Best bets at craps

If you expect to beat the house at casino craps, you need to know which are the best bets you can make and which ones to avoid. With over 100 different bets available, you need to have a good knowledge of which are which. Don’t forget craps is a losing game for the player in the long run.

However, you can turn the tables by making the right kind of bets and then take your winnings and leave. Keep in mind that the longer you stay, the more the house edge will get to your bankroll. Try these six simple tips and you will stand a better chance against the house.

1. You need to add odds to the pass line or don’t pass, the come, and don’t come spots. Those are considered the best bets in the entire house. Always make them.

2. Always place the 6 and 8 instead of betting on the Big 6 and Big 8. The house will only pay you even money on the Big 6 and 8, but they will pay you $7 for $6 when you Place the same numbers. The Big 6 and 8 is such a bad bet, Atlantic City casinos are not allowed to offer it, by direction of the state gaming commission.

3. Stay away from field bets. These one-roll bets have a high house edge of 5.56%.

4. Only play craps in casinos that offer double or better odds. With single odds the house will have an 0.8% edge over you. With double odds, the house edge will be further reduced to 0.6%. This means over the long haul you can expect to lose only 60¢ for every $100 wagered instead of 80¢.

5. Like most other casinos, streaks in craps will happen. Shooters will start to make numbers and hold the dice for lots of rolls. You need to be alert and take advantage when that starts to happen. That is the time to increase the size of your bets, not when shooters throw two rolls and then seven out.

6. Remember, every hand will end in a seven out. If you insist on leaving your bets on the table until the seven out and relying on the length of the hand to make you a winner, you’ll end up with a session loss. The only way to be a long-term winner is to make smart bets, win some, take down the wins and start over again.


BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW

• William Lee Bergstrom walked into the Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas in Sept. 1980 and asked if he could place a $1 million bet. He returned a little later with a suitcase containing $777,000. The case was taken to the craps table and placed on the don’t pass line. The woman holding the dice seven-out in three throws and he left with over $1.5 million.

• To be able to shoot or throw the dice at craps, a player must have a pass line or don’t pass wager on the table. He/she cannot have a place bet or proposition bet solely and be entitled to throw the dice.

• The dice game craps was first introduced to the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco in 1949, 93 years after the casino first opened.

• When Benny Binion opened the Horseshoe in 1951 in downtown Las Vegas, he set the craps limit at $500 which was 10 times the maximum of any other casino in town.

• The stick used by the dealer to move the dice around the craps table is known as a “whip.”

• When it comes to dice sticks (whips), the wooden stick the stickman uses at the craps table, they come in various sizes: 24”, 30”, 36”, 42”, 48” and there are even some 52” sticks.

• Prior to the Middle Ages, Arabs played a game using small numbered cubes called “Azzahr” meaning “the die.” Historians believe the casino game of craps can trace its origin to that Arab game.

• The plain, unmarked outer edge of a craps table layout (beyond the pass line) is called the “apron.”

• Pappy Smith, owner of Harold’s Club in Reno, said that “Little Phil” could stand 5 feet away from the craps table and throw the number he wanted two out of three times. It turned out that Phil didn’t bounce the dice but would slide them against the backboard with the same number up.

• In November 1944, an investigation determined that a craps dealer at the Lucky Club in Reno, Nevada had switched dice during a game. When customers accused the dealer of cheating, he pulled a gun and threatened to shoot them. In June of 1945 the club’s license was revoked.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.