Craps Strategy

Strategy for craps can be a little mind numbing when you first start to learn. We can guarantee you aren't going to remember everything from this strategy guide on the first read. It is always best for you to read the most important parts over to ascertain the simple aspects that you definitely need to know. While mathematics can be hard to grasp just remember once you learn it the strategy works for you.

In any game you want to wager on the better odds for you. This means you should stay with the pass, don't pass, come, and don't come bets. They have a smaller house edge and make winning a little better. You shouldn't play based on superstition in this game. In other words blowing on the dice is not a strategy.

Betting Options

The Pass bet typically has a probability of 1.41 percent on the house advantage. The Don't pass is about 1.40 percent. The line bets can also be a winner, but keep in mind the lower the house advantage the better chance you have of winning.

1. The Field= 5.6%.
2. Big 6 or 8= 9.1%.
3. Horn= 12.5%.
4. Craps 2 or 12= 13.9%
5. Any 7= 16.7%.

As you can see in our above statements the any seven or craps bet has the highest percentage meaning the house is going to win more often than you ever would. While you get a great payout with the higher percentage you probably lose that or more just trying to win.

The Come or Don't Come bets are also a great thing to wager on as they are similar to the Pass bets. This means you have about the same house edge.

Improve Your Bets

Just because a bet is going to be the best think for advantage against the house, doesn't mean there aren't other things to consider. You should also look at the odds. The odds are either in the 'right' or 'wrong'. You can place the odds bets along with the Don't Come or Come bets. In other words it is like a cover bet in Roulette in which you are trying to earn at least a little something on a side bet. The odds are going to offer zero percent for the house edge. The odds bets allow you to bet on the dice not against the house.

You may not read about these odds bets. They are marked on the table, but if you don't know the game you might not realize what you are looking at. The casinos in Vegas are there to make a bit of money off of you. This means they won't teach you the game, unless you are a high roller, and even then it is to their advantage over yours.

Placing Odds Bet

To make the odds bet you need to place a second amount on the table after the come out roll. This is in addition to the don't pass or pass bet you have made. You need to place the money in the line area. You may also find that single odds are the only ones available in the land casinos.
With online casinos you have the ability to double the bet. It is double odds. In other words you get to make more from the online craps then in a regular casino. The edge on this bet is 1.4 percent.

Buying Odds

This means you are taking away the pass bet and placing a 'right bet' in its place. The point will determine your winnings. Check out the table below for more information to help you. The table is based on a Pass bet of five dollars.

In this table you are seeing the odds, not the actual total of winnings. This is just to help you get an idea of what you could do if you decide to play the odds over some of your other options.

Laying Odds

For this option you are playing in place of the Don't Pass Bet. Again this is based on the five dollar wager.

In other words the table is showing you that if a come out roll is 10 you will get 25 dollars for a wager of five dollars.

For Craps tables you can bet as little as a dollar. In some casinos that may change, and they don't always advertise that amount because they want the higher paying customers at the table. You can place odds on a dollar that will help you to win a pretty good amount. For example on 3 to 2 or 6 to 5 you can lose a small amount of the dollar rather than the whole amount. On a point of 5 or 9 you will lose 67 cents. This is not a great deal of loss, and is a nice little trick to getting a bet win. We are going to offer an example below.

You place a wrong bet of six dollars. You can double your odds to 12 dollars. In the table below you will see the payout and the win for this example. You will also only lose a small amount of your wager during this play.

Test the Strategy

Players who have been in this game a long time are going to bet the odds. The purpose of this game is to actually win so you might want to consider what you can win at. The smaller the odds or house edge you are playing against the more you will be able to take home. You need to look at the tables above as well as the information to determine how you want to play the tables. You can take a small wager at first to test out the craps table. Most of the individuals playing craps will not play wrong or lay odds. They will buy odds and play right.

With online casinos you are going to find that Don't Pass bets and therefore the play wrong and lay odds options are going to be more useful in getting a lot more winnings. You can also double odds online which land casinos rarely allow.

The probability of a roll is also very important. In other words look at the different ways you can get a 4 or 10. Then look at how to get a 5 or 9 and 6 or 8. There are four ways to get the 5 or 9 and 6 or 8, three for the 4 or 10, and the seven has 6 ways. The point I am trying to make is the likelihood of you getting a specific roll can be seen in the probabilities of getting the number. The more chance you have of getting a certain number the more frequent that number may appear. You should then bet on that option over the other options. It is about chance in some respect so don't forget that as a factor, but if you follow some of the strategy we have talked about you should have some success overall in your playing.