How To Win At Craps Strategy

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Covering your bets can be a good advantage for online craps players. But, with a bewildering array of bets, it's important to cover the right ones. The Three Point Molly works on a series of outcomes. Bet the Pass Line: First, you bet the Pass Line, one of the fundamental plays in craps. This is a bet for the shooter to win. Let’s have a good look at an actual ‘winning craps strategy’: Three Point Molly Craps Strategy. With so many bets possible on the craps table which is the best? Probably the most commonly used strategy on the tables is one known as the “three point Molly”. This particular craps strategy gets its name from the way you place your bets.

  1. How To Win At Craps Strategy Against
  2. How To Win At Craps Strategy Without
  3. How To Win At Craps
  4. How To Win At Craps Strategy Blackjack

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

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.

The only decision you make in craps is what bet to place.

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.

How To Win At Craps Strategy

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 To Win At Craps Strategy Against

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.

Most of the bets at the craps table have a house edge of over 9%, making these bets worse than roulette, which is a notoriously bad game for the player.

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 8th 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.

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.

For the most part, this means throwing the dice in such a way as to minimize the probability of getting a total of seven.

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.

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.

We all love craps and we would all love to win at craps every time we play.

How to win at craps strategy

While there is no sure-fire five-minute strategy that will teach you how to play craps and win every time, there are a bunch of strategy tips and smart bets that can improve your chances of winning.

In this article, I am going to run you through all the most common strategy tips to play craps. I will show you how to pick the right bets when you play and how to understand when the house edge is too high for you to stay in the game.

Throughout the article, you will find references to concepts like casino bankroll management, common casino mistakes, and the way odds in craps are calculated.

If any of these sounds foreign to you, remember to check out the articles I just linked before you sit at the craps table.

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Beating the C*ap Out of Craps

Despite what many beginners believe, craps is not the easiest game on the casino floor.

While it is true that your winnings are always one dice roll away, the game of craps comes with such a sophisticated set of bets that you won’t win unless you know how to play.

It's not so much down do using the right strategy to win at keno — it's about knowing how the game works.

Is There a Craps Strategy to Beat The Casino?

Rules are boring, I know. Unfortunately, there’s no way you can become a good craps player if you don’t know how the game works.

To help you get started, I set up a rules page for you to learn how to play craps.

Together with the game's rules, that article gives you some useful strategy tips on bankroll management and practical advice on how to limit your losses.

The key to getting more chances to win at craps is to learn what bets you can go for and what bets you need to avoid every time you play.

The only way you can do so is if you know the house edge connected to each one of the bets in the game.

How to Bet in Craps

If you want to be sure to get the best chances to win at craps, you need to pick the Pass/Don’t Pass or the Come/Don’t Come bets.

Picking any of the four bets indicated above reduces the house advantage to 1.40%. This is the best you can get in craps, especially if you combine it with laying or taking odds in order to reduce the percentage advantage even more.

Since choosing only the Pass / Don’t Pass and Come / Don’t Come bets would be awfully boring, I am going to give you some more craps strategy tips related to bets you can put your money on.

The other bets that give you the best odds of winning at craps are:

  • the Place 6
  • the Place 8
  • the Field 2
  • the Field 12

These four, combined with the ones I mentioned earlier, are the only bets worthy of your money. Anyone familiar with the basics of the craps optimal strategy know that all the other bets come with worse conditions and a higher house edge.

Keep in mind that when I say “higher house edge”, I mean that you stand little to no chance of winning when you pick one of the other bets.

Bets like the Hard-Way 4 and the Hard-Way 10 have an house edge of 11%. Why would you ever pick these ones instead of the much more favourable Pass / Don’t Pass line and Come / Don’t Come bets?

The next time you open a crap table at your favorite live casino online, have a look at what people bet on before you start playing.

Check out how many players don’t stick to these craps strategy tips I just gave you and count how many of those who try the top-paying bets end up in the red.

Pass and Come Bets

As you should know by now, the Pass / Don’t Pass and Come / Don’t Come bets are by far the best ones in the game.

The only way you will be respected by experienced players and dealers is if you show them you know this principle and you stick to these safe bets when you play craps.

The low house edge makes the Pass bet the most popular one in the game. With an house advantage of 1.41%, you always win unless the shooter hits a 2, 3, 2, or 7 after the point was hit.

The Come bet is equally popular and lets you win every time you or the shooter hit a 7 or 11 after the come bet is made. You lose the Come bet only when you or the shooter hit a 2,3,12.

Don’t Pass and Don’t Come Bets

If you don’t like to sit with the majority of players, you can also play “against” the others and become what is usually referred to as a Wrong Way Bettor.

Don’t let the name mislead you. Wrong bettors win whenever the other lose (and lose when the other players win) - which, in a gambling game like craps, is going to happen often.

Similarly, the Don’t Come bet is the one that you should go for after a point has been established in case you want to bet against the other players.

Whenever you opt for this bet, you win if the 3 or 2 is hit after the point has been made, and you tie if a 12 is rolled.

The Don’t Come bet pays even money and, like all the best bets in craps, has a house advantage of 1.41%.

Payout and House Edge of All the Bets in Craps

While the best explained above are the ones the optimal strategy to win at craps suggests, the game features a lot of other bets with different house edges.

To help you understand the bets you should avoid and the ones you should go for, here’s a table with all the information you need to pick the right one.

Craps Bets

BetsPayoutHouse Edge
Pass1 to 11.41%
Come1 to 11.41%
Taking Odds on Pass/Come 6 or 86 to 50%
Taking Odds on Pass/Come 5 or 93 to 20%
Taking Odds on Pass/Come 4 or 102 to 10%
Don’t Pass1 to 11.36%
Don’t Come1 to 11.41%
Laying Odds on Don’t Pass/Don’t Come 6 and 85 to 60%
Laying Odds on Don’t Pass/Don’t Come 5 and 92 to 30%
Laying Odds on Don’t Pass/Don’t Come 4 and 101 to 20%
Place 4 or 109 to 56.67%
Place 5 or 97 to 54.00%
Place 6 or 87 to 61.52%
Big 6 and 81 to 19.09%
Field 3,4,9,10 or 111 to 15.56%
Field 2, 122 to 15.56%
Lay 6 and 819 to 254.00%
Lay 5 and 919 to 313.23%
Lay 4 and 1019 to 412.45%
Buy 6 and 823 to 214.76%
Buy 5 and 929 to 214.76%
Buy 4 and 1039 to 214.76%
Hardways 6 and 810 to 19.09%
Hardways 4 and 108 to 111.11%

Craps Proposition Bets

BetsPayoutHouse Edge
Any Craps (2,3 or 12)8 to 111.11%
Any Seven5 to 116.8%
Any Eleven16 to 111.11%
Ace Deuce (3)16 to 111.11%
Aces (2)30 to 113.9%
Boxcars (12)30 to 113.9%
Horn 3 or 1115 to 112.5%
Horn 2 or 1215 to 112.5%

Essential Strategy Tips for your Craps Games

When considering how much to bet to beat a casino at craps, you should also consider how much money is in your expendable bankroll.

If your bankroll is limited (and I am pretty sure it is), you should limits the amount you press on the lay or place odds unless you want to be pushed out of the game after a single bad roll.

If you come to the table with a big bankroll, you should take advantage of the best bet in the game and not be afraid of pressing the maximum amount allowed by the table’s rule.

Each table comes with a different sets of rules and limits. Make sure you ask the dealer if all the info you need are not available at the table.

If you are looking to have more action at the table, you should at all costs stay away from most prop bets and stick to the Place and Lay bets.

Like in all gambling games, the key to beating a casino at craps is to walk away while you are ahead.

You need to know when to stop and take a break, Cash your winnings and leave the table. If you keep on playing, you put your winnings at risk - and you don’t want that.

Free Video Craps Strategy Lessons

Here’s a list of quick videos you should watch if you are serious about craps strategy and you want to take your game to the next level.

The 4-Minute Guide to Craps Strategy

Besides being an hilarious video (and I tend to agree with Roman Praha on the redhead being high), this is video is pure gold.

It drives you through everything you need to know before you start and it explains the essentials of the game in less than four minutes.

Plus, if you liked Leisure Suit Larry you will love this one.

The Mathematics of Craps

In this video, former craps dealer at the Hilton Las Vegas, Jim Luciano drives you through the numbers of craps to explain how to calculate odds, payouts, and winning chances.

This video complements the section of this article dedicated to the bets and the odds.

The 10-Minute Full Craps Strategy Course

This video features everything you need to become a pro. Watch it once you are familiar with the numbers in the game and the use these craps strategy tips from the Players Network!

The Five-Count Strategy System

In the video below Gaming author, Frank Scoblete, describes the so-called Five-Count System, an alternative craps strategy you can read on hit book Beat the Craps Out of the Casinos

How To Win At Craps Strategy Without

The five-count system begins when a shooter rolls a point number of 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10. Once any of these numbers is rolled, the next roll is the two-count. Assuming there is a third roll, here is where you would start betting with a come bet.

How To Win At Craps

If the roll continues, it is considered to be the four-count where you would place another come bet. Once it reaches a five-count, here is where you would start to place odds on your come bets and also make your third come bet.

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How To Win At Craps Strategy Blackjack

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