asked the other guy to move over a bit.

I find SO is very hard. 12ft table. I really need some advice so I’ll take a video and maybe someone can see where I can improve.

Colour out at $159 (-$41) in 45 mins

CJ 021 | Session Report #013

Casino : Treasury

$150 buyin

Low buyin kids ransacked my wallet in the morning without telling me. I have my meger bank roll stashed away in cash at home which I draw from for my sessions. Mrs CJ has a strict no bank withdrawals allowed from our normal everyday bank accounts for my craps hobby. Fair enough.

Had to be ultra careful

Got SL2 with 4 players on half table

Started out slow with $10DP and $6 six and eight. One hit can’t miss play. Did ok

Treaded water quite well on the other rollers.

One shooter (regular) didn’t like me doing $10 DC on his rolls. He was a big man with a thick Russian accent and I couldn’t really understand what he was going on about. But got the message. He had a good rhythm roll style, so I backed him next time (which ended up being worth it).

My turns.

Set for 3V and kept bets low trying to stay as close to 10% of buyin as I could and still back myself.

$10 PL and $22 inside (depending on the point didn’t place that)

Got 3 hands in today.

My toss was not to good, dice splitting in flight a lot, spent most of the time trying to get them to stay together. My practice through the week was exclusively from SO, so should have moved to SO when I had the chance.

10, 8 and 6 rolls respectively.

On one hand, I got my six up to $30 from 6, 12, 18, to 30, and same bet that once.

The others rolls from everyone else were mostly short and they were getting frustrated. Since I was treading water with them I was ok.

Nothing special about today to report.

Really wanted to stick around for SL1 but had to get back to work.

Coloured out $183 (+$33) in 50 mins

CJ 020 | Session Report #012

Casino : Treasury Brisbane

$200 buy in

SO left side
Half table
5 shooters
There was space but an older Asian lady (grandma) would not let me in.
I patiently waited for the hand to end and then asked to make some room. She wasn’t happy but I moved in anyway.
Thought I’d try different bets today.
Tried the one hit can’t miss play with $10 DP and $12 six and eight.
Tried a couple of $15 DC.
Dice weren’t flowing in my direction today.
Nice shooter at SL1 had a 16 roll. Missed it. He had great control. Lovely to watch. Told him I liked his style and was looking forward to his next roll.
My turn. Set 3v. $10 PL. Point set to 9, and tried $66 inside including the point.
Hit the 6, 5 and 9 and upped them 2 units to $30, $25s.  Hit a few more non paying numbers for me. But good for others.
Getting ready to take and press…
7 out in 8 rolls. Oh well.
Didn’t mind as it was a positive thought day for me, and really learning to stretch myself.
Couple of guys playing both a $10 DP and PL and then laying odds on DP in the hook started to piss off the older guys at SL1 and SL2 and grandma, citing they weren’t playing properly and should be on the chocolate wheel instead.  I didn’t get involved.
2nd half table opened up and grandma quickly moved to other end giving me some room.
Virgin lady shooter to finish off. She had a good roll. The old men at SL1 and SL2 (picture the old men critics from The Muppets – Statler and Waldorf) were loving it. Landing a couple of horns with $750 payout and giving her some chips, promising to give her $100 each if she rolled another.
Did a $15 DC and the dealer didn’t move it to the nine. I told her but by then the next number rolled. A ten and told her to move it to ten. Lucky the very next roll was nine.
I thought her luck was up and then lay $30 odds on $15 no ten.
Wouldn’t you know next roll 10. Oh well.
Told my muppet chums I bet she has a monster but had to run back to work so couldn’t try anything for a recovery or see out the rest of the game.
I’m finding myself starting to recognise player level and skill. It’s very interesting and could make for a good study in human behaviour.
Colour up $94 (-$106) in one hour