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I’ve never read a blog post or an article about the game of craps or craps strategy that didn’t mention how exciting the game is.
- The best way to play craps is bet either the Don't Pass or Pass, and then Lay/Place odds. The more odds played in the Line (Pass/DP), the less the house makes - however, you can still lose. Using the craps money management method I mentioned above (Ex: Buy-in at $100 @ $5 Min). Bet the minimum ($5) on either the Pass or Don't Pass Line at first.
- The most common bets in craps are the pass line bet and the come bet. These are the most basics bets in the game—bets that the shooter will succeed. In the long run, over 495 “rounds,” the casino will win either of those bets on average 251 times. The player will only win an average of 244 of those bets.
- I'll show you the five best craps strategies that give you the advantage and win big! During my years of playing craps in the casinos, I've had the opportunity to watch and learn from a few successful dice players - the guys who almost always know when, where and how to bet - never relying on a hunch, whim or 'luck'.
1) Wait until the shooter establishes a point before placing your bets. 2) Once the point is determined, place $6.00 (two units) on both the 6 and 8 (For a total wager of $12.00). 3) After a single hit, ask the Dealer to go down one unit on both the 6 & 8. Know the basic craps rules and the types of bets used; know the most commonly used strategies in craps and have the proper tools to know how to play craps and win with your own betting tactics; be able to recognize the best online craps opportunities and promotions and choose the best online casino tables.
Okay. Now that we have that out of the way.
The purpose of this post is to introduce you to the 10 most fundamental concepts in craps strategy. This is not a get rich quick scheme. I don’t have any systems to sell you.
My only interest is in helping you save money at the gambling tables and have fun while you’re doing it.
The truth is that craps is a negative expectation game. If you play long enough, you’ll eventually go broke.
But you can get more entertainment for your money if you understand some of the basics of craps strategy.
1- Start Your Craps Career by Sticking with the Most Easily Understood Bets on the Table
The basic bets in craps are the pass and don’t pass bets. These are bets on whether the shooter “succeeds” or not. These are also the best bets on the table. The house edge for each of those bets is, respectively, 1.41% and 1.36%.
Both those bets pay even money, which make them marginally less exciting than some of the other bets. But the payout isn’t what’s important for each bet. It’s the house edge.
That’s a mathematical estimate of how much of each bet you expect to lose on average over the long run. It’s always expressed as a percentage.
If you bet $100 on every roll of the dice and place the pass bet every time, the casino expects your losses to average $1.41 for every bet you place.
This is exceptionally low compared to most bets at most other casino games. In fact, it’s significantly better than most of the other bets at the craps table.
At an average craps table, you’ll see about 100 rolls of the dice per hour. If you lose $1.41 on average for each of them, you’ll see an hourly loss average out to $141.
That sounds awful until you compare it to other games like slot machines, which usually have a house edge of 7% or more, or roulette, which has a house edge of 5.26%.
Most of the time I recommend taking the bet with the lowest house edge, but in craps, I think it’s so much more fun to root for the shooter that it’s worth the 0.05% difference in house edge.
2- Continue Your Craps Career by Placing One of Only 2 Bets in the Casino with a House Edge of 0%
A bet with a house edge of 0% is a bet that will break even in the long run. I only know of 2 bets in the casino with a house edge of 0%:
- 1. The double up bet in video poker
- 2. The odds bet in craps
When you’ve made a pass or don’t pass bet in craps, you can place a 2nd bet if and when the shooter sets a point. You win this 2nd bet if the shooter succeeds if you placed a pass bet, and you win it if the shooter fails if you placed a don’t pass bet.
The tricky thing about the odds bet is that it isn’t labeled on the craps table. You place the bet by putting the additional chips behind your initial pass or don’t pass bet.
Since this bet has no house edge, it’s an opportunity to get more money into action without any real long-term risk.
Some writers combine the 2 bets together for purposes of illustrating the total house edge on the 2 bets combined. I don’t see much point in doing that.
I can tell you, though, that the best strategy decision you can make in craps is to take the biggest odds bet that you can, every time it’s available.
The odds bet is part of what causes the crazy streaks of luck in the game, but that’s also part of the charm of craps.
3- Stay Far Away from the Bets in the Center of the Table
Not every bet at the craps table offers good odds. In fact, most of the bets offer lousy odds. I mentioned earlier that you can measure how good a bet on a casino game is by how low the house edge is.
Let’s take a look at the house edge for some of the bets in the middle of the craps table:
The “any 7” bet pays off 4 to 1 if the shooter rolls any total of 7 on the next roll. The odds of winning that bet, though, are 5 to 1. The difference is the house edge.
- Assume you bet $100 on any 7 for 36 rolls. And also assume that you have a perfect distribution for those rolls.
- You’ll win that bet 6 times, but you’ll lose 30 times.
- With a 4 to 1 payout, you’ll win $400 X 6, or $2400.
- But you’ll have lost $100 X $30, or $3000.
- Your net loss is $600.
- Since you placed 36 bets, you can average the amount lost into the number of bets to get your average loss per bet. In this case, it’s $16.67, which is 16.67% of $100.
And that’s just one example.
The house edge on the various bets in the center of the craps table range from 2.78% to 16.67%. None of them are good bets.
Just stick with the pass and don’t pass bets. Skip all the sucker bets in the middle of the table.
4- Steer Clear of Betting Systems Where You Increase and Decrease the Size of Your Bet Based on Previous Outcomes
You’ll sometimes see craps “experts” suggesting that you use some variation of the Martingale System for craps. The Martingale is a betting system used with even money bets at table games. You double the size of your bet after each loss until you win.
SEEMS fool-proof. But it’s not.
![Best Best](https://newblog.888casino.com/blog/sites/newblog.888casino.com/files/2018-01/hop-bet-craps.jpg)
Here’s an example of how it might work at the craps table:
You bet $5 (the minimum in this casino) on the pass line bet, and you lose. On your next bet, you bet $10. If you win this time, you’ll recoup your $5 loss on the previous bet and have a $5 profit to show for it.
You bet $5 (the minimum in this casino) on the pass line bet, and you lose. On your next bet, you bet $10. If you win this time, you’ll recoup your $5 loss on the previous bet and have a $5 profit to show for it.
But if you lose again, you double the size of your last bet again, this time, from $10 to $20. This recoups the $5 you lost and the $10 you lost, and you have a $5 profit.
You can continue this progression as long as your money holds out and as long as your bet stays beneath the table max.
The problem with the Martingale System is that doubling the size of your bets increases your bet size far faster than you’d expect. You might think it’s hard to lose the same bet 8 or 9 times in a row, but it happens more often than you think.
When it does, you see a devastating loss. In fact, that loss will be so devastating that you’ll lose all those tiny profits you made previously.
Here’s what 8 bets in a row look like if you start with $5:
- 1. $5
- 2. $10
- 3. $20
- 4. $40
- 5. $80
- 6. $160
- 7. $320
- 8. $640
A lot of craps tables with a $5 minimum have a $500 maximum bet. If you lose 7 times in a row, you break the system and can’t continue.
Also, if you lose 7 times in a row, you’ll have lost $635 already. To place a $640 bet at this point means you’ll have put $1275 in action over the course of 8 bets.
And if you win that final bet?
You’re only up $5 for the entire session.
Betting systems like the Martingale have no way of overcoming the house edge. They seem like a good idea in the short run, but in the long run, you’ll lose just as much money (or more) using this kind of betting system as you would if you just randomly varied the size of your bets.
5- Don’t Try to Hedge Your Bets Either
You’re hedging your bets when you place a bet intended to offset the losses from another bet.
An example might make it easier to understand:
You place a $10 bet on the pass line. You simultaneously bet $2 on the “any craps” bet. (The any craps bet wins if the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12.)
You place a $10 bet on the pass line. You simultaneously bet $2 on the “any craps” bet. (The any craps bet wins if the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12.)
It’s impossible to lose with this bet. If the shooter rolls a 7 or an 11 on the come out roll, you win $10. Sure, you’ll lose the $2 any craps bet, but you’ll have a net win of $8.
If the shooter rolls a 2, 3 or 12 on the come out roll, you win $14 (7 to 1). Sure, you’ll have lost the $10 pass line bet, but you’ll have a net win of $4.
This seems like a no-brainer strategy. The problem is that it doesn’t account for when the shooter rolls a point.
How often does this happen?
- You have 36 possible outcomes in a come out roll.
- 4 of those possible outcomes are any craps. (1,1; 1,2; 2,1; 6,6).
- 8 of those possible outcomes win the pass line bet (1,6; 2,5; 3,4; 4,3; 5,2; 6,1; 5,6; 6,5).
- That’s 12 possible outcomes where you’re guaranteed a profit.
- But on the other 24 outcomes (2 out of 3 times), the shooter will set a point. In each of those cases, the “any craps” bet loses right out of the gate. You still face the house edge when the shooter tries to roll the point.
The hedge bet doesn’t change your odds of winning. It only looks that way.
Almost all craps betting systems involve raising and lowering your bets based on when you’re winning or losing. But they also often involve systems for hedging your bets.
Don’t bother unless you think it sounds like a fun way to place bets. Even then, the house edge on the any craps bet is higher than you should be willing to pay.
6- Play Craps for the Lowest Stakes that Remain Interesting for You
You can calculate how much an hour of gambling at a given game will cost (on average) by multiplying the house edge by the number of bets per hour. You multiply that by the average size of your bet to get your expected hourly loss.
In the short run, this number is meaningless. It’s just a long-term expectation, and your results will vary from that mathematical expectation. But the longer you play, the closer you’ll eventually come to seeing the mathematical expectation become a reality.
This means that in the long run, you’ll lose twice as much money betting $10 per roll as you would if you were betting $5 per roll. The bigger your bet size, the more expected loss is.
I have just as much fun at the craps table betting $5 as I do betting $10 or $20, but you might have more money than I do. (I am, after all, only a poor gambling blogger.)
Years ago, I read a great book called Poker Night by John Vorhaus. He wrote about how to choose the stakes for your poker game. If you’re playing for such low stakes that winning or losing doesn’t matter to you at all, poker is an exercise in boredom.
He suggest playing in a game based on your “gulp limit.” That’s the amount of money that would make you swallow really hard if you lost your wallet with that amount in it.
That’s the size of your starting bankroll—your gulp limit. You can back-calculate the stakes you want to play for by dividing that bankroll by 10 or 20.
If your gulp limit is $200, you should be playing for $10 or $20 per roll.
7- Find the Casinos Who Offer You the Biggest Odds Bet Multiples
Since the odds bet offsets the house edge on the pass line and don’t pass line bet in proportion to how much you wager on it, the more you bet on it, the better off you are. But casinos have a maximum bet size for the odds bet based on a multiple of your original pass or don’t pass bet.
For example, the Circus Circus Casino in Las Vegas has a minimum bet of $5 and a maximum bet of $1000. The maximum odds bet you can take is 2X the size of your pass or don’t pass bet.
If you’re betting $5 per roll, the most you can bet on the odds bet is $10. If you’re betting $1000 per roll (you high roller, you), you can bet $2000 on the odds bet.
You can find casinos in Las Vegas which allow you to take 10X or even 15X odds, but 2X is more common. You should look for casinos which offer bigger limits on the odds bet.
Some casinos have 3x 4X 5X odds bet maximums. In these casinos, you can bet 3X your original bet if the point is 4 or 10, 4X your original bet if the point is 5 or 9, and 5X your original bet if the point is 6 or 8.
This is meant to simplify payouts for the craps dealers. Those bets pay off at 2 to 1, 3 to 2, and 6 to 5, respectively.
If you make the pass line bet with the maximum odds bet at a 3X 4X 5X table, the payout is always 7 to 1 on your total action. This makes it easier for the dealer.
Still, you’re better off finding a casino that allows you to bet more than that on the odds bet.
My suggestion for the best place to play craps in Las Vegas is the Casino Royale. It’s on the Strip, and it features some of the lowest betting minimums and highest possible odds bets in Las Vegas. You can bet $2 per roll of the dice in craps, and you can place an odds bet of up to 100X, or $200.
The cumulative house edge on a pass line bet taking maximum odds drops to just 0.02%. You won’t find a bet (or combination of bets) anywhere in any casino in the world with such a low house edge—unless you’re a card counter or an expert video poker player. (Those professions are outside the scope of this post, though—sorry.)
8- Consider Learning How to Set and Control the Dice
The idea behind dice setting and dice control is that a skilled shooter can affect the probability of getting a certain total on the dice. If skill comes into play when you’re rolling the dice, craps becomes a game more like darts than roulette.
I’m skeptical of this possibility, but I’ve seen gambling writers and experts I respect who lend the idea some credence. Even if it’s possible, I don’t think it’s practical for most gamblers to try this. Here’s why:
To be able to control the dice, you’d need to practice. You can’t practice for free in a casino, so you’d need to build or buy a casino-equivalent craps table to put in your garage or basement.
Then you’d need to practice for an insane number of repetitions to have any degree of statistical certainty that your skill is in fact affecting your outcomes. Anyone can look like they have skill by getting lucky on a dozen throws of the dice in a row. You’ll need to record your results until you have confidence in your statistical results.
That’s a lot of work for something you might turn out not to be good at. It’s also a lot of work on something that might not even be possible.
I don’t know of any casinos changing their rules or game conditions to combat dice setters. So I’m skeptical of how big a problem it is.
9- Try Playing Free Craps Games Online
I shouldn’t have to go into a lot of detail about this tip for it to make sense. If you’re playing craps without risking any money, you can’t lose any money. Online casinos offer play money games where you don’t risk a thing. At a lot of these casinos, you don’t even have to register an account.
10- See if You Can Find Some Buddies to Play “Street Craps” With
Street craps is the game played in an alleyway or someone’s house. You’ll see people playing street craps in a lot of old movies.
The most important difference between street craps and casino craps is the lack of betting options. In street craps, you only have the 2 betting options—pass and don’t pass. The rules for these bets work the same as they would if you were playing in a casino.
You’re just betting against the other players.
Conclusion
I can’t imagine a game in the casino more fun than craps. Luckily, it also offers some of the best odds in the casino—IF you place the right bets. Once you learn the basics of the game, it’s easy to do well at craps at least part of the time. Just stick with the bets which have a low house edge.
The rest of what you need to know about craps strategy can be boiled down to avoiding bad strategies. The bad bets at the craps table are awful. There’s never a reason to place a bet on something as silly as “hard eight,” even though PT Anderson made a great movie with that title.
Other trap to avoid is thinking that hedging your bets or raising and lowering your bets based on previous results will do anything to help you win. Those tactics don’t work and never have.
Craps is a notoriously streaky game. This is good news and bad news. It means you can have big winning streaks. Sadly, it also means you can have fast losing streaks, too.
And the losing streaks are marginally more common than the winning streaks. That’s how a game with a negative expectation for the player works. Play long enough, and you’ll lose all your money.
But you can sure have some fun and walk away a winner from the craps table once in a while.
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Did you know that Craps has been around since the 12th century? Back then, it was a game you played on the streets. Because it involves only a pair of dice or pig knuckles, it’s easy to play anywhere.
Then, people called it Hazard. It later became Craps, from the French word “crapaud” for “toad.” This refers to how people sat when they played the game on the streets.
The modern Craps we know of today though was a version developed by John H. Winn in the 1900s. In this article, we’ll teach you how to play Craps that evolved from Winn’s version.
If you want to know how to play Craps for dummies, keep reading. We’ll dissect this game to show you how Craps for beginners works.
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Craps: The Basics
Some people think the rules of Craps are complex, but it’s only about the results of a pair of dice the players roll. If you think about it that way, the game becomes less complicated. It’s simple enough for people to keep playing, and the fact that it’s one of the highest paying games in casinos helps too.
Before we go into the basics of how to play Craps though, let’s talk about the table first. Make sure to remember the terms we introduce for later.
The table has several sections, including the pass line, don’t pass bar, come, and don’t come. There are also sections numbered 4 to 10 for the place bets and the field for field bets. You may also notice the numbers 6 and 8 on a different section.
Then, let’s talk about the people on the table. There’s the boxman, who’s responsible for overseeing the game and handling the money. In many casinos, there’s one boxman for one pair of tables.
There’s also a stickman, who uses a stick to move around the dice on the table. The dealers beside the stickman announce the results of the throw and manage the bets, collect chips, or pay out players based on the results.
6 To 1 Craps Strategy
The game can look complicated and intimidating because of this set-up. But we’ll explain in detail what all these terms mean.
How to Play Craps and Place Bets
The thing that complicates Craps is the numerous ways to place bets and the different payouts. All of them, though, rely on the results of the throw to determine whether you’ve won or not.
If you know all the ways to place bets, then you’re an expert on Craps. However, even if you only know one or two, you can still play, which is why it’s one of the most popular games in Australian casinos.
1. Pass Line and Don’t Pass Bets
The most common bet is the pass line, in which you place the bets before the initial come-out roll, which we’ll explain later. The general rule is that if you see the sign “OFF” on the table, that means you can place your bet.
Cyber club casino. The pass line bets are pretty straightforward; the payout is 1:1, and winning requires you to roll either a 7 or 11. You lose, however, if the sum of the pair of dice is equal to 2, 3, or 12.
If the results are anything else, that’s a point and your bets stay on the Pass Line.
When there’s a point, you win if the throw results in that number again. If it rolls a 7, though, the wager loses.
Note that if the roll establishes a point, your pass line or don’t pass bets stay on the table.
You can come out with winnings, no matter how small they may be, by only knowing this one rule. Nonetheless, you have to know other ways to place bets. You’ll have to know them all if you plan on going pro.
The don’t pass bets are the exact opposite; you’re betting on a 2 or 3 to pop up. You then lose if the results are 7 or 11. A 12 is a push, which means you neither win nor lose.
In the event of a point, you lose if the shooter manages to roll the point again and you win if it’s a 7.
These bets are the most recommended bets for your strategy that’ll let you walk away with profits.
2. Come and Don’t Come Bets
After the come-out roll and after the table establishes a point, that’s the time you can place come and don’t come bets. This means people can join the game even after the round has started, but they place these bets instead of the pass and don’t pass bets.
These are similar to pass and don’t pass bets in that winning or losing depends on whether the roll is a 7, 11, 2, 3, or 12. The table may also establish a point if the result is otherwise.
Note that the point after the come-out roll doesn’t affect your bets because they only apply to those who have pass line and don’t pass bets. If the shooter rolls the point again, you don’t win; rather, those who placed the pass bets win.
Likewise, if there’s a point and the first roll after you join is a 7, you win and the pass or don’t pass wagers lose.
Cafe casino player reviews. If the first roll after you join the game is anything but a 7, 11, 2, 3, or 12, that’s your point. It only applies to come bets, so you win if it’s rolled again and lose if a 7 comes out.
In the same vein, don’t come bets are like don’t pass bets. You win if the result of the first throw is 2 or 3, but you lose if the result is a 7 or 11. If there’s a point, you win if the shooter rolls a 7 and lose if he/she rolls the point again.
3. Odds Bets
Odds bets are for the advanced players; you place them after the shooter establishes a point.
They complement your bets on the pass line, don’t pass, come, and don’t come, which means there are four types of odds bets. It’s called “taking the odds” if you place a bet on the point and “laying the odds” if you place a bet against it.
The way to win on an odd bet is to win your original bet, whether it’s a pass line, don’t pass, come, or don’t come.
The payouts vary depending on the point established. For pass line odds bets, the payout is 2:1 if the point is a 4 or 10. If it’s a 5 or 9, the payout is 3:2, and if the point is a 6 or 8, you get 6:5.
For don’t pass odds bets, the payouts are in reverse; they’re paid out 1:2 for 4 or 10, 2:3 for 5 or 9, and 5:6 for 6 or 8.
The come and don’t come odds bets operate in the same principles as the pass and don’t pass odds bets.
The advantage of odds bets is that there’s no house edge, so you get paid at true odds. This also means there’s a limit to the amount you can stake on your wager. In some casinos, you can only stake up to three times, but others may allow more.
4. Place to Win or Lose Bets
Place bets allow you to bet on a number between 4 and 10, which we call the place numbers. In essence, it’s like betting on a point, but you establish your own point. You’re betting that the shooter will roll the number you chose first before a 7.
The payouts also vary depending on the number you bet on. If you win with a 6 or 8, it has a payout of 7:6; these bets pay 7:5 on the number 5 or 9 and 9:5 on the number 4 or 10.
Another type of place bets, called place to lose bets, is the exact opposite. Like the don’t pass or don’t come bets, you win if the shooter rolls a 7 before your chosen number.
Again, the payouts vary; a 6 or 8 pays 4:5, a 5 or 9 pays 5:8, and 4 or 10 pays 5:11.
5. Buy and Lay Bets
Buy bets are like place bets; you bet on a specific number to roll before a 7. The only difference, however, is that you have to pay a 5% commission, which you pay when you place the stake or when you win.
They’re also like odds bets in terms of payouts, which means the payout is 6:5 if the shooter rolls a 6 or 8, 3:2 for 5 or 9, and 2:1 for 4 or 10.
Lay bets are like the place to lose bets with payouts like the payouts on the don’t pass odds bets. A 6 or 8 pays 5:6, 5 or 9 pays 2:3, and 4 or 10 pays 1:2.
6. Field Bets
Field bets are also popular because they’re always settled on the next roll; you place the bet before that.
If you look at the table, the field contains the numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, and 12; if the result of the next throw is any of these numbers, you win. But you lose if the roll is 5, 6, 7, and 8.
The payout is 1:1 on all of these numbers except 2 and 12, which have higher payouts. Some casinos pay 2:1 on both, while others pay 3:1 on one and then 2:1 on the other.
Don’t forget to collect any winnings because if you don’t, it means you’re letting it ride, which means putting your initial wager plus your winnings on the line.
7. Other Bets
The big 6 or 8 bets are pretty straightforward; you’re betting that a 6 or 8 comes out before a 7. Payout is 1:1; it’s simple enough to attract a lot of people but it has a house edge of 9.09%, so you may not want to play this all the time and for an extended period.
You may also bet on double numbers, which amounts to a hard number like 4, 6, 8, or 10. If your throw gives you either of the 2 + 2, 3 + 3, 4 + 4, and 5 + 5 dice combinations, this means you rolled it the “hard way.”
The payout depends on which hard number you bet on; a hard 6 or 8 pays 9:1 and a hard 4 and 10 pays 7:1.
Try Craps the Next Time You’re in the Casino
6 And 8 Craps Strategy
![Craps Craps](https://wizardofodds.com/wizfiles/play_ff/36/highlight.gif)
Our Craps for dummies guide should get you ready for the game next time you visit the casino. It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it.
You should be aware of the superstitions of Craps players, though. Be respectful, don’t yell the word “seven,” don’t mind the lady throwing a penny under the table, and so on.
After learning how to play Craps, be sure to check out our casino etiquette guide next.