Bottoms!

In the belly of watering holes in San Francisco from the Financial District and Chinatown to the Tenderloin the incessant rattling of die followed by a loud thwack as the lip of the cup hits the bar can be heard. Dice is a popular game often played for a few dollars, for the tab, and sometimes with the bartender for that one drink too many you said you wouldn't imbibe. Other than Liars and Ship Captain Crew, one game I partook in often is 1-4-24.

The rules could not be simpler-

6 die are rolled

At least one die must be kept after each roll

Qualification requires setting a rolled 1 and 4 aside

Failure to qualify by the end of the round doubles your stake

The remaining 4 die are tallied at the end up to 24 points

I was introduced to the game with a nuance. On the last roll “Bottoms” can be called and in so doing one takes the opposite value of the face. It's an odd rule when thought about for there really is no added advantage to doing this- none at all. 50% of the time the tally increases and 50% of the time the tally decreases. So what is the point?

The game is purely about probabilities. If this many die are pulled I have x chance of qualifying or y chance of getting 23 points and winning by one, then z should be done. But it's a gambling game, and as with many gambling games what fun is simply playing an optimal strategy. Why not add a twist to make one feel involved in the outcome and feel like the results were influenced by a critical decision at a key point in the game? By injecting this possibility a sense of drama is added when lifting up the cup exposing a face of 1, banking the 6 and taking the round. Often some slurred words are exchanged, usually “Lucky!” or “I knew it!”

Is the action over the past 4 days a bottom? I can just as easily pull a 6 as a 1 on that call, so there really is no point. What is important is to look at what I was expecting and take it from there. Regardless of what I feel about the lack of volume or how distrustful I was of the move early on and how it was not confirming in breadth soon enough for me to take action, in the end today was a 300+ day on the reading that I use and this is what I was looking for in order to commence forays into the market again. If there is any meat to this move there will be plenty of time to gorge, otherwise I'll be careful with the incisors because gristle is close to the bone.