Thanks to Layup for getting the ball rolling for this year's Vegas trip. Some radnom thoughts from me as we get ready for Vegas 2013. As of this writing, it is 76 hours until takeoff!
1. I am glad we are not going on the tournament weekend this year. I'm already looking forward to watching some of the first round games with the boy(s) - and I'm trying to plot how I can get out of some work meetings to watch all of the games. However, one big barrier exists; Warren is in the school play. The performances are Friday the 22nd at 6:30 pm (no problem) and Saturday at 11 am (which is Friday night at 11 pm in the East). Well, I can miss a few games, right?
2. Layup started to talk about a new way of rolling - I'm surprised that this has never come up on the blog before. I have two go-to throws that are awesome if I am on,but if not - look out:
a. The lob wedge from the end of the table where the dice land about 3 inches from the wall, bounce up, quickly hit the wall and die back down. I love this throw, however - there are two problems. First - I can't throw it too hard, since they will go straight off the table. No margin for error long. It's kind of like the 17th at Augusta. You can't go over the green.
But short is no bargain either. If you lob it and it falls short - say, 1 foot from the wall - then the big bounce is in play.I swear, the tables are getting bouncier over the past 5 years. I have thrown more dice off the table by bouncing lately than ever before.
The lob wedge is a touch shot, and I believe Wednesday is the practice rounf day to find the rhythm before the weekend.
b. The second shot is the line drive that is low and causes the dice to bounce all over the place. I love those rolls. My goal on this is to roll it hard enough so that one of the dice comes back to me and ends up on my side of the table. Rarely do these dice go off the table, but they have ended in the bowl and on the chip stack. If I can make both dice come back to my side of the table while throwing the point - well, I call that the orgasm.
3. Starting to have my strategy in mind on the initial layout of cash at the table. I am slowly drifting to planning to stay for long sessions at a table once I sit down; this wasn't always the case. I got into mini-arguments several years ago with Steve when we played blackjack; I sit down for 2 shoes and if they were bad ones, I'd get up. He'd be pissed, but (admittely) I have the attention span of a bumblebee at the casino. Now, I think I am better and am ready for 2, 3 hour session no matter what the game. So - in other words - 7 years later, I realize Steve probably had a valid point for yelling at me.
So - my thoughts for this trip on each session:
Craps: this is the game where I've thought the most about. On a lower limit game, I want to have the pass line with double odds, 2 place bets (6-8), and maybe one more come bet with double odds. That's 8 times the table limit on each roll. I'd like to have enough to survive 7-8 bad rollers; I think that's the minimum you need to ride out the storms.
This means a 60x outlay at the beginning. So -at a $10 table, that's $600. I think that's about right.
Higher limits? I'd back off a little, just a pass line with single odds and 2 place bets. That's 4x on the outlay, so we'd do 30x at the beginning.
UTH: I think 40x is the minimum to survive the swings. ($5 UTH - you'd have to bring at least $200). Adjust accordingly.
Blackjack: Ugh. The hardest. I think the minimum is 15x, maybe 20x.
4. Speaking of blackjack - ugh. I am so out of practice in that game. I don't play it that often, and now I am struggling with just the intermediate strategy. Soft 18 vs 8? 4-4 vs a 3? I don't have a clue. I'll be the dumbass looking at the card.
5. I have a feeling Wiz will drag us all into playing Casino War. He convinced me to play $300HK War in Macau in December - with disasterous results. What's next? Carribean stud???
6. I think Layup now understand the allure of Vegas in March for the Ohio group. The weather is awesome - compared to back home. Seeing 72 degree temperatures for 5 straight daysin early March is a godsend after the slush/grayness of a Midwest winter. He better have a finer appreciation for that fact now.
Me? I'm going down in temperature, as it is 83 and sunny today in Guangzhou.
7. I am looking forward to golf - as always - and I feel like Charlie Brown heading to Southern Highlands, where that course is Lucy. Any confidence I have now - and I have some - will evaporate by the 6th tee.
8. I'm shocked Layup did not include the last line of the movie clip in his blogpost: "We can't leave; I got a marker coming".
1. I am glad we are not going on the tournament weekend this year. I'm already looking forward to watching some of the first round games with the boy(s) - and I'm trying to plot how I can get out of some work meetings to watch all of the games. However, one big barrier exists; Warren is in the school play. The performances are Friday the 22nd at 6:30 pm (no problem) and Saturday at 11 am (which is Friday night at 11 pm in the East). Well, I can miss a few games, right?
2. Layup started to talk about a new way of rolling - I'm surprised that this has never come up on the blog before. I have two go-to throws that are awesome if I am on,but if not - look out:
a. The lob wedge from the end of the table where the dice land about 3 inches from the wall, bounce up, quickly hit the wall and die back down. I love this throw, however - there are two problems. First - I can't throw it too hard, since they will go straight off the table. No margin for error long. It's kind of like the 17th at Augusta. You can't go over the green.
But short is no bargain either. If you lob it and it falls short - say, 1 foot from the wall - then the big bounce is in play.I swear, the tables are getting bouncier over the past 5 years. I have thrown more dice off the table by bouncing lately than ever before.
The lob wedge is a touch shot, and I believe Wednesday is the practice rounf day to find the rhythm before the weekend.
b. The second shot is the line drive that is low and causes the dice to bounce all over the place. I love those rolls. My goal on this is to roll it hard enough so that one of the dice comes back to me and ends up on my side of the table. Rarely do these dice go off the table, but they have ended in the bowl and on the chip stack. If I can make both dice come back to my side of the table while throwing the point - well, I call that the orgasm.
3. Starting to have my strategy in mind on the initial layout of cash at the table. I am slowly drifting to planning to stay for long sessions at a table once I sit down; this wasn't always the case. I got into mini-arguments several years ago with Steve when we played blackjack; I sit down for 2 shoes and if they were bad ones, I'd get up. He'd be pissed, but (admittely) I have the attention span of a bumblebee at the casino. Now, I think I am better and am ready for 2, 3 hour session no matter what the game. So - in other words - 7 years later, I realize Steve probably had a valid point for yelling at me.
So - my thoughts for this trip on each session:
Craps: this is the game where I've thought the most about. On a lower limit game, I want to have the pass line with double odds, 2 place bets (6-8), and maybe one more come bet with double odds. That's 8 times the table limit on each roll. I'd like to have enough to survive 7-8 bad rollers; I think that's the minimum you need to ride out the storms.
This means a 60x outlay at the beginning. So -at a $10 table, that's $600. I think that's about right.
Higher limits? I'd back off a little, just a pass line with single odds and 2 place bets. That's 4x on the outlay, so we'd do 30x at the beginning.
UTH: I think 40x is the minimum to survive the swings. ($5 UTH - you'd have to bring at least $200). Adjust accordingly.
Blackjack: Ugh. The hardest. I think the minimum is 15x, maybe 20x.
4. Speaking of blackjack - ugh. I am so out of practice in that game. I don't play it that often, and now I am struggling with just the intermediate strategy. Soft 18 vs 8? 4-4 vs a 3? I don't have a clue. I'll be the dumbass looking at the card.
5. I have a feeling Wiz will drag us all into playing Casino War. He convinced me to play $300HK War in Macau in December - with disasterous results. What's next? Carribean stud???
6. I think Layup now understand the allure of Vegas in March for the Ohio group. The weather is awesome - compared to back home. Seeing 72 degree temperatures for 5 straight daysin early March is a godsend after the slush/grayness of a Midwest winter. He better have a finer appreciation for that fact now.
Me? I'm going down in temperature, as it is 83 and sunny today in Guangzhou.
7. I am looking forward to golf - as always - and I feel like Charlie Brown heading to Southern Highlands, where that course is Lucy. Any confidence I have now - and I have some - will evaporate by the 6th tee.
8. I'm shocked Layup did not include the last line of the movie clip in his blogpost: "We can't leave; I got a marker coming".
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