Resorts World Catskills Unveils Expanded Poker Room

Prologue:
Hey guys, I'm simply sharing my recent experiences gambling for amusement. This is more of a blog-like post than anything. I'm 24 and I don't live in a location where I can go out to gamble easily. It takes at least 2-3 hours to reach the nearest casino. I can only do it once in awhile and with a conservative bankroll (~300 dollars). I used to love playing texas hold em. I watched youtube videos, bought a book, and studied the game. I win easily in home games but I seemed to consistently get cooled in hands where I was statistically a favorite. Casino earnings wise, I am down at least $800 in texas hold em. After being consistently disappointed at the poker tables, I recently decided to give a new casino game a try. I was looking into baccarat and craps on youtube.
The Story:
Session 1
My parents receive free comp rooms and I had an idea to use their free room to just hang out and have fun with my girlfriend for a weekend. We ended up going to Resort Worlds in Catskills, NY. The vibe I got... wow everything is in red and clearly tailored for the Chinese clientele. Every sign is translated into Chinese and half the patrons are dressed in red to feed their superstitious mindsets (not saying that's bad, I am actually Chinese myself, if anything it made me feel more comfortable). The first night, my girlfriend and I used some free money, courtesy of my parents baccarat winnings, and just played the slots. To no surprise, we lost all of our free money. After eating some great food and sleeping the night at the hotel, the next day we started to use our own money. This began my first session playing craps.
I watched a Youtube video the night before on both baccarat and craps. When my girlfriend and I entered the casino, we were actually heading toward the baccarat tables first. One piece of advice that stuck with me when I did some research on craps was, "If everyone is cheering and ecstatic... check out the table... if everyone is miserable... run." I wanted to breeze by the craps table before heading to baccarat and see if there was any action going on. I heard some clapping while scouting out the craps tables and the faces of the people were generally happy. I told my girlfriend that I'm going to play at this table instead, and she left to go play slots.
Humorously, the table was segregated(not literally) into two sections/halves of White folk and Asian folk. There was one clear opening on the table where the white folk section was and I entered there. I mentioned that it was my first time playing craps to the guy next to me. He was an older white gentlemen who reminded me of Robert De Niro perhaps in his 50s-60s and he had his buddy next to him with a Vietnam war veteran hat on. He was very enthusiastic about teaching me the game, telling me how craps has the best edge in the casino and teaching me how to make the proper bets. He told me not to buy-in until the the point was hit. When I pointed and asked about something going on at the table he yelled "WAIT DON'T PUT YOUR HANDS OVER THE TABLE DURING A ROLL!" and shoved my hands back into me. It was clear that he was very superstitious about this game, and yes, he was also wearing red. He rambled about a lot of things about the game of craps and to be honest, I couldn't understand 60% of what he was saying. I bought in for $100 and mostly played the pass line and the odds bet, which is something I learned on youtube. The older gentlemen encouraged me on and told me that the odds bet is the best bet in the casino and to also make place bets on the 6 and 8 if I wanted. That is how I stuck to playing the whole time.
When the dice came to me, I noticed that previously everyone at the table set the dice in a particular manner. I followed along and simply chose numbers I felt comfortable with, which were double 3's. 3 has always seemed to be my lucky number in life. I now know that simply setting the top number alone is not really "dice setting" because you need to match the numbers on the side of the dice in a consistent manner too. My first three rolls were craps numbers, and I was a little disappointed in myself because I saw everybody losing money. But, the older gentlemen egged me on because he placed money on the "craps" horn bet to "protect himself", and he was still making money. Finally, the craps numbers stopped coming and I started to really roll. It felt like I had the dice for 15 minutes and hit 3 or 4 points.
The older gentlemen said to his friends "We created a monster boys, we have the Messiah here." What is very funny about this statement.... is that all my recent usernames for the videogames I play have been "The Messiah". Also, I was wearing a gold Jesus piece hanging from my neck that day. Perhaps my shooter nickname will now be the Messiah ;)
In the end, my girlfriend wanted to leave but I wanted to wait for a particular Asian fellow to roll the dice because I saw him on multiple hot rolls. The way I approached this first game was based solely off good vibes, patterns, and superstition. In the past, playing texas hold em was very methodical and strategical and that continued to result in me losing money. My mother who is a very superstitious person, always seems to win when gambling. And so, I decided to dump strategy and just go with my gut feelings. When the older gentlemen came back from a break he had, he asked me how the table was going. I said, "I'm about to leave the table but I wanted to wait for this Asian guy to be my last roll because he rolls really good". As soon as I say that, his next roll 7's out. The older gentlemen and I look at each other and we both understood what I "said wrong there". In the end I came out positive $140 and with my buy-in, 140% profit I felt was pretty darn good. I thanked the gentlemen for his help, colored up, and went on my way.
Session 2
Only a few weeks from the first session, my coworkers and I have been talking about planning a trip to the casinos. After my first session, it bolstered my idea to use my coworkers free comp rooms and hangout together in Atlantic City. I also invited my girlfriend to this trip. For my second session, I went to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It didn't matter to me which casino I went to but my coworker wanted to check out this newer built casino because she didn't have a chance yet. Ultimately, we separated to eat food right off the bat, and due to poor phone service and a poor coincidence, I ended up playing craps alone for about 3-4 hours while waiting for my girlfriend to finish work and drive over to head to our free comp room at Harrah's casino.
I hit the tables and was hoping to find a $5 minimum but unfortunately they were all $10. There were only two $10 tables and all the tables were packed, so I had no selection choice this time and simply parked myself into a vacant spot. This time around, I made friends with a younger 30s black gentlemen who looked like an un-kempt Morris Chestnut. Let me tell you, this guy was loud, obnoxious, and just very emotional the entire time. What ruined the vibe a bit, was that he kept shitting on his girlfriend for being a terrible roller. He made statements like "Everytime I bet money on you, I know you're gunna lose. Why do I even bother anymore? You are absolutely terrible and useless". This was not said in a joking manner, and he literally announced it to the entire table. The dealers were clearly getting annoyed with his attitude. He was happy to be with me though because for the most part, I continued to roll well, similar to my first session. Unfortunately, the table as a whole was a bit dry and I ended up losing my first $100 buy-in. I took a 45 minute break to get rid of the mojo, and reentered a new table, but to my surprise, I was standing yet again next to the younger black gentlemen. This time, he put me in between himself and his girlfriend, because he was screaming that his girlfriend was a bad luck magnet. It's funny however, that his girlfriend actually was rolling very terribly that night. She 7'ed out in less than 2-5 rolls every single time. I may need to pull out some Don't Passes in the future for this type of roller ;)
At first, I set the dice with double 3's but it didn't go as well as I had hoped. And my philosophy is, "if it ain't working, change it up". So I ended up switching the set to two 6's. Now, let's not argue about whether dice setting even works, I just do it. My strategy was still the same, pass line and odds. However, I did two place bets every round and solely chose them based on patterns and feelings. For example, I was rolling a lot of 10's that night so I often put place bets on 10 when I rolled. Surprisingly, this strategy actually worked very well for me, and most of the time my two place bets hit very often. And after about 8 rolls, I would usually pull out of my place bets before the 7 out and this worked wonderfully too. The table ended up switching to $15 but I still needed to kill some time before my girlfriend came, so I moved to another $10 minimum table.
There was nothing special about the table except these group of late 30s-mid 40s white women who were on their yearly high school reunion. All blonde and very pretty and definitely what you'd consider MILFS. They said they would only join the table if it had good vibes and if everybody was cheering and clapping for one another. I told her that its not like that currently, but we would love to have you bring that energy here. They ended up buying in right next to me. I was next to the stick on the right side with absolutely nobody on my right side, so they ended up completely filling that spot. One of the girls was standing uncomfortably close to me right behind the stickman and was asking me weird questions. She was clearly piss drunk. Luckily the pit boss noticed this and asked her if she would be more comfortable standing next to her friends. Thank you pit boss....
They wanted to know the names of every roller at the table and constantly cheered and livened up the table for every roll. Unfortunately, the other half of the table wasn't as enthusiastic. One interesting thing that happened this session, is I had a place bet on 6, and turned it off after approximately 8 rolls like I usually do. This ended up not working in my favor, because the woman to my right ended up rolling seven 6's in a row.... WHAT THE HECK.
In the end, I won back the $100 I lost and also went positive $70. I was happy with this result.
Session 3
After sleeping a night at Harrah's Casinos, my girlfriend and I woke up to gamble. She went for the slots again and I went to the craps tables. Hard Rock Casino seems to have a much livelier environment, filled with bright lights and younger people. For me, Harrah's was downright dark, depressing, and filled with a lot of older people. Before my girlfriend left to play slots, I wanted to show her what craps was like and show her the ropes a little. I entered at absolutely the most perfect time.
The man to the right of the stick, a 30s year old white gentlemen who looked like Colin Farrell, was on a hot roll. He made 4 points in a row, on his very first dice roll after the come-out, all 4 times. The dice came to me and I decided to roll the dice differently again. Although I did use the double 6 again, I stacked them on top of each other. Again, my rolls were hot and although I only hit 2-3 points, I had the dice for at least 10 minutes, not 7'ing out easily. The 30 year old gentlemen and I passed compliments at each other after fist bumping. He ended up leaving with his wife and I asked him how well he did. He said he won over $500.
Unfortunately as the game progressed, a rude Indian guy two spots to my left kept passing comments about how slow the game was and how slow the players were. He kept pressing on to tell everyone to hurry the fuck up. Based on the rolling pattern of a roller on a wheelchair to my left, I had a gut instinct that he was going to hit a 12 or 2 because he had been hitting them a lot. I threw in 1 dollar for high and 1 dollar for low at the very end of the betting cycle. The Indian guy then started to yap, whine, and complain about how the progress of the game keeps getting slowed by these molasses players (ie me). In the end, I hit the high 12 and make an easy $30 (yeah screw you). Because of his vibe, I decided it was time to leave and colored up.
I ended up positive $170, and happily took my earnings away to go find my girlfriend. This is where the story becomes a bit more interesting.
My girlfriend used $100 but lost $70. She was sad to have only $30 left and asked me what she should do with it. Should she just dump it into the slot machines, she asked? Before she had left to play slots prior, I offered her to roll the dice at my table, but she was a bit squeamish about doing so without much knowledge of the game, and rightfully so, because craps has always been an intimidating game. However, with only $30 left, and a dream to be had, I told her I would teach her how to play craps, and so we went onward to the craps table!
With a $30 buy in and a babyface, the dealer immediately asked my girlfriend for her ID. When we got our chips, I did not touch the money at all, but simply told my girlfriend where she should place her bets (pass line) and the choices she could make if she wanted to(odds and place bets). The table was alright, allowing our buy in to stay pretty at around $30. The goal was simply to make her $100 back. When the dice came to her, she stepped up to the plate. She decided to random roll it and placed one dice on top of the other. I told her "just throw it at the wall". She proceeded to go on an amazingly long streak. She ended up hitting 4 points and was about to hit the 5th point. The other half of the table were practically off their seats waiting for their "FIRE BETS" to hit the 5th point and make their 230:1 odds. Unfortunately, my girlfriend missed the wall with a light throw and threw them at some chips. And you know what they say.... "when it hits the money, it lands funny." And upon this throw, she ended up 7'ing out, and the other half of the table whined aloud "AWWW". This rude black gentlemen to our left actually insulted my girlfriend and said "Why the fuck would you throw the dice at the chips like that? You have all this room on the table... aim for the damn wall and the open space." I proceeded to tell him that this was her first time rolling and for him to calm down. He responded in disbelief and said, "That is definitely not her first time rolling stop lying. I saw you two at the golden nugget yesterday.... Right...?"
No.... I was not at the golden nugget yesterday. The dealer fought back and also said "HEY, shes just a baby." The man ended up apologizing, yet it makes me think to myself... why people are so unappreciative of a great roll when the end result is always going to be a 7 anyway. And even if we WERE at the golden nugget and this WASN'T her first time rolling, how it would be acceptable for you to talk like that anyway.
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ANYWHO, these were my first 3 sessions playing craps. Thanks for reading if you got this far. I hope somebody got some amusement reading these stories. I really enjoy craps because of the camaraderie and energy that the tables can have and the feeling (or illusion) that you can control your fate by being the one to roll your own dice. Also, historically I have not been lucky at gambling games like texas hold em and blackjack, so to win 3 times in a row at craps was a great refresher. Furthermore, the idea of winning money off other people's luck is also very appealing!
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tl;dr I played 3 sessions of craps that went really well and my girlfriend also rolled incredibly well her first time. I was planning to play baccarat but actually never did after playing craps.

Has anyone checked out the new Resorts World Catskills Poker Room/Casino?