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Upside Down and Backward…

Three weeks ago, I was playing in a game that was upside down and backward. It was a "textbook" model of applied metaphysics. I happened to be playing craps, but an upside down game is just as likely when playing blackjack or poker. This particular game was so predictable. I joked with the crew that it would make for a perfect training video.

There were seven players in the game. I was playing at left stick, second position. My session lasted about an hour and a half. Of the seven players, only two left the game winners, and only two were still standing at the end. Yeah, I was one of them.

Nearly every hand rolled had subtle signs that were easy to perceive. These signs indicated the personality of the game.

Here are some of the signs that indicated an upside down and backward game.

1. The shooter comes out on a point of 8. They roll a few numbers, including two or three 6’s. Then they seven-out with a 3-4 combination. Not 1-6 or 5-2, but 3-4. The 3 die only had to make a 180 degree revolution and "Hard 8" could have been the call. This event repeated with other players as well. On die was upside down from the win.
2. Another shooter comes out on a Yo-11, followed by ace / duce. (upside down 11) Their third come out roll was another Yo-11, followed by yet another ace / duce. The shooter finally comes out on a point. They made a pass rolling the point quickly. The next come out roll was craps followed by a point. Then they seven-out with the next roll. Left, right, right, left, knock out punch!
3. Another player rolled two passes, looking like the hand would go some where. He rolled about 12 times, just enough for the more aggressive players to get their bets up on the numbers, and then he rolled the out, wiping the layout clean. Cinco dos adios!
4. A seven-out followed every craps roll that appeared in the middle of a hand. This was consistent with any shooter rolling craps. When the craps rolled, if you did not pick up your odds and call off the place bets, it was a guaranteed donation to the house. The other players ignored the trend, so there was wholesale donating going on.
5. A die down, off the table, was followed with seven-out. The dice collided upon landing, click-kiss, seven-out. The stickman whistled a mindless tune, the dice seven-out. A player, pointing to a bet in the field while the dice were in the air, seven-out. The point is established and the stickman pushes the dice out to the shooter. One die rolls over resulting in a seven combination facing the shooter. The shooter throws a seven on that very next roll.

Okay, you get the idea. Everything that could go wrong in a craps game was going wrong. Some of you are saying, "so what, it sounds like any craps game and I am simply enumerating common superstitions." When I see the "superstitions" showing up consistently, I pay attention. They stop being a joking matter and I am on the alert. I am on the alert because this kind of game is upside down. Everything is backward. Every shooter is struggling to make a hand. It is not as simple as point and out, shooter to shooter. This display of these backward kinds of events taunts the players. The feeling created is one of an "almost" kind of game. "We almost got it going", teases the players to keep playing.

When the dice came to me, I managed to pull several nice little hands as did the fellow next to me. In fact, we were the only shooters in the game. However, the upside down game was with us just the same as the others.

Early in the game, I came out on inside numbers. If my point was 5, I would roll 9. If my point was 8, I would roll 6. See, upside down game! For a 5 or 9, I was using a set that the Dice Coach taught me. It is a permutation of the 3-V set. You have 3/9 on top, looking at 5/4, 2/3 in front and 4/1 on the bottom.

I believe the key to a long hand is rolling points. I shoot for the point. My toss was good, the dice looked great in the air and on landing. With a nine on top, shooting for a five, I rolled nine. After a few nines, I turned the set over, 1/4 up, and rolled another nine. Please note that other numbers would come up during the shoot in between sets. I certainly was not rolling the opposite number of the point after every adjustment. The purpose here is to note that my finessing was rewarded backward. Trying to finesse the game only resulted in a continuance of an upside down game. I finally decided to stop second-guessing and stay the course, keeping to one set arrangement. If the game was upside down, I would set with my point on the bottom and just keep shooting the same set. No explanation as to how or why, but most of the time it worked, and I would then eke out a small profit.

The fellow next to me, though not a dice setter, had a consistent toss. Call him a rhythm roller, lots of intention. He also had confidence. His upside down game was with the 6 and 8. He would come out on an 8 and roll loads of sixes before making the 8. It amazed me how many times he made his point of 6 or 8 rolling it the hardway. Of course, this being an upside down game, as soon as we would bet the hardway, two way parlay, he would either roll it easy or seven out. We’d lay off the hardway next time and sure enough, he’d roll 6 or 8 hard. We laughed. He only rolled it when we did not bet it.

Upon identifying the weaker shooters, I stopped playing until it was my turn to shoot along with the fellow to my left. We continued to have nice little profit hands as the other players faded from the game.

Near the end of the session, I came out on a seven, followed by craps. I then rolled a point followed by another seven. It was the first time, all night, that I had not made at least one pass on a point. My partner went cold too, throwing his first point and out of the night. Back to back, "point and out" from the "shooters" indicated to me that it was over. It was enough fighting an upside down game for me. I had won the profit clinging to small short hands. Nothing about this game held a promise of a big hand coming just around the corner. I colored up and called it a night.

I could feel the chill of our game breaking down. The game that had been an enjoyable challenge abruptly ended. I was not about to play back the hard won winnings. This is when to employ discipline and walk away. The ego thinks about staying and two losing hands is nothing of concern. Dice setting or not, the dice eventually come back to probability, no matter how pretty the dice look. Coming back to probability means chop dice, a seven for every six rolls.

My point in sharing this story is that every game has a signature, a personality defining the game. In this scenario, a couple of players, savvy to the game’s personality, managed to sustain through the upside down and backward game. Additionally, we both quit sooner rather than later. When it was obvious that we had caught the same "cold" that the other players had struggled with earlier, we accepted the end. Most of the time an upside down and backward game is not so generous. Usually the contrary game takes its toll fairly quickly with a series of frustrating hands. I was glad to be out of that game with my hide.

This is an example of what I mean, watch for the subtle signs of the energy expressing itself in a game. It is just as probable to roll a 6/3 as it is to roll a 1/4. When I see my point roll upside down, time and again, I take a harder look at the energy of the game. What is it telling me? What is going on? When my point is a 4 or 10 and I seven-out 5/2, the dice are speaking to me. I can more easily accept a 1/6 or 3/4 seven-out. The 5/2 seven-out was one die tumbling upside down, separating me from being a front line winner. My winner was upside down and backward. A winning game is a piece of cake to play. It is the other games requiring the discipline. A disciplined player is able to admit and accept reality, perceiving when it is time to walk away.

"Sometimes the game

does not go your way

and you have to submit,

to the one that got away.

Pick up your chips,

and call it a day.

Remember that walking,

may be your best play."

 

My Gaming Preparation:

A subscriber asked me how or if I prepare before playing. Do I just throw caution to the wind with an expectation of winning? Here is my reply.

I do not differentiate between how I play casino games and the way I play the game of life. Throwing caution to the wind is not empowering. There are few things in life that can be controlled, so I like to focus on those things that I can control, namely my self!

When switched on to perception, you will usually pickup the information that you need to know. Not always, but usually. The first thing I check into before playing is how I feel about playing and then how the thought of playing feels. A person has to be honest with their feelings. That is to say, differentiating between, "yeah, now is a good time to play", as if convincing one’s self, allowing the emotions to engage, instead of your true feelings.

In my early days of playing, I use to do some energy exercises that I learned from Stuart Wilde. Later I added some of my own creative processes. Sometimes, these things seem to help, while other times they seem to have no effect. Over the fifteen years of playing, and more than twenty years of the metaphysical experience, I have come to accept that cards are cards and dice are dice. The game is going to play the way it is going to play. The rest is about the energy. The challenge is, then, to position myself in a winning game by using my skills of perception. Peering behind the veil as I like to say. (more on behind the veil at Craps Fest) The idea is to perceive the information coming at me before it manifests. I acknowledge it, accept it and have the discipline of responding correctly to it. I do not hope that it will be different, or pretend that I can overcome it, or anyway change what I perceive. I only have control over my actions and not the actions of others or a casino game.

I prepare myself, before playing, using a trance meditation that I taught myself. Call it creative visualizing, seeing yourself as empowered and perceptive. It is very effective and sharpens my awareness in a game. I still use this technique, but not as much. I now tend to call upon the energy to guide me in the present, rather than going though the process of a meditation. I think this is in part, because I have done the process that many times, I am able to pull it up without having to take 30 minutes out. Again, this does not work every time. It is like dice setting and everything else that I teach. If it contributes to having an edge, count me in.

Here is a partial list of what I may do before playing:

1. Checking in with myself before playing. Am I up for a game?
2. I push my feelings out ahead of me, to the casino that I plan to play, and I feel the energy that comes back. Yes? No? Maybe so.
3. On the journey to the game, I am switched on to perceive any subliminal messages that could have meaning. (Several messages can seem to have importance and do not. The intellect hates to be left out of this game and it wants to make mountains out of molehills. Do not get trapped sorting out too much information.)
4. Walking into the casino, I am intensely aware of everything and how it affects me.
5. At the table, I want to feel welcoming energy, a feeling of "it is all right". (Rare as it is) If I feel ugly energy, I am out of there.
6. There are two sides to my game that I observe, the mechanics and methods, and then the metaphysics. Notice all things.
7. Buying in is like entering the water. I know that I am going to get wet and I may have to swim if it gets deep. The method I play is mathematically best, so there is no trepidation when entering a game. I am prepared with a plan.
8. The metaphysics is my read on how "cold" the water might be. It is the difference between what I teach and how other players gamble.
9. Playing the method, I am always alert for the subtle messages that foretell the direction of the game. It is a powerful mix of obvious signs. The more subtle signs must be perceived through your feelings. This does not mean I win every time, but I do keep the losses in check.
   
   So, in many ways it is a meditative preparation and process, focusing on the energy, and noticing all things. Searching for the winning game is as much a part of the process as recognizing a loser. It is all part of the hunt. It is a game within a game.
   
   Preparing for a game is like a scene from an old Clint Eastwood movie. Clint is going into the saloon. He may have a smoke and a drink inside or he may have to shoot his way out. Either way he is prepared. Either way, Clint knows going in, what he feels. He perceives every signal and it’s meaning. Never commit your troops without being prepared for what lies just ahead.
   

 

Well, that’s it for this edition of the Playing 4 Keeps™ Newsletter.

 

See you at the tables Playing 4 Keeps™!

Michael Vernon

Author and Gaming Instructor

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Purpose Statement:

Playing 4 Keeps™ empowers the player to become a consistent winner. My commitment is about the empowerment of each student. Learning to apply discipline, confidence, intention, and metaphysical lessons, is empowering. I teach students methods that avoid losing sessions. Most importantly, it is my intention to teach metaphors that link the knowledge of casino games to "the game of life". Michael Vernon

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