- Simple Craps Strategy Rules
- Simple Craps Strategy
- 6 And 8 Craps Strategy
- Simple Craps Strategy Examples
- Crap Game Strategy
Simple Craps Strategy Rules
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Jan 21, 2019 Craps: Lay the 4 or 10 Betting Strategy Laying the (4) or the (10) is a relatively popular bet for those playing the dark (don’t) side of craps. It’s easy, simple and puts you on the casino side of the odds at the table. Answer 31 of 94: I'm playing Craps on my Ipad and I seem to do alright by betting $20 on the pass line, after the point is made I put minimum amount allowed on the 6 and 8 and then I max the bet on the.
I can cover the best craps strategy in a single sentence. Use only the don’t pass or pass line wager, and back it with full odds. This gives you the best chance to win at the craps table.
But there are other things you can do to become a better craps player beyond this simple strategy. Most of these tips involve reducing or controlling your losses, and they’re just as important as using good strategy.
Here’s a list of seven ways you can become a better craps player that don’t have anything to do with strategy. Combine these seven tactics with the simple strategy and you’re going to see better results when you play craps online.
1 – Contrarian Craps Play
Most craps payers lose when they play, so a smart thing to do is watch what they’re doing and look for different ways to play. This is true for most online casino games.
Every craps series starts with a come-out roll. You can bet on the pass or don’t pass space on the table. These are normal wagers, and you need to make one or the other of these. But beyond one of these two wagers, you need to do the opposite of what most craps players do.
The first thing you’re going to do when a point is set is back your original wager with an odds wager. Many craps players ignore this option, but it’s the best wager on the table.
The next step is to ignore all other betting options. Craps players make all kinds of wagers, but every other option just makes you lose more money. Don’t be like most craps players. Make your two main wagers, and don’t make any other bets.
2 – Make Smaller Average Wagers
Real money craps is the same as other casino games in some ways. It’s designed so that the casino makes money and the players lose money. And the more you risk playing craps, the more you lose.
This is why you should never risk more than the table minimum when you make your come-out roll wager. And the lower the table minimum bet is, the better.
I’m going to cover this in more depth in the section about playing craps online, but the table minimum bet amount is usually quite a bit lower when you play online or in a mobile casino. This means you can limit your losses even more when you play online or on a mobile device.
But even if you always play live craps, stick with the lowest possible come-out roll wager to limit your long-term losses.
3 – Stop-Loss Considerations
Limiting your losses when you play craps is just as important as increasing your wins. Both things do the same thing, which is leave more money in your pocket.
A powerful way to limit your losses is to use a stop-loss limit. This works well when you play craps, but it works equally well with any gambling activity.
A stop-loss limit is simple an amount that you choose before you start gambling. If you lose this amount, you stop gambling immediately. You can set your stop-loss limit at any amount that you want. So, this doesn’t really need to change anything about the way you play craps.
The main thing a stop-loss limit does is make sure that you never keep playing when you reach a certain loss point. If you don’t have a stop-loss limit, you might be tempted to keep playing to try to make up some of your losses.
This is always dangerous, because you’re more likely to lose more than make up some of your losses. This is why using a stop-loss limit is so valuable.
When I set a stop-loss limit before I play, I only take the money equal to my limit to gamble with. That way, there’s never a doubt about when I need to stop. If my stop-loss limit is $400, I buy $400 worth of chips and start gambling.
If I run out of chips, I’m done gambling for the day or session.
4 – Stop-Win Considerations
You can also use a stop-win limit. A stop-win limit is a great way to lock in a profit when you play sometimes. And just like a stop-loss limit, you can set your stop-win limit at any level you want.
A stop-win limit works the same basic way that a stop-loss limit works. Anytime that you reach your stop-win limit, you should quit playing immediately.
Here are some of the options for setting a stop-win limit, using the stop-loss limit in the last section:
- A stop-win limit of $400 with a stop-loss limit of $400
- A stop-win limit of $200 with a stop-loss limit of $400
- A stop-win limit of $100 with a stop-loss limit of $400
The thing to understand is that the higher you set your stop-win limit, the more likely it is that you’re not going to reach it. On the other hand, when you set your stop-win limit too low, you might hit it soon and wrap up your real money gambling.
I like to use stop-win limits because when you hit it, you lock in a profit for the session or trip. Play around with a few different stop-loss and stop-win limits to see what works best for you.
5 – Don’t Bet on Every Roll
Craps is a good game to play in the casino. When you stick with a simple strategy, it has a low casino edge. And the way craps is designed, you don’t have to make a new wager on each roll of the dice.
When you make a come-out roll wager, you leave it in play until the wager resolves. This can take several rolls. And when you make an odds bet, you leave it in play until it resolves.
On a roll where a point is set and isn’t resolved for many rolls, you can have two wagers working without risking any more money. This is a good way to limit your losses.
Many craps players feel like they need to keep making wagers while waiting for a come-out roll to resolve, but this just increases their risk. Don’t bet on every roll to limit your risk.
6 – Online Craps Is Usually a Better Option
The game of craps is the same whether you play on a mobile device, play online, or play in your nearest casino. All of the odds and wagers are the same, but online and mobile craps offers a few benefits that live craps doesn’t.
The main benefit is that you control the speed of the game when you play mobile and online craps. You can play slower than when you play live craps, so you risk less money.
Online and mobile craps also have lower bet limits, so you can limit your risk even more. And some mobile and online casinos give craps players a bonus when they play for real money.
Online craps play doesn’t change your odds of winning no matter what you do. But it does give you ways to play longer and limit your losses.
7 – Explore Controlled Shooting
This tactic is surrounded by controversy, but it’s something you need to learn about so you can make a decision about whether or not it can help you. Some craps players believe that you can control the dice enough when you shoot them to alter the outcome of your wagers.
Most craps players don’t believe that dice control works, but if it does work even a little bit, you can use it to make money. I’m not going to tell you if it’s realistic or not, but I recommend checking it out for yourself.
Conclusion
Doing the opposite of what losing gamblers do is usually a step in the right direction, and craps play is no different. Control your losses by using smart bet sizing and stop-loss limits. And lock in a win from time to time by using stop-win limits.
Don’t feel like you have to place a new wager on every roll of the dice. Make your two smart wagers, and let them ride it out until they resolve. This reduces your total risk and lowers your losses.
Check out the benefits if you’re playing craps online and see if controlled shooting is real or not. When you do all of these things, combined with using a simple craps strategy, you’re in a good position to win when you play.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.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.
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. Slot machines for real money.
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.
Simple Craps Strategy
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.
6 And 8 Craps Strategy
- 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.
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
Simple Craps Strategy Examples
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.
Crap Game Strategy
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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