Landchark

Well, i’ve built a table, so now it’s time to roll them dice.

But, you say “chadd, i’ve never played craps! i don’t want to look like a complete tool and get yelled at by the dealers and shunned by the rest of the people at the table and have my girlfriend leave me and my dog get run over by a train and my house burn down and my momma not get paroled!”

Fear not!

First of all, you are not living the perfect country & western song (see minute 3:05).

Second, I’m going to give you the basics of how to play casino craps right here, in 20 easy to follow steps.

1. Walk up to the table and find an empty spot.
2. Set your drink on the bottom drink rail. All casino craps tables, and most home tables should have them. you never set your drink on the top chip rail. that’s for chips. pretty simple, the names give the purpose of the rails away.
3. Look for the big “puck” on the table. it looks like this:
4. if the puck is white and says “on”, just wait. if it is black and says “off”, put your money down on the table. never hand your money to the dealer, they can’t take it from your hand. just put it on the table, in the marked up part, and they will cash it into chips for you.
5. take your chips and put them in the top chip rail. not to be confused with the lower drink rail, see step 2.
6. put down your bet in front of you, on the pass line area.
7. if it is your turn to roll the dice, they will give you a bunch of them to choose from (probably 5 or so). pick two. they’ll take the rest back and then when you are ready, toss them down to the other end of the table.
8. some points about handling and throwing the dice:
   • never bring the dice back over the railing, you’ll get yelled at by the dealers
   • always use only one hand to hold the dice
   • blowing on dice is fine, having your hottie girlfriend blow on them is even better
   • always make sure you hit the wall of the table opposite you. you don’t want to look like a wimp or something
   • keep the dice on the table. don’t whip them off into the stratosphere, you’ll look like a dork.
   • don’t roll them into a bunch of piles of chips that are on the table
   • don’t throw them so hard they bounce from the back wall to the the front and back again.
   • optimum throw: lob them about chin high so they land just short of the back wall and then bounce against the back wall and come back at you a couple bounces and stop.
   • show some control with your dice throw, you’ll impress your hottie girlfriend
9. ok, you threw the dice like a pro, and in the process you didn’t spill a drop of the martini that you are holding in your other hand. very smooth.
10. if you rolled a 2, 3, or a 12, you lose your ‘pass line’ bet, and the whole thing starts over, but you don’t have to pass the dice, you get to roll again
11. if you rolled a 7 or 11, you automatically win your ‘pass line’ bet and the dealer will put your winnings down by your original bet, then you can scoop up your winnings, and you’ll get to put another bet on the pass line and roll again
12. if you roll anything else, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, then that becomes the “point” and the dealer will take the puck and move it to that number and flip it so the puck is white and says “on” to mark what the point is.
13. now’s when you can play your ‘odds’ bet. this is an extra bet that you put behind your original pass bet. this is the best bet in the casino since it is paid off at the actual odds of rolling the number, with no casino cut.
14. how much can you bet on your odds bet? it is posted on a little sign on the wall of the inside of the table next to the minimum bet amount, and usually says 4x or 5x or 10x or something. that means you can bet that much times your original pass line bet. so if you bet $5 on the pass line and it says ‘5x odds’, then you can bet $25 on your odds bet. i’m not going to get into all the odds of what point pays what payout, just know that this is the best bet in the casino, and you want to bet as much on your odds bet as your bankroll can afford or you are allowed at this table.
15. now, let’s recap where we are: you have a bet on the pass line, an odds bet backing it up, a martini in one hand, and a girl on your side, and you just rolled a ‘point number’.
16. now you roll again. it boils down to this: if you hit your ‘point number’ before you hit a 7, you win your pass line bet and the odds bet behind it. if you hit a 7 first, you lose both your bets. no other numbers matter, if you roll anything but your point number or a 7, you just keep getting the dice back and you continue to roll.
17. if you hit the point number, everyone will cheer, you’ll stand back, finish your martini and flag down the cocktail waitress while the dealer pays you out by stacking chips next to your bets.
18. scoop up your bets and order your next martini (remember to tip).
19. no matter if you hit your point or not, the dealers will then flip the puck back to the black off position and move it to the side. then, if you hit your point, you’ll get to keep the dice, otherwise, the dealers will pass them to the next guy.
20. start over at step 6.

Yes, there’s a ton of other bets that you can make at a craps table, and you’ll see people throwing money all over the place. But this is the basics, and will get you into the fun. If you can follow those steps, you will look like you know what you are doing, and you will be playing the highest player advantage strategy.

Have fun and see you at the tables!

Tags: , casino fun, craps, dice, martini by chadd
2 Comments »

Have you recently felt inadequate holding your Coors Light despite that it is marketed as the “Coldest tasting beer in the world?” (whatever the f*ck that means)? Do girls giggle (justifiably) when you order that rum and Diet Coke?

Fret not good sirs and BEHOLD: The 11 Manliest Cocktails In The World!

I must say, many of these I have not had and several seem as if they might require a welders mask and a nearby does of adrenaline ala Pulp Fiction.

The good news is that #1 is the favorite drink of this man:

Tags: , Drinking, fat tony, manhattan, martini by Mark
2 Comments »

subtitled: Let the music play

sub-subtitled: home bar jukebox and media computer - part 3

After getting the HTPC mounted in it’s built-in sliding shelf (shoved into a hole in the wall) and getting the computer running the jukebox software and running the touchscreen, the last thing that needs to be done is to build and mount the touchscreen into some sort of enclosure on the wall.

I wanted to have something that would take up the corner above the HTPC, a wasted corner space, and something that could be lit/backlit and display some sort of signage with the ‘k2 lounge‘ name in it somehow.

The general idea we (my dad & I) came up with was to hang a plexiglass “door” in the corner, with the touchscreen mounted in the middle of the door.

now, on to the construction:

first, my dad made a frame for the touchscreen. It was basically a standard picture frame, but the inside of the frame has to have some fancy edges in order to accommodate the wires that make the touchscreen work. these are different for every touchscreen, so you can see the photos for an idea of how we did this.

Next step was to cut the hole in the plexiglass where the touchscreen will be mounted. I used a sheet of 24″x48″ plexiglass that is .220″ thick.

After cutting out the window, I used an orbital sander (80 grit) on both sides of the plexi to give it the frosted effect.

The outer frame is the easiest. Just cut a hole out of a sheet of leftover ply (from the middle of a poker table i built before) to make a one piece outer frame.

Next, we put it all together just to make sure it all fit.

Success! Time to move it to the basement and re-assemble.
The outer frame was hung with a few 3″ hinges.

I pre-assembled (not pictured) the touchscreen, screen bezel frame and plexiglass to make it easier to mount to the hung door as a one step process. Then took this and screwed it to the back of the door.

This hinged door gives me easy access to the back of the door and the monitor. The outlet that the monitor is plugged into is split, with the left 2 outlets constant hot and the right 2 outlets are switched. I’m using the right outlets for the HTPC power outlet, and the right 2 for the monitor and backlight power outlet. This gives me the ability to easily turn on and off the monitor and backlight via external switch.

The monitor VGA and USB cables go into the wall and down to the HTPC below.

Well, that’s about it. Next i turned it on and there it is.

I still have to get some type of decor to put on the plexi that says ‘k2 lounge’ and some type of backlighting for the jukebox, but as a temp fix, i mounted a blue fluorescent light behind the plexiglasss.

The ‘door’ itself is quite solid, with very little wiggle when you tap the touchscreen, but at some point I want to attach some sort of latch to hold the door solid to the wall.

Tags: , basement bar, htpc, jukebox by chadd
3 Comments »