FREE
CRAPS STRATEGY
Trying
to give a brief strategy guide to Craps is like trying to teach calculus
quickly: 99% of the time it ain't gonna happen. Tough! Let's give it a shot
anyway.
Let
me give you my strategy for just about everything: take the best odds you can
get, nudge them in your favor as much as you possibly can and play smart. In
Craps the best odds on the table are Pass, Don't Pass, Come, and Don't Come
because they give the house the smallest edge. Everything else is for the
impatient, the imprudent or the "gifted" -- rubes one and all if you
ask me.
The Best Bets
The
numbers people say that a Pass bet gives the house a 1.41% edge. And a Don't
Pass yields slightly less than 1.40% to the house. These are the Line Bets and
they're the heart of a winner's strategy because everything else gives too much
away. For example:
See
what I mean? Craps is about dice and dice are about percentages. The smart
money gives as little away as possible and that means Pass/Don't Pass at around
1.4%. Those bets and how to improve them is what this article is about.
While
we're at it, it's worth keeping in mind that Come/Don't Come bets follow the
same odds and logic. The only thing different about them is the timing as to
when they're placed.
Improve Your Bets
Okay,
so the smart bets are Pass/Don't Pass (and Come/Don't Come). Now how can we
improve the best bets in Craps? The Odds, that's how -- either by Buying
Odds when you play "right" (Pass) or Laying Odds when you play
"wrong" (Don't Pass). These are placed in addition to your initial
bet after the Come Out roll and the reason they improve your initial bet is
that the house takes no edge on Odds. That's right, zero house. All you're
betting against is the straight dice. But you could spend a long time looking
at the felt trying to find where the Odds bets are supposed to go. The truth is
they're not marked. It's a "hidden" bet, so to speak.
The
word is that in Vegas the big houses simply take the position that it's not
their responsibility to inform the players of all their betting options, so the
Odds stay unmarked. Needless to say, our online friends are not in the business
of correcting Vegas so they take the same approach: no Odds to be seen. No
biggie, it's an easy bet to make and it will improve your original Line bet by
almost halving the house edge or better, if the house let's you do it.
Placing an Odds Bet
An
Odds bet is made by supplementing your original Pass/Don't Pass bet by an
additional amount after you've made it past the Come Out roll. The bets are
placed right beside your initial bet on the Pass/Don't Pass line. In Vegas it's
typical for the house to restrict these bets to Single Odds, meaning you can
match your Come Out bet with an equal amount. And as I said, that'll about half
the house edge on your initial bet.
The
good news is that the online casinos I've sampled let you bet double your
initial Line bet. This is called Double Odds and it cuts their edge even
further, to a little more than 40% of their initial edge. So that 1.4% they
originally had is now down to about 0.6%. It's a smart play. Generally
speaking, and assuming you can handle the gaff, buy the biggest Odds you can
find because the larger the Odds bet, the more you shave off the house edge on
your initial bet.
Buying Odds
When
you play "right" and Buy Odds, you're supplementing a Pass bet and if
you win you'll get your winnings based on the Point. So assuming a Pass Bet of
$5:
|
Buying Double Odds ($10) |
||
|
Point |
Payout |
Pays (Win) |
|
4 or 10 |
2-1 |
$30 ($20) |
|
5 or 9 |
3-2 |
$25 ($15) |
|
6 or 8 |
6-5 |
$22 ($12) |
I'm
just showing your Odds win here, not the total. In other words, on a right bet
of $5, where the Come Out roll sets a Point of 10, your total take on
the win will be $40: your original $5 bet back plus a winning on that of $5,
plus your Odds bet back ($10) and the winnings from that ($20).
Laying Odds
Conversely,
when you Lay Odds you're supplementing a Don't Pass Bet and win as follows
(assume an initial $5 Don't Pass bet):
|
Laying Double Odds ($10) |
||
|
Point |
Payout |
Pays (Win) |
|
4 or 10 |
2-1 |
$15 ($5) |
|
5 or 9 |
3-2 |
$16 ($6) |
|
6 or 8 |
6-5 |
$18 ($8) |
So
to follow the Buy example above, an initial wrong bet of $5 on a Come Out roll
of 10 will yield a total win of $25: your initial $5 back plus its win
of $5, your $10 Odds bet back plus its win of $5.
Now
here's another little trick. Most casinos only pay in denominations as small as
$1. In other words, you lose any fraction of a dollar that you would otherwise
have coming. Because of the Odds your Laying, 3-2 and 6-5 in particular, you're
losing fractions if you bet as given above because most multiples of 10 are not
wholly divisible by 3 or 6. On the 5/9 Point you lose $0.67, and on the 6/8
Point you lose $0.33. Nothing much, you say? But we're talking about not giving
the house anything more than they already have, right? So let's look at
another scenario.
Now
let's say you place a wrong bet of $6 instead of $5. In that case your Double
Odds bet can be $12. And as you'll see from the following table, you lose no
fractions on this bet. You keep all the win you have coming because all
multiples of 12 are wholly divisible by 3 (as in the 3-2 odds) and by 6 (as in
the 6-5 Odds).
|
Laying Double Odds ($12) |
||
|
Point |
Payout |
Pays (Win) |
|
4 or 10 |
2-1 |
$18 ($6) |
|
5 or 9 |
3-2 |
$20 ($8) |
|
6 or 8 |
6-5 |
$22 ($10) |
So
basically what I'm saying is if you're going to Lay Odds, make your initial
Don't Pass bet a multiple of $6, and bet full on your Double Odds for a
multiple of $12.
The
same logic applies, by the way, with Buying Odds. Make your Pass bet a multiple
of $5 so your Double Odds will be in multiples of $10. This is optimal because
your divisions are going to be by 1, 2, and 5.
Testing the
Strategy
Most
players are going to prefer playing right and Buy the Odds because the payouts
look larger, but then you're playing against slightly higher odds. If you're
hardcore about playing to win you'd be well advised to look seriously at
playing wrong, taking the smaller house edge, and grinding it out. The gurus
sum it up by saying that playing right and Buying Odds is the more popular and
a bit riskier. Playing wrong and Laying Odds is considerably less popular with
the Craps crowds, shaves the house edge to a minimum and is for players with a
large roll and the patience to grind out the winnings over extended play.
So
I tested the strategy on a number of online casinos. What I found was the
playing wrong and Laying Odds was definitely to my tastes, which is no surprise
because I have always preferred the Don't Pass bets. Now when it comes to
kicking out for the Double Odds I have to say that I found it better for my
peace of mind, if not strictly for the best edge, to not Lay Double on every
round.
If
you look at the Point frequencies you'll see that there are three ways to roll
a 4 or 10, four ways to roll a 5 or 9, and five ways to roll a 6 or 8 and,
finally, six ways to roll an Out 7. In other words, when betting wrong and
always placing Double Odds, those 6's and 8's are gonna turn up fairly
frequently and you're going to lose your bets. In short, it's a game of nerves
to play that way and, speaking for myself, I don't like it. So what I've done
is Double Odds on the 4 and 10 and let the rest ride. What I'm doing, of
course, is betting exceptionally conservatively since the 4/10 Points are the
least likely to show and are therefore the safest wrong bets to Double up on.
It makes for a slow game but I was almost always able to better my holdings if
I stuck with it. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I like it when the
chips pile up and I don't like it when they drain away. It's basically a style
of play that suits my temperament.
Conclusion
So
there it is: Pass/Don't Pass (or Come/Don't Come) only, while playing the
highest Odds you can get will help you shave the house edge to a minimum.
Modify to suit your tastes, as I did in standing on every wrong bet save the
4/10 Points. And finally, don't give the house your fractions. Shooters up!