May/June 2021
Here's what's inside this newsletter...
- Another Biloxi Trip Report! (March 21–25, 2021)
- Testimonials
- Howard Recommends
Hi Everyone,
I just got back from my second trip to Biloxi this year. It was another winning trip with some interesting things that happened.
Coaster called me up and invited me on another comped trip to Biloxi sponsored by the a Beau Rivage. The flight left from St Petersburg Airport, and was only an hour long flight to Biloxi.
I confirmed the trip, and then realized that I also had a wedding to attend in Tampa a couple of days before.
Our good friends Steve and Cathy’s son Anthony was getting married to his fiancée Brittany in Tampa.
So I really didn’t want to drive 3 1/2 hours up to Tampa for the wedding, then come back home with Ivy... then the next day drive back up to Tampa to visit Coaster for our Biloxi Trip. Coaster and his wife Skippy were very nice inviting me to stay over a couple of nights before our trip.. Ivy rode home with Steve and Cathy, which worked out well, so they could spend more time together.. Because of the pandemic we hadn't seen them for a year.
So a day after a wonderful wedding, I drove to nearby Plant City once again, to visit my friends Coaster and his wife Kathy "Skippy."
It was a nice visit and one day we went to a nice Mexican restaurant, and the following day we went to a famous restaurant called The Columbia, in Ybor City. It’s been there for about 100 years and has great Spanish food and terrific old-world ambiance.
The following day we headed to the St. Petersburg airport. When I got to the counter to get my plane ticket, I couldn’t find my driver’s license... Uh oh! Big problem ... I went through my mind, when was the last time I saw it.. it never leaves my wallet...Then I remembered, I took it out at the hotel in Tampa, the day of the wedding, when we checked in.
Perhaps the desk clerk at the hotel didn’t give it back, or I dropped it as I was carrying my suit and luggage to my room.. anyway it seemed to be a big problem... How can I get on the plane? How would I be able to rent a car in Biloxi? and How would I be able to check into my hotel room in Biloxi?
While looking through my wallet I found my Nevada driver's license (Seasonal Resident) because I own a condo in Vegas... thank goodness I had it with me.
So we boarded the plane, flew to Biloxi and checked into out hotels.. Coaster at the Beau Rivage, I stayed at the Hard Rock. We contacted our local friends and made plans to meet up in the morning.
So, as I previously mentioned I discovered that I lost my Florida Drivers License while standing in line at the St Pete Airport, waiting to get my boarding pass. Thank goodness I found my Nevada Drivers license buried in my wallet, and got through security ok... otherwise, I couldn’t get on the plane.
While waiting for our plane at the airport, I retraced my steps in my mind and realized that the last time that I saw my Florida Drivers License was when I was checking in at a hotel in Tampa... I called them right away, and they told me that they didn’t have it.. The house cleaner that cleaned my room after I checked out had the day off.
I was told that they would call me if they found my license. Well, I’m not holding my breath and waiting ... by the way it’s been over a week and I’m still waiting...
So, I called my wife Ivy and after she got home from Tampa. She got and the computer, and got in touch with the DMV and ordered my replacement Driver's License... by the time I got home from this Biloxi trip.. it was waiting for me in my mailbox. 
Coaster and I boarded our plane, and an hour later we landed at the Biloxi/Gulfport Airport.
Though the Beau Rivage provided a bus for the people on the plane, we decided to rent a car, so we could travel to different casinos.
Sometimes, we would go to a casino and find that the craps tables were full, and have to play at another casino, so having a car really can come in handy.
In Biloxi, the casinos are too spread apart to walk... some are a couple of blocks away, and most are a couple of miles away.
So our day of arrival we checked into our hotels- Coaster at the Beau Rivage and myself at the Hard Rock.
I love staying at the Hard Rock. I’m fully comped there and checked into a beautiful room over looking the swimming pool and Gulf of Mexico... The whole wall facing the Gulf is floor to ceiling windows... My room was my oasis when I wanted to get away from the casino and relax.
The tables at the Hard Rock are very good, with felt layouts. I enjoy the dealers and the atmosphere. There are no bonus bets.. which is OK with me.. because at a $5-$5-$5 All Tall and Small bet.. if no one hits it, you can find yourself in a hole of $150 with just one lap around the table.. It’s a high house edge bet... The table minimums were $15 dollars.
I have to confess that I do sometimes play the ATS in other casinos when they offer it and I am shooting, or another good shooting friend has the dice.
The Beau Rivage is one most upscale properties in Biloxi. it’s owned by MGM and is modeled after the Bellagio in Vegas, at a smaller scale. The tables are often $25 minimums.. sometimes one might be $15 min. The rails on the table are a bit higher than other casinos, and unfortunately, they just put in plexiglass panels between players and also the Stickman.. Some of my old GTC and PARR students stopped by to see me and complained that the plexiglass got in the way of their toss.
Coaster wanted to try the Electronic Computer Table (Shoot to Win) at Boomtown for our first session of the trip. A few of our local friends joined us at the table. There are 10 stations at the table. Each person has his own computer screen for making bets.
Each player has a chance to toss the dice like a real craps table... it takes a bit of adjustment to get used to this type of table, because you are throwing the dice on a hard plexiglass surface. I was told by the Stickman that they wax the surface every night.
I tried shooting from straight out, with high on-axis toss, crossed 6’s set, minimal backspin, and landing the dice flat about 1 or 2 inches from the back wall. I had some pretty good success with that toss and rolled an 18 number hand. Pretty good for the first time trying it out. I later found out during another session, that my corner toss worked well.
Coaster tried shooting the Yuri Toss from Stick right 2 into the opposite hook. He had very good success with that technique, and rolled a 24 number roll.
Selfer61 tossed the dice with a crossed 6’s set, from stick left 1, with no back spin. I call it a "Drop Shot." He is pretty consistent with that toss and had a good roll.
Dennis used the "Yuri toss" from stick left 2, with lots of back spin. He sets the dice to hit his point. So each time he gets the dice and sets a point, his set is going to be different. One set hits outside numbers, the other set hits lots of 6 and 8s.. etc.
He tosses the dice straight down the table, low with lots of backspin. He is very consistent and had a good roll in the 20’s.... Today he tossed a 22 and a 24 roll hand.
We celebrated our win together at dinner at our favorite buffet, The Palace Casino Buffet.
The next morning we met at Boomtown Computer table once again. It was early in the morning. Even though we had good rolls on this table the day before, the thing that I don’t like about it is that the game is sooooooo slow. It takes forever between tosses. It’s not an exciting craps game, where there is lots of action and excitement, it is really slow. But my local friends like it because you can talk and relax between tosses, even close your eyes and take a short nap... well maybe I’m exaggerating a little... If you live in Biloxi, it’s ok, but if you are only there for a couple of days... it eats up a lot of time. I do like the idea of no chips placed in your landing zone.
We started playing at 7 am and finished by 11. I think we only had 2 or 3 turns with the dice in all that time.
At 11 am we headed over to the Palace Casino. It’s a smoke free casino and very nice. Our plan was to play for an hour and ask for a comped buffet for lunch. They have 2 tables. One was the Electronic Table and the other was a regular 12 ft craps table with the All Tall and Small bet.
At the table were me Dennis and Coaster. Dennis got the dice first. He used his Yuri toss technique from stick left 1. As a side note, Dennis is the one who taught me the Yuri toss way back around 2003–4 in Tunica. It was right after I helped teach a GTC class with old friends Frank Scoblete, Dominator and the guys... I’m going save that story for another time.
Anyway, Dennis is a real pro with the Yuri toss, and soon got dialed in during our session at the Palace. He was the first one of us to get the dice. After about 15 tosses the heat started. "You have to hit the back wall with both dice" and he was, although once every 15 rolls one die dug into the layout... stopped an inch short... but it wasn’t on purpose...
By roll 25, three supervisors were in the craps pit starring at him... soon he made the All Tall and Small... which we were all on... Dennis said "you can bet it again" which of course we did.
Then he kept on rolling. More heat was coming from the pit. He then began hitting hard 4s... quite a few of them. Some of the players had black chips on them by now. Dennis was approaching a second All Tall and Small. The pit bosses weren’t happy. Finally on his 42nd roll, his left die hit the back wall and his right die hit near the back wall but turned a little sideways and hit the side wall, another hard 4! The pitboss said "That’s it, you’re done, dump the bowl and pass the dice! You can’t shoot here for the rest of the day."
No one wanted to shoot after that. We said we would pass the dice around so it would come back to Dennis, as he was the hot shooter. The pitboss of course said, no way! Dennis kept his cool, didn’t argue and let it go.
Well, I suppose we can’t ask for our free buffet now... The pitboss was pretty angry. We celebrated at the buffet anyway and had a great time...
After lunch at the Palace Buffet, we headed over to The Hard Rock Casino to play a session. We had a good group of guys.. Dennis, Coaster, Ronny, Selfer61, and myself.
It was a winning session with some good rolls.
Ronny tossed an 18 number hand, Selfer61 tossed a 24 number roll, from stick left 1, using his drop shot..
Coaster tossed a 19 roll hand from stick right 2 into the hook.. using his Yuri toss, hitting 5 consecutive fives, and I had a nice hand using my On Axis Parr toss... 2V set with the 6/4 on top.
The next day, Tuesday, I picked up Coaster early in the morning and had breakfast at the Waffle House. We like the one across the street from the Beau Rivage.
We met Dennis, Gene, Biloxi Man at the Boomtown casino after breakfast, and played the Electronic Computer craps table once again.
I discovered that my low corner toss, using the 2/3-3/6 set with backspin worked better on the plexiglass layout. I tossed a nice 26 number roll. Soon Ronny and his son Dano joined us. It was an choppy session, with a few decent rolls sprinkled in here and there.
Our next session was played at Treasure Bay. I had another good hand with my corner toss, Coaster tossed a 20 roll hand from straight out, Ronny tossed an 18 roll hand from stick left. It was another good session.
On Tuesday evening, I got a phone call from some old friends from Virginia and Alabama. I’ve known these guys for almost 20 years. Some were my students back in my Parr and GTC days.. There names are Baitman, Pistol Pete, Bill and Slammin Sammy... all great guys. They just happened to be in town the same week as I was.
They were staying and playing at the IP casino, so Coaster and I went over to join them. Unfortunately the IP only had one table open and it was full. We said our hellos and after a 1/2 hour of watching them, told them we’d see them later.
Coaster was tired and went up to his room at the Beau Rivage to relax... I went to my hotel, the Hard Rock and decided to play a session..
I tried out my "Ice Tong" toss from stick left 1. It’s another one of my Specialty Tosses that I practice at home. I used a 2/4-4/2 set. It worked great! I had a 25 hand roll, stayed a few minutes after to see if any one else would have a good roll... I soon colored up with my winnings.
The next day, Dennis was telling us about the tables at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St Louis. To get there you head west along the coast on Rt. 90. It’s a beautiful relaxing ride along the beach, with historical Antebellum houses from the 1800’s lining the road.
It took us about 45 minutes to get there and we played Dennis's favorite “Shoot to Win” Computer Craps table. It seemed pretty similar to the one at Boomtown... Dennis had a great roll.. 34 numbers, Coaster tossed a an 18 and a 24 number hand..both using the Yuri low roll with lots of backspin. I did ok.. still not crazy about tossing the dice on a plexiglass layout... with a couple of tosses in the teens.
We then went to The Silver Slipper Casino nearby for lunch.. which had a great buffet!!!! Lots of variety and the food was very fresh.
We drove back to Biloxi and while resting in my hotel room, I got a call from Slammin' Sammy, "Hey Howard, I’d like to have a nice dinner at the Hard Rock and the join you at the tables after dinner."
This was great news, because my friends are all good on-axis shooters, but they only wanted to play at the IP casino.
So Slammin' Sammy, Coaster and I met at the Hard Rock's craps table. I had such a nice roll there the night before, I decided to take stick left one and use my Ice Tong Toss again. It worked like a charm!! I tossed a 30 roll hand. Slammin' Sammy tossed an 18 roll hand and Coaster had a nice hand...
Sammy was so happy with our session at the Hard Rock he invited all of his friends to join us the next morning, our last day in town. He said they were struggling a bit at the IP and were looking forward to trying another casino.
The next morning at 7:30 am the whole crew showed up at the table: Coaster, Biloxi Man, Slammin' Sammy, Baitman, Pistol Pete, Dennis and Bill.
I took stick left again and got hot with my ice tong toss once again...I tossed a 32 roll hand making 5 points, a 24, and a 22 roll hand.
The other guys did pretty well... but then Pistol Pete switched from stick right to stick left and had about a 40 number roll to finish off our session.
The pitboss comped is all for breakfast at the "Sugar Restaurant" and we sat for a couple of hours eating and talking and having a great reunion together...
Time flew while we were having a good time and soon, it was time to go to the airport and fly back to Florida...
It’s always fun winning at the tables, and spending time with old friends.
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