Craps Gambling Game

I’m writing a series of blog posts about casino games and the good and bad strategies for playing those games.

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Craps is a game where players make wagers on the outcome of the roll, or a series of rolls, of a pair of dice. The craps table at any casino is always packed because this isn’t your typical game of dice. Saying that craps is a casino game played with dice is like telling people that Mount Rushmore is a sculpture of some dead guys. The Game of Craps for Beginners, A Simple Walkthrough. My favorite game in the casino is craps. I am not going argue the merits of craps versus blackjack, or whether or not craps can be beaten via dice control or dice influence. Rather, I am going to attempt to walk you through the game of craps, as if you have never ever played the game of craps. Beginner craps players, if you can remember only one bet, make it the pass line bet. This is the starting bet for all craps games and has one of the lowest house edges at 1.41% and highest odds of landing (251 to 244 to be exact). This is one of the best bets craps players can make, with payout odds of 1 to 1. Evolution Craps is the exciting and unique online version of Craps that fans of this legendary game have been waiting for. Craps is an extremely popular game in land-based casinos, especially in the United States. For a first-time player, Craps can seem almost overwhelming, but in this unique online version we're making the game more accessible than ever by introducing an easy-to-play user.

Craps is one of my favorite casino games, so I’ve been looking forward to writing this one.

And the beautiful thing about craps is that it’s a game of pure chance. The best strategy is just to choose the bets with the lowest edge for the house and have fun.

But I’ll have some things to say about some of the strategies and systems that other writers promote, too.

They’re mostly bad craps strategies.

Here’s the Only Craps Strategy You Need

When you’re dealing with an entirely random game – like craps – the only strategy that matters is choosing the bets with the lowest house edge and having fun.

I’ll have something to say about shooters and whether they have control over the outcomes later in this post, but for now, let’s just agree that games like craps are purely chance.

In other games that are entirely random, like slot machines, you don’t even really need to decide which bet to place. It’s chosen for you before you sit down.

When playing craps for real money, you have a handful of good bets you can make, but most of the bets on the table are bad. Just skip the bad bets, and you’re all set.

The Bests Bets at the Craps Table

The best bets at the craps table are the pass line bet and the don’t pass bet.

The come and don’t come bets are also great wagers.

I always advise casino gamblers to try to limit their gambling to games where the house edge is lower than 2% — preferably 1.5% or lower.

The house edge for the pass and come bets is the same, 1.41%, which means they qualify.

The house edge for the don’t pass and don’t come bets is even lower, 1.36%, but the 0.05% isn’t worth worrying about. Most people prefer to root for the shooter to succeed.

The other bet to think about at the craps table is the odds bet. This is a bet you can only place after making one of the 4 bets I already mentioned and when the shooter has set a point.

This is one of the only bets in the casino that has no house edge. It’s a break-even bet, but it can be expensive.

It can also drive the effective house edge on the money you have in action down to almost nothing.

Here’s how that works.

How the Odds Bet Changes the House Edge for the Better

If you’re betting on the pass line and the shooter sets a point, you can expect to lose $1.41 for every $100 you bet. That’s on average and in the long run.

If you’re playing at a casino that only allows you to place an odds bet at 1X the size of your pass line bet, you can put another $100 into action.

Your expected loss remains $1.41, though, which effectively cuts the house edge in half, from 1.41% to 0.71%.

If you’re able to bet 2X your original bet on the odds bet, you can lower that even further to 0.36%. (You have $300 in action, but your expected loss is still only $1.41.)

The more you’re able to bet on the odds bet, the lower the house edge for all the money you have in action becomes.

It’s clear why betting on the pass line and taking the most odds that you can is an effective strategy. With the odds bet, you can get the house edge in craps lower than 0.5% at least some of the time at the table, making it an even better game than blackjack.

And what’s more, you don’t have to memorize basic strategy to get the low house edge at craps.

You just need a big enough casino bankroll to make the right bets, and you need enough sense to avoid the bad bets at the table – of which there are many.

Any Strategy that Involves Placing ANY Other Bets at the Craps Table Is a BAD Craps Strategy

There’s a reason gambling experts measure bets according to their house edge. That’s because it’s the single best indicator of how good or bad a bet is.

The house edge is a statistical estimate of how much money you’ll lose as a percentage of your original bet over the long run.

If the house edge is 1.41%, the casino expects to win an average of $1.41 every time you bet $100.

If the house edge is 16.66%, the casino expects to win an average of $16.66 every time you bet $100.

Which bet looks like the better bet for the casino?

And which one looks like the better bet for the gambler?

It shouldn’t be hard to make the distinction.

Even the best of the bad bets on the craps table are inferior to the 1.41% or 1.36% you can get from the pass, don’t pass, come, and don’t come bets.

And trust me on this:

You can have PLENTY of fun sticking with the basic bets at the craps table.

Betting Systems Where You Raise and Lower the Size of Your Bets Are Bad Strategies

The classic example of this kind of betting system is the Martingale System, where you double the size of your bets after each loss. When you do this repeatedly, you eventually win back the money you’ve lost along with a profit of one unit.

The problem with a system like the Martingale is that you’ll eventually run into a big enough losing streak that it will wipe out all those small profits and then some.

Most people underestimate how quickly a bet’s size gets when doubling after every loss.

They also overestimate how likely they are to avoid long losing streaks.

If you double a $5 bet once, that’s $10.

But if you run into a losing streak of 8 bets in a row, you’re looking at having to bet $640 to make up for your losses.

Also, every roll of the dice is an independent event. The odds don’t change based on how many times you’ve won or lost in a row.

You might think the probability of losing that 8^th bet is lower than the likelihood of losing the first one, but the truth is that the dice have no memory. They have the same 6 sides, no matter how many times you’ve lost in a row.

Each bet in craps is an independent event, and any betting system will assume that the odds are changing based on how many times in a row you’ve won or lost.

Money Management Strategies Don’t Hurt Anything, but They Won’t Improve Your Odds of Winning, Either

Money management strategies involve having strict gambling discipline about how much of your bankroll you’re willing to risk before quitting the game. They also require you to stop when you’ve won an arbitrary amount of money.

Money management techniques are often used in conjunction with betting systems.

Here’s an example of a money management strategy in craps:

You decide your bankroll for the session is $250, and you’re playing for $5 per roll of the dice.

Your stop-loss limit is $100, so, if your bankroll drops to $150, you must quit the craps session and go do something else.

Your win goal is $250, so once your bankroll gets up to $500, you must quit the game and go do something else.

This kind of strategy might increase your chances of walking away from the game a winner.

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But that’s only because a lot of gamblers will just keep playing until they’ve lost their entire stake. They just don’t generally have a lot of sense about that sort of thing.

The Jury’s Out on Dice Setting or Dice Control

I’ve seen multiple reputable gambling writers express interest and some belief that some craps shooters can influence the probability of specific outcomes. I’m skeptical – in the extreme – but I’ll give it an appropriate amount of credence.

The idea is that you hold the dice a specific way – “setting” the dice – then throw with a minimum amount of force – just enough to hit the back wall and eliminate most of the rolling action.

A controlled shooting expert doesn’t have to be perfect. Instead, they’re trying to be like someone who’s playing darts. They improve the probability enough to change the negative expectation on a bet to a positive expectation.

You can buy books and videos explaining how to get an edge at craps this way, but I can’t imagine the amount of practice and record-keeping required to have any confidence in your ability to change the odds.

Imagine if you spent 1000 hours trying to learn how to control the dice and coming up short. Maybe you just don’t have the knack for it.

That doesn’t sound like a good deal to me.

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I’d rather learn to count cards in blackjack.

Conclusion

Those are the best and the worst of the strategies I know of for playing craps in the casino. I know plenty of people who would disagree with every recommendation I’ve made, but the math behind the game doesn’t lie.

The best strategy is to stick with the bets with the lowest house edge and have as much fun as you can.

Table Of Contents

• Craps rolls are one of the most interesting events that happen on the Casino floor.
• This Craps strategy guide for beginners helps you understand the ins and outs of the pass or come bet.
• Read it before your round begins to understand your chances to win playing online Craps.

Craps is one of the most exciting gambling games since the Middle Age. If you don’t know how to play Craps and you haven’t played online yet, now it's your chance.

What you see here is the only craps for dummies guide you'll ever need to learn the game.

This is an all-in-one Craps for beginners resource where you find the best Craps strategies, the best Craps Casinos to play online, and all the proposition bets you should avoid.

Also, I added the basics of Craps etiquette because placing one or two winning bets doesn't authorize you to do everything you want or behave like Will Ferrel, Amy Poehler, and Jason Mantzoukas in The House.

Although it's one of the most popular and played games at land-based casinos, the game of craps not one of the top favorites of online players.

Some believe craps is a complicated game with rules and bets that do not fit the speed of online gambling. They get confused by concepts like odds bets, betting on the pass line, comeout roll, snake eyes, and lay odds- and that’s why they often skip this table game.

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How to Play Craps for Dummies

How to Play Craps for Beginners?

Beginners are often so intimidated by the numbers, the terms, and all the different bets available in a game of craps. Also, complicated tables like the ones you find on Wizard of Odds might push you away from the craps tables and not play the game.

Playing craps is easy. You don’t need anything more than a guide for Dummies like this one to move from beginner to expert.

If you don’t know how to play craps, make sure you read the part that follows carefully enough to pay attention to all the different elements that compose a game of craps.

When you are done with my Craps for Dummies guide, you are ready to play the game.

Once you pass the learning part, the game is simple. So, let’s not beat around the bush and get to the good part – craps rules for dummies, that is.

Learning Craps Rules for Dummies in 3 Minutes or Less

Why three minutes? Because there are three main rules to learn to know how to play craps. This is a guide for dummies - meaning we like to keep things short and simple.

That’s why three minutes is more than enough to learn how to play craps.

Craps betting round starts with a come-out roll.

That’s the first term beginners need to learn and add to their vocabulary.

The come-out roll is the first roll of the dice or the first one after the previous betting round has finished.

The player who throws the dice is called the 'shooter'.

A game of craps plays as follows: you, 'shooter', take two dice and throw them on the craps table - or press 'roll' button if we are talking about online craps.

Once the number rolled is on your screen, there are three possible outcomes:

1. Natural

Here’s when things get really good. A 'Natural' means that the result of your roll is a 7 or an 11. When this happens, you win and get to roll the dice again.

2. Craps

You roll a 2 (also known as the Snake Eyes), 3, or 12. Here’s when you lose.

BUT the round is not over, and you get to roll again.

3. Point

You roll a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10.

In a live casino, a dealer would mark your Point (the rolled number) on the table.

In online craps games, there is a small button that appears once the Point is established. It’s white and says 'On'.

What you need to do now is to roll the dice once more and hope you’ll hit the same number again. It doesn’t have to be the same combination of dice as you had before. As long as it’s the same sum – you win.

Do you know why the sequence above misses a seven?

The number 7 is not a very lucky one in this case since if you roll a 7, you 'seven out' – you lose and end the betting round.

Once you learn this part by heart, you can move on to the betting options.

That’s the fun part. Because that’s the one that can make you win a lot.

Playing Craps for Dummies: Betting Rules

If you take a look at the craps table, both online and offline, you can see that it’s not only dice and numbers.

Now that you know how to shoot craps and how to evaluate the result of your roll let’s have a look at how to bet in a game of craps.

Remember: this is a craps guide for dummies, so I am going to analyze everything looking at a game of craps as a beginner would do.

The layout has a handful of areas for different betting options.

Pass or Don’t Pass Bets

First, you can bet either on the 'Pass Line' or the 'Don't Pass Line'.

The Pass Line bet means you bet that the shooter will pass (win) by rolling out a natural or by winning the point before seven-ing out.

The Don’t Pass Line corresponds to the opposite bet. In this case, you bet that the shooter will not pass (lose). It can happen if the player shoots to get a 2 or 3, or fails to roll the point again before a 7 shows up its ugly head.

And then there is a 12. If it’s rolled now, your bet is a Push – meaning nothing happens. You don’t win, but you don’t lose either.

You can make these bets only before the point has been established on the table. Once the point has been rolled out and the shooter needs to roll the sum again, you can make a come or don’t come bet.

Come or Don’t Come Bets

These bets can only be made after the point has been determined.

The Come Bet wins if a natural is rolled out and loses if the craps are.

If the point is rolled out, it becomes the Come-Bet point.

It works just like the Pass line one: if the come-bet point rolls out again before 7 does, you win. If not, it’s not your lucky round, pal.

Don’t come bet is just like the Don’t pass one. You’re in luck if the shooter rolls a 2 or 3, not so much if it's a 7 or 11. A 12 here is a push again.

Once the point is made, you should hope for 7 before the shooter rolls out the point again.

Neither Pass nor Come bets can be turned off. You bet and wait until it plays itself out. But you can make additional bets on the come-bet point, too. And those you can withhold or increase at any time.

Proposition Bets in Craps

These are one-roll bets (with one exception, as you can see in the table below) that you can place on any roll.

The exception I mentioned earlier is called Hard ways. In this case, you win if you roll a 4, 6, 8, or 10 (depends on which one you bet) with the pair of same numbers (2 and 2, 3 and 3, and so on) before any other combination that makes that sum or a 7

Other Possible Bets in a Game of Craps

Place Bets:Once you know the point, you can bet on any number on the table. You win if it’s rolled out before a 7, you lose if it isn’t.

Field Bets: This type of bet is only active for one dice roll. You win if a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12 is rolled. A 5, 6, 7, or 8 makes you lose.

Big 6 and Big 8 bets: If you want to bet that 6 or 8 will be rolled before 7, These are the two bets for you.

These bets only pay 1:1.

Practice Craps Online: Where Beginners Should Play Craps

The best way to learn craps online is to practice craps online.

Now that you know about the different bets and outcomes of a roll, you should be ready to move from asking how to shoot craps to playing craps online.

And if you don’t want to risk your cash on real money games until you are 100 per cent sure that you know how to win at craps - that’s not a problem.

The best online craps sites for beginners five you the chance to play and practice craps online for free for as long as you need.

You can also use the Casino bonuses you receive on most sites when you sign up but, given the house edge of this game, you should start for free.

The best site to play craps online for free and get a hang of the game is this one.

I suggest you open a free account on this page to find the best Craps tables online and play the game. That’s the best way to learn craps if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar casino next door to go to.

That’s what I did when I first played Craps.

It all will look a lot easier once you practice craps online.

And once you feel that online, free practice has made it perfect, you can move to real money craps games.

The game of craps has really good odds with the house edge of only 1,41%.

That beats roulette and even blackjack when it's played with the basic strategy. There’re many betting rules to remember at first but they come naturally later on. And they actually make the game even more exciting.

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