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Craps Strategies
While gambling involves games of chance, the casinos don't just stand by idly and wait for Lady Luck to shine down upon them. They manipulate odds and payoffs to their advantage. That's how they make a living. Because most gamblers do not make their living at the gaming tables, that arrangement has survived, and the gambling establishments have prospered. The casinos have devised and implemented a strategy that works for them.
What about gamblers strategies? Do they work? Actually, most strategies don't work over the long haul, because they don't alter the house edge.
Craps experts generally agree that disciplined money management coupled with the strategy below offers players the best possible Bank craps experience. It does not guarantee that you will win at craps; nothing guarantees that you will win.
The ONLY Sensible Strategy: Shave the House Edge
There is nothing you can do to influence the outcome of a craps roll, at least not legitimately. There's only one strategy that makes sense when you enter a casino or visit your favorite online casino:
- Find the game and the bets with the best house odds, and shave the house edge even further.
It's a simple concept, and a concept that works in craps. The simple craps bets provide the house with a small edge over the players, and you can reduce that edge even further.
Pick the Best Bets in Craps
The following bets give the house the least advantage over the player:
- Pass - 1.4% house edge
- Don't Pass - 1.40% house edge
- Come - 1.4% house edge
- Don't Come - 1.40% house edge
Avoid the Worst Bets in Craps
The following bets provide the house with the best edge over the players:
- The Field - 5.6% house edge
- Big 6/Big 8 - 9.1% house edge.
- Horn -: 12.5% house edge.
- Craps 2/Craps 12 - 13.9% house edge.
- Any 7 - 16.7% house edge.
Add the Invisible Odds Bet to the Best Bets
You won't find an "Odds bet" area on the table layout, and you certainly won't hear any of the craps crew soliciting Odds bets the way the blackjack dealer solicits Insurance bets. The reason is obvious: it's not in the house's interest for you to place odds bets. It almost eliminates any house edge.
Place Odds bets on Pass/Don't Pass and Come/Don't Come bets after the point has been established. Placing a 2X Odds bet, you reduce the house edge by 40%, all the way to approximately 0.6%. If you can find 3X or greater Odds bets, you can reduce the edge even further.
Variations on the Shave the House Edge Strategy
* Limit your bets to Pass/Don't Pass bets, and always place the highest Odds bets available.
* Place Come/Don't Come bets with the highest available Odds bets only when you are ahead.
Look at the house edge when betting Pass/Don't Pass and Come/Don't Come, and compare it to the house edge when you place a 3X odds bets. It doesn't get any better than this:
|
Bet |
Winning Possibility |
House Edge |
|
Pass Line bet |
49.30% |
1.41% |
|
Pass Line bet, 3x Odds |
49.30% |
0.61% |
|
Don't Pass bet |
50.71% |
1.36% |
|
Don't Pass bet, 3x Odds |
50.71% |
0.58% |
|
Come bet |
49.30% |
1.41% |
|
Come bet, 3x Odds |
49.30% |
0.61% |
|
Don't Come bet |
50.71% |
1.36% |
|
Don't Come bet, 3x odds |
50.71% |
0.58% |
