Best Craps Strategy 2019
The fact is, the best strategy for playing craps is to keep the house advantage as low as possible. That’s done by playing the Don’t Pass and laying odds or the Pass Line and taking odds.
Want to know how to improve your craps game? Craps is all about the betting, not the dice roll. Knowing when and how to bet will make you invincible when you play craps—whether you play craps online or in casinos. These 5 simple tips on how to win at craps will improve your odds of winning while playing craps.
There are 11 numbers possible with a pair of dice; some easier to roll than others.
Progressive betting strategies for craps and blackjack John G. Brokopp Mar 7, 2019. You want to put yourself in the best position to capitalize on the situation. 2019 season at the Hammond. The fact is, the best strategy for playing craps is to keep the house advantage as low as possible. That’s done by playing the Don’t Pass and laying odds or the Pass Line and taking odds. 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.
Those unfamiliar with the game of craps are usually put off by the large betting fields and seemingly endless rules and betting combinations. But the secret to winning at craps is to have some sort of understanding of the house edge, so you know when, where, and why to bet on each roll of the dice. All casino games are based on probability, so a little understanding of the math behind the game goes a long way. Some bets are better than others—and often at different times during the game.
Follow the basic strategy outlined below; it’s easy to remember and to implement. Get ready to boost your bankroll and your craps skills with these 5 easy-to-master tips.
1. Don’t Pass and Don’t Come With Odds
The rule of thumb is as follows: Put the smallest amount on the Don’t Pass or the Don’t Come lines and wager the largest amount behind them. The house edge is on the Don’t Pass/Don’t Come bets, which only pay out 1:1 if you win. But the player has the advantage on the Free Odds bets (those behind the don’t pass/don’t come line), which pay out at the actual mathematical odds. This means if you play it right, the house has no advantage at all.
Free Odds bets are the only bets in the casino where the house has no advantage. It’s important to bet in the right increments, because most casinos won’t pay out in fractional dollars. For example: Free Odds payouts on 6 and 8 are at a 6:5 ratio (i.e. bet $5 get paid $6), so bet in increments of $5. Free Odds payouts on 5 and 9 are at a 3:2 ratio, so bet in increments of $2. Free Odds payouts on 4 and 10 are 2:1, so bet in whatever increments you like.
2. Place the 6 or 8 Bet to Win
Instead of waiting for the shooter to establish a point, pick your own numbers: 6 or 8. When you’re playing in multiples of $6.00 (or the currency of your choice), place the 6 or 8 place-to-win bet. The 1.52% house edge makes this bet a popular choice. The winning bets are paid at 7:6 odds, which means that you’ll be paid out $7 when you bet $6 and the number hits.
The 6 and 8 are the most frequently rolled numbers other than 7. Stay away from other place bets because the house edge is higher: 4% on 5 or 9 and 6.67% on 4 or 10.
3. Place the 6 or 8 Bet to Lose
This tip is the opposite of the previous tip. You’re betting on the shooter to lose, which might make you ‘unpopular’ at a table cheering on the shooter. But you’re not gambling for them; you’re playing the odds. Place a $5 bet on the table and announce “6 (or 8) to lose.” If the 7 shows (which is a very high frequency number) then you win $4.00 as the house edge is only 1.82%. Remember, there are 11 numbers that can be rolled with a pair of dice and some numbers are much easier to roll (come up more frequently) than others. Check out the list below of numbers and the ways to roll them:
2 – one way – 1-1
3 – two ways – 1-2, 2-1
4 – three ways – 1-3, 2-2, 3-1
5 – four ways – 1-4, 2-3, 3-2, 4-1
6 – five ways – 1-5, 2-4, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1
7 – six ways – 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1
8 – five ways – 2-6, 3-5, 4-4, 5-3, 6-2
9 – four ways – 3-6, 4-5, 5-4, 6-3
10 – three ways – 4-6, 5-5, 6-4
11 – two ways – 5-6, 6-5
2 – one way – 6-6
4. Lay against the 4 or 10
Free Best Craps Strategy
This tip is similar to the place the 6 or 8 to lose but the payouts are much higher as, while there are six ways to roll a 7, there are only three ways to roll a 4 or a 10 as opposed to five ways to roll a 6 or 8. In this case you take the more “optimistic” approach and place $20 on the table and say “Lay against the 4 (or 10).” If you win, you get back $40!
You must pay the house a 5% commission to make lay bets, but they pay out at true odds. Also, you’re betting against the shooter, so try not to gloat if you win large amounts betting against them. And if you’re playing craps online, you’re not offending anyone.
5. Place the 5 or 9 to Lose
In this bet, you put down $8.00 (remember you have to bet in increments of $2 as the odds are 3:2, meaning for every $2 you bet you get $3 if you win) and bet that the numbers above will lose. Why? The house edge on this type of bet is low – only 2.5% so when the 7 shows (again, that happens often), you’ll win $5.00.
In addition to these tips, always remember that craps is a negative expectation game, so the longer you play, the higher the chances you have of losing. But this is how casinos stay in business, and how the house edges make or break bettors who don’t make smart bets—or know when to walk away.
These are 5 of the most effective bets to make on craps to win. By reducing the house odds you are increasing your own chances of winning big when the table is hot. Try this for yourself at Slots of Vegas Craps Table today and walk away a winner!
See also: “Fall in love with the game of craps”
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It sounds like a homework problem out of a high school math book: What is the probability of rolling a pair of dice 154 times continuously at a craps table, without throwing a seven?
The answer is roughly 1 in 1.56 trillion, and on May 23, Patricia Demauro, a New Jersey grandmother, beat those odds at Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. Demauro's 154-roll lucky streak, which lasted four hours and 18 minutes, broke the world records for the longest craps roll and the most successive dice rolls without 'sevening out.' According to Stanford University statistics professor Thomas Cover, the chances of that happening are smaller than getting struck by lightning (one in a million), being hit by an errant ball at a baseball game (one in 1.5 million) or winning the lottery (one in 100 million, depending on the game). (Read 'When Gambling Becomes Obsessive.')
So, how did it happen? On Saturday, Denville native Demauro and her friend John Capra decided to indulge their yen to bet. Their Atlantic City jaunt began innocuously enough, with Demauro, only a casual casinogoer, planting herself in front of a penny slot machine on the Borgata floor and Capra going off to try his hand at three-card poker. (See an interview with the new king of poker.)
By 8 p.m., a few hours later, Demauro had grown tired of the slots. She ventured into the poker room to collect her friend, who was losing money. He offered to show her how to play craps. Of the 14 available craps tables, they sidled up to the nearest one and waited for the three other players to finish rolling. Capra shot next, but sevened out quickly. Then, he handed Demauro the dice.
Craps is known as the world's most common dice game and it is played, with varying rules and sizes of table, in virtually every casino on the planet. Craps is a game of chance rather than skill, and with a low house advantage — around 1.4%, which makes it harder to beat than blackjack but easier than roulette — even novices can win. That is, if they're lucky.
According to the casino, Demauro started her roll at 8:13 p.m. She bought into the game with $100 and when the orange-colored dice came around to her, she rubbed her hands together and let them fly. Demauro says she had played craps only once before, and being an inexperienced better, followed Capra's advice when placing bets.
A craps turn begins with an initial or 'come out' roll, in which the player tries to establish a 'point number' — that is, when the dice add up to four, five, six, eight, nine or 10. Once that happens, the player must roll the point again before throwing a seven, which is statistically the most likely outcome on a pair of dice. If the player rolls a seven before the point, the turn ends.
As soon as Demauro hit her point number (eight), people started betting. She says the game moved so fast after that, she couldn't really keep up. 'There are all these terms I didn't know,' Demauro says. 'People were yelling out 'Yo.' I said to John, 'What's 'yo?' I think that's an 11.'
The table filled up and a throng of spectators gathered. Demauro rolled double sixes, hard fours, snake eyes, every possible combination of the dice. Some people called out requests and Demauro managed to fulfill them. Players from the nearby blackjack table came over to watch, and then came the casino executives, or as she describes them, 'men in dark suits.' Demauro and her audience knew they would never witness anything like this again. 'There was a woman there, and we happened to catch each other's eyes,' Demauro says, 'She smiled at me, and I smiled and said, 'I don't know how to play the game.'
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Although there is no official organization that keeps track of gambling world records, a number of clubs record significant dice rolls. Before Demauro's, the longest craps roll lasted three hours and six minutes — accomplished at a Las Vegas casino in 1989, with 118 rolls. And according to gambling expert and author of Beat the Craps Out of the Casinos, Frank Scoblete, the highest number of successive dice rolls was 147, thrown by a man operating under the pseudonym the 'Captain' in 2005. The average number of dice rolls before sevening out? Eight.
Given the rules of the game, there are any number of ways to achieve 154 consecutive rolls without crapping out, though all of them are highly unlikely. Unlikely but not impossible. Stanford's Cover explains: 'Let's say we have a million gamblers trying a thousand events at any one time. That's a billion different rolls of craps.' Out of a billion different games, the probability of getting an event that special is reduced to one in 1,000. 'It's not out of the realm of possibility,' he says.
Demauro declined to reveal how much money she won, but gambling experts estimate that if she made good bets, her winnings were probably in the hundreds of thousands; expert bets would have put them in the millions. Demauro and Capra spent the rest of their holiday weekend in Atlantic City, and even returned to the same craps table two nights later — but only as spectators. 'The expectations were too high,' she says. 'I wasn't ready to be the shooter again.'
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Once the shock of her good fortune wears off, however, she says she'll try throwing the dice again. After all, sometimes lightning strikes twice.