Dice Setting, Setting the Dice

Dice Setting, Setting dice - craps dice control

The Zone
Visualization And Dice Control

Taken From The PARR Online Information Library

Walt aka "The Sage" Wrote

For me, the Zone is a space - a separate room or different direction to face. It is ALWAYS there; its existence does not depend upon me. To enter it I must simply enter it. As pertaining to craps, I enter the zone automatically as soon as I focus my sight upon my target area at the end of the table. (I face the "direction" of the zone and the zone envelops me - I am in it.) When I move my eyes off of my target after the dice have landed; I am facing in a different direction than the zone - I am back in "the normal world" and no longer in "the zone".

Because the zone always exists, I do not have to expend any energy to create it before entering; I merely have to enter. Likewise I needn't expend any energy to maintain it, as it exists as a location separate from and not dependent upon me. I must "move" something in order to pitch the dice; therefore I am not expending any more energy to enter the zone than I would be expending anyway. The zone is therefore not draining of my resources.

Dr. Heller alluded to this "aspect" when he recommended that we all develop both a verbal and physical "cue" (making a circle with the thumb and finger of the off hand) for entering our "calm spot". Departure is logically the reverse direction from entry; i.e. by removing the finger from the thumb.

Visualization

Sharpshooter, Jerry, Dr. Heller and many others have all instructed us to "visualize" the dice traveling parallel to each other in flight and rotating at the same rate. This article is about using the Zone and visualization to improve your dice control skills.

The subconscious mind (right hemisphere) works with images; verbalization skills are the purview of the left hemisphere. The stronger the image, the more powerfully the unconscious mind (zone) is able to function with the physical (muscle memory).

The visual image which I use during practice is the 3 "V" dice set itself. A white "V" is a very strong visual image, much stronger than a pair of dice traveling in tandem. As I mentally pitched the dice prior to actually pitching them, I began to visualize a white Vee flying through the air, rotating head over heels, in the same way that the 3 Vee formed by the dots on the dice travel and rotate if they are in "perfect pitch".

With this image, I am able to much more easily "see" the dice rotating together and landing with the 3 V still intact and on the top!! After I had done this mental exercise a few times, I found that the white Vee was being unconsciously imposed upon the real dice as I threw them. This is a way of unconsciously "reminding" the body and muscle memory to keep the dice together and rotating at the same speed.

As I am a pilot, I instinctively know that an object the shape of a Vee traveling through the air while spinning heads over tails would make a wop-wop type of a sound, like the sound a boomerang, helicopter or ceiling fan makes. My unconscious mind automatically added this sound to my visual image of the "Flying Vee". Aural reinforcement helps to reinforce the strength of a mental image.

I began to do this at the start of the 2nd column on the Practice Sheet. While 90 tosses are not enough upon which to establish a statistically valid trend, I did notice the following changes occurring during my practice sessions:

1. The dice began to travel and rotate together much more effectively. They were also much easier to visually track while in flight.

2. The occurrence of the Hard 6's increased.

3. The number of individual 3's (on one die) resulting from my throws shot way up. The number of (single die) repeats also went way up. The number of 6's, 8's and 9's went up and 5's went down. 16 sixes, 20 eights, 18 nines and 10 fives.

4. My session SRR rose from 6.5 average with the 3 Vee to 7.5.

5. The roll incidence (dice flying off horizontally) of the left die decreased

Over all, these are rather dramatic improvements to occur in such a short space of time.

Try these visual exercises in your own practice sessions and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Walt Diem, a former Navy Pilot, is the Chief Instructor in Jerry Patterson's PARR Dice Control Network. His sharp eye and innovative teaching and coaching techniques have enabled hundreds of PARR Players to increase their on-axis throws, improve their sevens-to-rolls ratio, and diagnose and correct their own dice control form. In short, he enables PARR Players to exploit their dice control advantage and Win! His experience in using the PARR Zone is extensive.