Second-best bets at craps
If you play in pig-vig casinos where you can’t buy numbers on wins only, then place the 6 and 8 – period. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the craps mob-mania when you see other numbers hitting – its all luck and those numbers are not destined to continue hitting more than probability indicates. Streaks are normal in all random events and they are not (NOT! NOT! NOT!) predictable. If they were the casinos would go broke with streak players, since many casino gamblers are streak freaks.
Darkside players can don’t place bet against the 6 and 8, a bet has a 1.82% house edge. All other don’t place and lay bets are just not worth it going against the high house edges.
Mix and match
You can also mix and match bets, using a combination of place bets, pass line and come bets. You have to follow the above advice concerning keeping the house edge under 2% but mixing and matching is a very popular way to play – for savvy players and for ploppies. It all depends on what place/buy bets you are mixing and matching with pass line and come bets.
If you are up on the 6 and 8 and you want a third number, put out a come bet. Should the come bet go to the 6 or 8 say to the dealer, “Full odds on the come, down on my 8 (or 6).” You will now have a come bet with full odds on the number. Now place another come bet to try to get up on that third number. In fig-vig casinos, you can go with buys of the outside numbers if you wish.
Please note: In a book I wrote over two decades ago, I explained how the Captain advocated playing his “Supersystem” – a combination of simultaneously betting exact amounts on the pass line/don’t pass and come/don’t come, and just relying on the odds to attack the casinos. The Captain was the greatest craps player who ever lived, but in this case he was mistaken in his assumption. The house edge works on both sides of the bet so you are getting no benefit simultaneously betting the do and the don’t (also called the doey-don’t). You are far better off just making either a pass line or come with odds; or a don’t pass or don’t come with odds than playing the doey-don’t. Okay, so the Captain was wrong . . . once . . . proves he’s human.
That’s it. Look over all the other bets on the craps layout and they are all a waste of your time and your money. Ploppy craps players will come up with all manner of reasons why they should throw their money away, but they are just excuses for poor thinking and out-of-control emotions. Don’t listen to this kind of advice, be it from writers or friends. If they don’t advocate the best bets, they are advocating more and bigger losses for you.
Oh, yes, I know from long experience that there is a mania at a craps table when shooters have had good rolls. You can slice the excitement with a knife – metaphorically speaking. There is a compulsion on the part of craps players to throw out money looking for a big score because the adrenaline flows fast and furious, and the cheering reaches crescendos you hear at no other casino game.
You’ll hear the players shouting over the din, “Give me a yo!” “Give me a hard everything!” “C&E, my man!” “Boxcars, baby!” “A horn, honey!” These shouts are really the screams of people who are thinking they can jump off the Empire State Building and make a soft landing. Squish, squash, splat!
Don’t fall into the casinos’ real traps for unwary players. Follow the advice in this book; it’s the only smart way to play.
Visit Frank’s website at www.frankscoblete.com. (The above is excerpted from the book Casino Craps: Shoot to Win! by Frank Scoblete.)
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.
Second-best bets at craps
is republished from CasinoCityTimes.com.