Howard rock 'n' roller's Trip Reports

Looking Back - Meeting Joan Adams', Elvis' old girlfriend

Posted on August 13, 2023

Today, I was thinking about the time I met one of Elvis’ old girlfriends, Joan Adams.

As many of you know I’ve always been a big Elvis fan. I often played my guitar as a young man and sang lots of Elvis songs.. Even at my wedding to Ivy, I went on stage with the band and did my Elvis impersonation

So, a couple of years ago, a student named Marvin came over to my Vegas craps pit for a dice control class. He was a nice older gentleman, and during our class he started talking about his wife Joanie.

He said that Joan Adams was a was a beauty queen, and Miss Nevada in 1956.

She also was Elvis’ girlfriend back then. Back in the ‘50s, Elvis performed at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

As our class went on, he took a liking to me, and asked if I’d like to come over to his house and meet his wife Joanie.. So I’m thinking, it would be really cool to meet someone who actually knew and hung out with Elvis.

So, A few days later, I took a ride over to Marvin’s house in Las Vegas. Marvin showed me around. Every room in his house was full of black and white framed photos on the walls of his wife Joan Adams with Elvis, and other famous stars.

He also had pictures of her with Johnny Carson, Paul Anka, Pat Boone, Tom Jones , Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and every star that performed in Las Vegas. She knew everyone, even Oscar Goodman the Mayor of Las Vegas.

About a half hour later, in walks Joanie. She is an older woman now, and still beautiful and charming. Marvin introduced me to her and she was very nice. We sat and talked for hours about the golden years of Las Vegas, when the Rat Pack was the top act.

She told me all about her time with Elvis back in the ‘50s when they were dating.
She was also Johnny Carson’s girlfriend for three years, and also dated Frank Sinatra.
She knew every celebrity that ever performed in Las Vegas, and told me lots of stories of each one … She should definitely write a book!

She met Elvis again in 1969, when at the time she was married to Mr. Shoofey, the President of Hilton Hotels. At the time, they were building the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Since Mr. Shoofey was also the President of the new International Hotel, she suggested to hire her old friend Elvis as their opening act in their new showroom.

I had such a wonderful day with Marvin and Joanie at their home.. we talked for hours, and I loved her stories about Elvis and all of the Celebrities she has known through the years.
I want to thank Marvin and Joanie for their hospitality, and a great day we had together.

Trip Report - Las Vegas - April & May 2023

Posted on May 30, 2023

Hi everyone. I just came back from Vegas. I was there April 7 - May 11. Here are a few highlights from my trip. I have so many stories on my Facebook group... I just picked out a few to share with you.

I woke up early April 7th and Ivy dropped me off at the Ft Lauderdale Airport at 6 am to catch an early flight to Vegas.
The only problem was that we stopped first in Atlanta and I had an hour layover to catch my connecting flight.

I figured, that’s not so bad I’ll have breakfast before I catch my next flight… uh oh! There were hardly any breakfast places around… The closest thing that resembled a place where I could have breakfast was Einstein’s Bagels… but the line to order was around 30 or so people, and the line was moving very slowly… So I looked for another place.. I found A place with no line, but it was Popeyes Chicken… not exactly breakfast food .. but I ordered it anyway out of desperation.

It was soon time to board my plane and it was going to be another 4 1/2 hours before I would arrive In Vegas… I settled in my tiny seat with no legroom on Spirit Airlines, and sitting wait my legs in the aisle watched some good movies on my DVD player.

I was in the mood to watch some inspiring movies, and they were baseball movies… “The Rookie, and “The Natural”. I really enjoyed watching them, even though I had seen them years ago.

I finally arrived around 12:15pm.. Hopped on the bus to the car rental center, and waited in a long line at Avis for my car.

By the time I got to the car rental, it was 1:20pm, and now I had to get to the Gold Coast Casino to pick up my 2pm students, Joe and Ro from Washington State.
I got there in time and brought Joe and his wife over to my craps pit nearby for their class.
They signed up for a full day class, divided into 2 days of instruction.
Yesterday was part one of our class and they did great!!

Joe had some experience and had a pretty good Parr toss, Ro was new to dice control. I taught her the 3 finger grip, and also tweaked Joe’s toss. I have a secret way of gripping the dice that really helps the dice stay together in the air and when they land.
We worked on the Parr on axis toss form stick left, stick and right, next we worked on the corner toss from stick right, the Yuri Toss, and finally the Kamikaze toss that Ro really liked.
We had a great time and a great class together, and I’m looking forward to part 2 of our class tomorrow.

Today, I have another student coming over for a class. I really love teaching my techniques to beat the casinos, and am very thankful for people coming over for classes.

For my 2nd day In Las Vegas, I want to thank Dave W for coming over to my Vegas Craps pit for a 4 hr, half day class. We had a great time together tuning up his Parr On Axis toss. We worked on his grip for a bit, until he had it perfect.

I taught him a new set that i discovered, which produced a lot of box numbers. We worked on it from Stick left, Stick Right, and straight out.

Once he had the Parr toss down, we worked on the Corner Toss, Yuri toss, and Kamikaze. He especially likes the Kamikaze from Straight out! It’s a very forgiving toss, and hits all numbers, which is good for the All, Tall, Small.

Our class went very well and Dave’s toss improved significantly from when he first arrived.
After class, I called my local friend Dennis to have lunch together. I enjoyed the “Whiskey Burger” at TGI Fridays. I’m eating healthier these days, so I ordered Chicken noodle soup instead of fries.

I played a couple of casino sessions at The Orleans Casino, and had some good rolls. An 18, 24, and 28 number rolls.. I used my Parr toss from stick right, Yuri Toss, and Corner toss.

Today is going to be a busy day teaching a morning and an afternoon class. I’m looking forward to helping my students become better shooters.

On April 16th, I played an early morning session at the Gold Coast Casino, and tossed a nice 28 roll hand with my traditional Parr toss from Stick right.

Afterwards, I went over to The Orleans Casino and had another winning session with a mid 20s roll, shooting from straight out. I often avoid playing on the Strip on the weekends because they bump up their minimums in most of the casinos. I can have just as much fun at the local casino tables, as I can at the overpriced Strip Casino tables.

Oh I forgot to mention that I had breakfast with some old friends the other day. It was great to see them.. it’s been a lot of years since we’ve been together.

Also, a couple of days ago, I had dinner at Ping Pang Pong with my friend Dennis. Afterwards we went to the tables to play a session, and I got to see my old friend Aloha Jonny. We both had good rolls in the mid 20s, and had a great time at the craps tables. One of the players at the table recognized me from YouTube. I gave him my card, and today he’s coming over for a 4 hour class. I’m really looking forward to tuning up his toss, and helping him win more consistently in the casinos.

So, getting back to yesterday, after my winning sessions, I decided to do some sightseeing. I took a ride up to Mt. Charleston, I believe it’s the tallest mountain in Nevada.
Mt. Charleston is about an hour drive from the Strip. It’s known for Skiing, sledding and hiking. When my kids were younger, we would go sledding.

As I’m driving up the mountain, I came across a herd of wild horses… which was very cool to see! Afterwards I drove over to see if they rebuilt the restaurant/lodge that had burnt down a few years ago… sadly, they haven’t rebuilt it yet… Ivy and I used to stop off there to buy Indian Jewelry, have lunch, and look at the alpine views.. it’s up around 8,000 ft.
Hopefully they will rebuild it soon.. now that Spring is here.

There is another mountain nearby called Kyle Canyon.. or Snow Mountain ( I forgot which one) which has lots of beautiful views, and has snow skiing , and lifts to take you up the mountain.

Soon it was time to head home to the Las Vegas Strip . I took a nap at my Las Vegas Condo… and around 6 pm, met my friend Dennis for dinner… We went to Archi’s Authentic Thai restaurant on Flamingo Dr.

The food is excellent!

After dinner, we went to the Gold Coast and had a great time. I had a good roll from straight out ( My favorite stick right position was taken) that’s why it’s good to be able to shoot from more than one position.

I tried my parr toss from straight out, but unfortunately the set I was using was bringing out too many come out sevens…
So, I switched to my Ice Tong Magic Toss from straight out, which uses a different set, and had a great roll, hitting many repeaters. My toss was 32 numbers.
That’s why it’s also good to learn more than one toss.

April 21
So much is happening everyday for me in Las Vegas, it’s been fantastic!!
The last couple of days I’ve been busy teaching classes, and want to thank Richard S. and his friend Rich for coming over for a full day class, which included a live casino session the last 2 hours of our class.

The next day I taught a morning class, and then an afternoon class. Thanks Curtis from S. Carolina, and David & Jackie from Arizona for coming over for a 1/2 day class.
We had so much fun in our class as they were having their toss tweaked and perfected, as well as learning other toss techniques… “Yuri toss”, Parr on axis toss, classic Ice Tong Toss, Dice Magic, and Ice tong Magic. They all did great learning these techniques, which allowed them to shoot from stick left, stick right, and straight out.

After class, I took a short nap, and got a text massage from my friend/student Mark C, from Canada. “Hey Howard would you like to go to a hockey game tonight. The Golden Knights are having a playoff game tonight at the T-Mobile arena and I have an extra ticket”.

Mark had recently taken my class in Ft Lauderdale and we’ve become friends.
He had a monster roll yesterday at the casino that he’s staying at, and his host gave in two comped tickets to the Hockey playoff game.
We met at the fashion mall, because he wanted to buy a Golden Knights Jersey…
They didn’t have what we were looking for, so we took a cab to the T-mobile arena…

We got to the arena and he bought both of us matching jerseys. The same one the Knights were wearing that night!! Their home game uniform.
I though we were going to have nose bleed seats way on top, but instead, we found ourselves in the VIP section.. Center seats 4th row… right next to the protection glass, and upfront in the middle of all the action.

It was a special corporate section for the casino and they had a nice private lounge just inside with catered food and drinks.
It was like a dream… It was so great!!

After the game, the Casino Limo dropped me off at the fashion mall, so I could get my car and drive home… The limo took Mark back to his hotel….
Thanks Mark for a great evening of fun!!
What a fantastic experience… I really felt like a VIP!!!!

I want to thank everyone for coming over for classes at my Las Vegas craps pit. I always give 100% of myself to help people improve their toss and give them the tools to be able to win in the casinos. It was a very busy five weeks and I loved every minute of it!I was so busy teaching, which I love.

One evening I got together with my old friend Kevin (Bankerdude) for dinner in North Las Vegas and a session at Aliante Casino. What was so special about that evening was, not only was I with a good friend that I've known for many years but also at the Aliante Casino I got into my zone, used my Parr toss from stick right, and had a roll that lasted over an hour.

It was a wonderful evening with a good friend and a great way to end my Las Vegas trip.

A Day in Las Vegas - March 2023

Posted on March 9, 2023

Trip Report - A Day in Las Vegas

Hi everyone, I was in Las Vegas from January 11 till February 13th and it was a great trip! I got to see many of my old friends, Michael Feldman and his wife Debbie, my wife Ivy, my sister Arlene, and friends Leslie, Eric Hazel, Boris from Pennsylvania, Doug (Coaster) from Tampa and many of my local friends. I also was able to attend the Super Bowl Party at Paris thanks to my buddy Eric. Plus, Ivy and I went to Arizona one weekend and visited our son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.

It was a very busy month. I taught classes just about every day, seven days a week, and had 45 students throughout the trip come to my Vegas craps pit for classes. Many of them posted in my Facebook Group about their successful casino sessions and thanked me for helping them with their toss. Below is just one of the many stories of interesting things that happened out in Las Vegas.

On January 31, after my class, I played with some old friends from my old Golden Group... They’ve been hearing about my success teaching and shooting, but today they wanted to see me in action.

They didn’t really want to shoot, but they wanted me to shoot.. Can I still hit home runs like the old days? Author Frank Scoblete coined me “The Babe Ruth of Dice Control” in his books. I was known for having hour-long rolls and hitting lots of Hard Ways.
The pressure to perform was on...

So the dice came to me, I’m shooting straight out, and I went into my “Zone”… totally focused, very relaxed. I used my Parr On-Axis Toss, with a 3 finger grip.
I tossed for an hour, with a 62 number roll!! I hit the Firebet too, making 6 points, some were repeat points. Also making the tall.. but couldn’t seem to find Aces to make the small and everything! I also hit lots of hard ways!!

Towards the end, the dealer next to me started screwing around to distract me, and finally it worked, and got me out of my zone. It was pretty dumb of him to do that, because players had bets on all the numbers for the dealers.

Everyone made lots of money and all were cheering.. What a great day at the craps tables.. best of all, I proved to everyone, I still got it!!

A Day in Las Vegas - November 20, 2022

Posted on December 4, 2022

Hi everyone, I want to personally wish all of you a wonderful Holiday Season! Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!!!

I just returned from my three week Las Vegas adventure. I'm humbled by so many people that came over to my Vegas craps pit for classes. I was in Las Vegas for three weeks and all of my classes were sold out! I love teaching, sharing, and helping people with their toss.

I always tweak and correct their on-axis parr toss first, and then teach my Specialty Tosses which enable them to shoot from different positions... I like to consider them additional tools in their tool boxes to beat the casinos.

Here is a day in my life during my most recent Las Vegas Adventure...

Las Vegas - November 20, 2022

I taught 2 classes, played a 2 hour casino session, at night I had a wonderful steak dinner with my student Bryan Parker, and saw a great show!!!!

My morning student was Tim T. He came over for a Half day 4 hr. class. He had never had any formal training, so the first thing I did was correct his grip, so all three fingers would line up straight across on the front of the dice. Then, we worked on the toss, and after some practice and hands on instruction, his toss was looking good, with the dice staying and rotating together.

We worked on shooting on axis from stick right, stick left and straight out.
Once he mastered the on axis parr toss. we moved on to the Yuri toss, from all positions around the table. He was a natural with this toss and found it easy to master. We worked on it the rest of the morning. I had just enough time to demonstrate and teach him one more toss.. Dice Magic from Straight Out. After some practice he enjoyed doing this toss, and had good results.

Now, Tim has some great tools in his roll box, to help him win at the craps table. I have so many great toss techniques, I’m not able to teach all of them in one class… I’l l teach additional techniques during the Refresher Class.

I took a short break for lunch, and then picked up Frank N. for his 4 hr. afternoon class. This class was Frank’s second part of his full day class. We discussed how he was doing at the tables. He said he had some very good rolls. Then, after class, he talked to someone else who gave him a complicated betting system, and he was so focused on that, they he couldn’t get a good roll going. So, when he told me that, I knew we had to start from the beginning, and review his tosses, and build back his confidence. His tosses were looking good after I tuned them up.

I told him how I bet.. I keep it very simple, because as a good shooter, I want to stay in my right brain, the creative side, and toss the dice perfectly every time.. After our review of the tosses that I previously taught him, amd his confidence was high, we went on to some of my “Specialty Tosses”. I demonstrated a few of them, but the one he liked the best was “Ice Tong Magic”. He found this toss easy to master and began having good rolls just after about 10 minutes of training. He especially liked it from Stick Left… He was so excited with the results, that he couldn’t wait to try it in the casino.

He asked if we could do the last 2 hours of our class at the casino. I agreed, and off we went. I first got the dice and tossed from Straight out, using my Parr toss … I had a good roll, making a repeater… but soon something fantastic happened..
Frank tossed from Stick left, just like in my craps pit, and used the new technique that we practiced.. “Ice Tong Magic”. He tossed a fantastic 44 number roll!! Great shooting Frank!!!!

At night my student Bryan from Texas treated me to a wonderful Steak Dinner at Gallagher’s Restaurant, in NY, NY casino/ hotel. Dinner was excellent! Next we went to see a show at the T Mobile Arena. It was a comedy show starring Joe Koy. He was really funny and entertaining. First there was a warm up comedian, then. a hip hop dance troup called Jabbawockeez (or something like that

)

Next Joe Koy came out and everyone in the theater seemed to love him ( I had never heard of him) but he was really popular and funny.Then he brought out some friends and they all started singing together.. His friends were “Boys to Men” group…

What a great show they all put on!! It was full of surprises, because Joe Koy was the only one on the bill. What a great day!!!

Las Vegas Trip Report - May 2022

Posted on July 1, 2022

Hi Everyone,

Happy Fourth of July! I just got back from five weeks in Las Vegas. So much has happened while I was there!

Back in May... a black stretch MGM limo pulls up to my Vegas Condo development. Six happy students, come out of the limo to meet me, and are looking forward to my full day class. Nick organized the group, and told me that they are all related... brothers, sisters, cousins, and boyfriends.

They had a private jet fly them into Las Vegas from California. They were high rollers and so much fun to be with. Most were young in their 30s and full of energy, and eager to learn how to influence the dice.

The first toss that I taught the was the On Axis Toss from stick left. Some were beginners with the 3 finger grip and toss, others had some experience. I worked privately with each student, until they became competent with the toss technique, and had good rolls.

Then, we moved on to the On Axis Toss from Stick Right, and afterwards Straight out. Each one learned learned the toss and had success on my craps table.

The next toss I taught them was the Yuri toss.. I demonstrated what it should look like, and how to do it from stick left, Stick right, and Straight Out. We worked on this toss for a while, until everyone was successful at it.
Soon it was 12:30 and time for lunch, but since some of the students were leaving Vegas the next day, they were anxious to play in the casino. They felt that they now had the tools to beat the casino.
The students really love playing craps, and the action and excitement they have when playing.

Frankie was the highest roller of the group, although they were all high rollers in my eyes

He made a lunch reservation at a wonderful Mexican restaurant at Aria.. It’s located near to the craps tables. They asked me to join them, and we had a great time!!

I was told that one guy in the group lost $250,000 the night before. I was told that when we go to our Private Reserved Table, if I have a big roll, he’ll buy me a new house in Vegas …
Man, the pressure to perform was on… They knew my reputation of being a great shooter…but no one can hit a home run every time at bat.. not even Babe Ruth, or Mickey Mantle.. But, I’ll give it my best effort, I’ve been on a hot streak all week in Vegas.

Well, we get to our reserved $25 min table at Aria, and I noticed it’s a Crapless Table. The group loves playing the crapsless table. Everyone is betting $50 each of the 10 numbers. (Thats $500) Then, I look at Frankie’s bets on stick right one… He has $42,000 across...

Holy smokes, the pressure is on, and the dice come to me at Stick left one… I use my low Yuri toss, and toss for over an hour… a 58 number roll!!

Everyone was cheering and making thousands and thousands of dollars!! Wow! I came through in the clutch, with a grand slam!!!!

One of my students, Jen, was so happy she tossed me a Black chip and told me that I just made her $8,000 on my roll.
Frankie had so many large denomination chips, his rack was filled up…. He was really happy!!!
My student Nick, who just learned the Yuri toss in my class, followed up with a nice 24 number roll!!
Jen tossed a 23 number roll! My students were having great rolls too.. what a day!!!!!

It was now around 5:30 pm and I was really tired, and it was time to cash out a big winner. The group and I said our goodbyes and look forward to the next time we get together.

They thanked me for my class and told me that they learned a lot and really enjoyed it. Everyone was so warm and friendly, what a great group of students who I now consider my friends.

I want to thank Nick, Frankie, Tricia, Jen, Carlos, and Marshall for coming over to my craps pit for a class. You are all wonderful people and we had a great time together!!! I’m really looking forward to getting together again.

On the way home I got a call from an old student named Terry, who was in town for just 2 days, and asked for a class… The only time I had was a 2 hr evening session.. and prayed that I would have to energy to do it…
We had dinner together and then had a great 2 hr class at my craps pit from 8pm-10pm… then, it was finally time to get some sleep… because the next day I was teaching an 8 hour full day class... Whew!!

A week later, two wonderful people from that group, Marshall and Trish came to visit my Craps pit for a second class because they enjoyed the first one so much!

I taught them a new toss from Straight out that my student/friend Coaster developed. It’s an Ice Tong Toss from Straight out, and with a turn of the wrist gets a similar effect on the dice as the Yuri toss. He’s been having great rolls all over town using it.

They really liked this toss, and we practiced it for quite a while.. until Marshall and Trish were making points, and having rolls in the 20s. For the rest of the morning class, we worked on perfecting their skill using the Low Yuri toss from stick left, and from stick right.

They really became good at this toss, and they were making lots of box numbers. We used the 3V set, which gave them a lot of 6 and 8s... sometimes hard 4s and hard 10s too.

Once they became comfortable and proficient with the Yuri toss, it was time to go to the casino... I had the afternoon off from teaching, so I was able to play in the Casino with my students and friends.
We played at an off strip property, and we had a nice group there. Trish, Marshall, Coaster, and Dennis. My sisters Arlene and Shelly came too, and had fun playing the slots.

When we got to the casino, the table was about half full. Coaster and Marshall played from Straight Out. Dennis was in the far hook and I took stick left 1, and Trish was stick left 2.

The shooter at stick right one had the dice first. She was a good shooter and from Hawaii. She tossed for about an hour.. it was a great roll!!! The only thing odd was between points, she always tossed a come out 7, which killed the All Tall, Small bet... We had to keep replacing them. Finally she hit the Tall, and all she needed was one more number for the Small and All… it never came and the 7 finally showed.

I got that dice next at stick left one. I focused and got into my zone and tossed a mid 30s roll… which lasted for about an hour.
I used my low Yuri toss from stick left one .. I was on my zone, feeling relaxed, and landing the dice on axis in the same spot each time. Then, some big guy crowded me, while standing behind me anxiously waiting to get in the game.
I lost my focus and 7 out. I hit the Tall, just needing the 2 for the Small and Everything..

By the time the woman on stick right tossed, and I tossed, 2 hours went by. We were way up in profit and I also hit a number of hard ways during my roll.

The other side of the table where Coaster and Marshall were standing never did get the dice...
It was getting late, so we all colored up. We headed to Ellis Island for our Bar-b-que dinner with Coaster, Dice Guy, and my sisters Shelly and Arlene, and my friend Dennis. We had a great dinner and a lot of laughs, and good conversation.
It was our last dinner as a group for a while, because Coaster and Shelly were flying home. I’m going to miss my shooting buddy Coaster, we’ve been winning all over town together. I’m also going to miss my sister Shelly. We had a great time, and are a very close family.

We stopped off at one last casino, The Silverton Casino to check out the Aquarium, which is really great.. soon it was time to drop off Coaster and my sister Shelly at the airport.

A few days later, my wife Ivy, Michael Feldman, Leslie, and Rich, came into Vegas and we all had dinner together at the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace. It was great to spend time with old friends again.

I’m keeping busy... but feel blessed that so many people are asking me to help them with their toss, and teaching them new techniques.