This is the 1st in a series of craps posts aimed at players who want to start winning more often. I’m including everything you need to know about craps to get the best odds of success. Most of the information in the posts in this series is not aimed at beginners. You should probably already understand the basics of craps before digging too deep into this series. The idea is not to provide how to play craps posts but to provide new information and ideas that might take your existing craps game to the next level.

1. How To Win At Craps Reddit
2. How To Win At Craps Strategy
3. How To Win At Craps Youtube
4. How To Win At Craps In Vegas
5. Ways To Win At Craps
6. Ways To Win At Craps

There are 5 ways to roll (6), 5 ways to roll an (8), and 6 ways to roll a (7). It doesn’t stop there. Here’s are some more advantages of Place Betting the (6) and/or (8). Place Bets only need to be hit once to win, versus a Pass Line or Come Bet, which needs to be hit twice. Craps is a great game, and I love it. And you can win a fortune playing craps in almost no time at all. But the idea that you win at craps consistently or “almost every time you play” is ludicrous. If the casinos thought you had a way to beat craps, they’d back you off the game – just like they do with card counters.

Craps Is a Negative Expectation Game

Yes, craps is a “negative expectation” game. But what does that mean, exactly? Gamblers and mathematicians like to talk about bets in terms of their “expected value.” The expected value of a bet is a simple formula, too:

(The amount you stand to win X the probability of winning) – (The amount you stand lose X the probability of losing) = Expected value of a bet

You bet $2 on a coin flip, but if you win, you only get $1. You have a 50% chance of winning $1, which amounts to 50 cents in expected value. But you also have a 50% chance of losing $2, which amounts to -$1 in expected value. Subtract one from the other, and you get an expected value of -$0.50.

It should be obvious that if you flip a coin repeatedly long enough under those terms, you might get lucky in the short run, but you’ll go broke in short order in the long run. (“In the long run” just means “eventually.”) All casino games design their odds of winnings and payouts to provide you with a negative expectation, by the way. That’s how the casinos stay in business.

In some games, the expectation is the same no matter what. In other games, like craps, you can choose from an entire all-you-can-bet buffet of wagers. Some of these wagers have a bigger negative expectation than others. One of the subjects I’ll cover in this series of posts is which bets are better and which bets are worse.

Why I Love Craps and Why You Should, Too

Blackjack has its fans, and I understand why. But craps is my game, and if you have the right personality, it’s probably your game, too. It’s fun, scary, exciting, suspenseful, and the most entertaining game in any casino which offers it. One of the reasons it’s so great is this buffet of bets I just talked about, by the way.

Other players like to play a close to even game with an even-money payoff. Those players will bet on the pass line and take as big an odds bet as they can. If you can find a casino offering you the option of betting 10X odds, the house edge for all the money you have in action on that combination of bets is only 0.184%.

The house edge, by the way, is just another way of expressing the expected value. In this case, it’s the amount of money the casino expects to win from each bet over the long run. If the house edge for a bet is 1%, the casino expects to win $1 on average every time you bet $100. With a house edge of 0.184%, your expected loss on a $100 bet is only 18.4 cents—less than a quarter!

What I Hate about Craps, Though

The large variety of bets is a 2-edged sword. It’s a feature but also a drawback. With such a large number of bets to choose from, it’s easy to choose bad bets—wagers with a high negative expectation. In fact, when it comes to craps, there are far more bad choices you can bet on than good ones.

But if you choose the wrong bets—the wagers with the highest house edge—you can lose your entire bankroll faster than you ever thought possible. Lots of players make those bets, too, and the casinos even encourage their employees at the craps table to hustle those bets and encourage players to make them.

More about the House Edge and How the Casino Makes Its Money

The best way to think about how the casino makes its money at craps is to realize that one of 2 things is always happening with a craps bet:

• The casino wins more often than the player on an even money proposition
• The casino gets a cut of our winnings on any bets that you win

These are 2 sides of the same coin. Let me explain how those concepts work to make the casino a fortune:

The most common bets in craps are the pass line bet and the come bet. These are the most basics bets in the game—bets that the shooter will succeed. In the long run, over 495 “rounds,” the casino will win either of those bets on average 251 times. The player will only win an average of 244 of those bets. That’s a difference of 7 bets over the course of 495 rounds of play (7/495 = 1.41%). By taking the odds bet, you can reduce that even further. In a casino where you can take 10X odds, the house edge is reduced to 0.18%, and in a casino where you can take 100X odds, the house edge is reduced to 0.02%.

The Any 7 Bet Is a Great Example

The “any 7” bet is a one-roll bet that the next roll will be a 7. You have 6 ways of making a 7 when rolling 2 dice:

• 1, 6
• 2, 5
• 3, 4
• 4, 3
• 5, 2
• 6, 1

That means the probability of winning this bet is 6 divided by 36. (There are 36 possible outcomes when you roll 2 6-sided dice.) This means you’ll win 1 bet out of 6, which also means that your odds of winning are 5 to 1. If you bet $10 repeatedly on the “any 7” bet, you’ll lose $10 on 5 rolls out of 6, or $50.

The house edge on that bet—the average that you mathematically expect to lose on it—is 16.67%. For every $100 you bet, you’re expected to eventually lose an average of $16.67. That’s a big sum compared to the $1.41 on the pass line bet, or the 61 cents on the pass line bet with 2X odds. This bet is often called “big red.” (I have an ex-girlfriend with the same nickname, but I won’t get into that here.) Since red is the color accountants use for negative numbers on a spreadsheet, this bet is appropriately named. You can analyze any bet in craps this way.

The Field Bet Is another Great Example

Another example is the “field” bet. That’s another one-roll bet, this time that the next number will be one of the following:

• 2
• 3
• 4
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12

You have a total of 16 ways to make those numbers, out of 36 possible outcomes. That sounds pretty good. Also, most casinos pay out 2 to 1 if you get a 2 or 12. The field bet is still a lousy wager, though. The casino still has 22 ways to win compared to your 16 ways to lose. Even with the doubled payouts on the 2 and the 12, the casino comes out way ahead here. The house edge for this bet is the same as the house edge for an American roulette game—5.26%.

The Hard Way Bets

Some craps players love long odds, though. These guys make “hard way” bets. A popular fictional character who does this is featured in the movie Hard Eight, which I recommend you see if you haven’t already.

You can make the following hard way bets:

• Hard 4
• Hard 6
• Hard 8
• Hard 10

These are called “hard way” bets because you’re betting that the corresponding total will be rolled as doubles—a pair of 2s for a total of 4, a pair of 3s for a total of 6, a pair of 4s for a total of 8, or a pair of 5s for a total of 10. You’re also betting that this will happen BEFORE the shooter rolls either a 7 or the corresponding total the “easy way.” For example, if you bet on “6 the hard way,” if the shooter rolls a 1, 5; a 2, 4; a 4, 2; or a 5, 1.

Right Bettor Wagers, Payoffs, and the House Edge

A “right bettor” is someone who bets with the shooter. (It’s the opposite of a “wrong bettor.”) Basically, all the right bettor wagers are bets that the shooter will succeed before rolling a 7.

Whirl – This is the horn bet and the any 7 bet combined.

It’s actually more complicated than some other craps bets, because the payoffs depend on which number wins. For example, if you roll a 7, the payoff is actually nothing, because it’s treated as a push. (This is a tie where your bet is returned to you without any winnings.) That’s because when you win the any 7 bet, you’re still losing the horn bet.

On the other hand, the 2 or 12 pay off at 26 to 5, and the 3 or 11 pay off at 11 to 5. It’s a complicated bet, and the house edge is high. Don’t bet it. Some casinos and players call it the “world” bet. Your odds of winning are 2 to 1. The house edge is 13.33%.

2 – This is a one-roll bet that the next number rolled will be a 2. The odds of winning are 35 to 1, but it only pays off at 30 to 1. The house edge is 13.89%. This is also called “snake eyes.”

12 – This is a one-roll bet that the next number rolled will be a 12. The odds of winning are 35 to 1, but it only pays off at 30 to 1. The house edge is 13.89%. You’ll notice that the odds are the same as for the 2 bet.

Hop (doubles) – The hop bet isn’t listed on the table. It’s one of those “secret” craps bets. A hop bet is a wager that the dice will fall on a specific combination. In this case, we’re looking at doubles, so a 4 on the hop (doubles) would be a bet that the dice would land on 2, 2. (Yes, this is the same as a 4 the hard way.)

There are 2 big differences between betting on the hop and the hard way. A bet on the hop is a one-roll bet—you win or lose on the next roll. A normal hard way bet stays in action until it’s won or until the total is rolled (or a 7 is rolled.) That’s the 1st difference.

The 2nd difference is that the hop bet has a different payout. The odds of winning a hop bet are 35 to 1, but it pays off at 30 to 1. The house edge is 13.89% on this one, too.

Horn – This is a bet that the dice will land on 2, 3, 11, or 12. The odds of winning are 5 to 1. The payoff depends on the specific total, though. A 2 or 12 pays off at 27 to 4. A 3 or an 11 pays off at 3 to 1. The house edge on the horn bet is 12.5%.

Hop (not doubles) – This is a bet on a specific combination, like 4 on the hop that consists of a 3 and a 1. Since you don’t have to roll doubles, you have twice as many ways to win on the hop if you don’t choose doubles. This makes the odds of winning 17 to 1, and the payoff is 15 to 1. The house edge is 11.11%.

3 – This bet, like the hop bet that isn’t based on doubles, has odds of 17 to 1 of winning. The payoff is also 15 to 1, and the house edge is also 11.11%. This bet is also called “ace deuce.”

11 – This is the same as the bet on 3, but it wins if you roll an 11. The odds are the same as for a bet on 3.

Any Craps – This is also called the “3 way.” It’s a bet that the dice will land on 2, 3, or 12. The odds of winning are 8 to 1, and the payoff is 7 to 1. The house edge is 11.11%. Any craps is a one-roll bet.

Hard 4 – This is a bet that the dice will come up 2, 2 before coming up with a total of 7 or another total of 4 not comprised of doubles. The odds of winning are 8 to 1, the payoff is 7 to 1, and the house edge is 11.11%.

Hard 10 – This has the same odds of winning and same payoff odds as a hard 4, but you’re betting on the dice coming up 5, 5 instead of 2, 2.

C&E – This is a combination of the any craps bet and the yo bet. The any craps portion of the bet pays off if you hit 2, 3, or 12. The yo bet pays off if you hit an 11. The overall probability of winning is 5 to 1. The payout is 3 to 1 if the craps numbers come up, but it’s 7 to 1 if the 11 comes up. The house edge is 11.11%

Hard 6 – The hard 6 is the same as a hard 4 or a hard 10, but there are more ways to lose. (There are more ways to roll a 6 than there are ways to roll a 4.) The odds of winning are 10 to 1, but the payoff odds are 9 to 1. The house edge is 9.09%.

Hard 8 – Almost everything I wrote about hard 6 applies to hard 8, too. The only difference is that you’re betting on the dice coming up 4, 4 instead of 3, 3.

Big 6 – This is just a bet that the shooter will roll a 6 before rolling a 7. The odds of winning are 6 to 5, and the payoff is even money. The house edge is 9.09%.

Big 8 – This is just a bet that the shooter will roll an 8 before rolling a 7. The odds are the same for big 8 as they are for big 6.

Place 4 – This is a bet that the 4 will come up before the shooter rolls a 7. The odds of winning are 2 to 1, and the payoff is 9 to 5. The house edge is 6.67%.

Place 10 – The odds are the same as for the place 4 bet, but you’re betting on a total of 10 coming up before the shooter rolls a 7.

The Field – I wrote about the field bet earlier in this post. It’s a bet that the dice will land on 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12. The odds of winning are 5 to 4, and the payoff is even money, unless you roll a 2 or 12. If you roll one of those, you get a 2 to 1 payoff. The house edge is 5.26%.

Place 5- This is a bet that the 5 will come up before the shooter rolls a 7. The odds of winning are 3 to 2. The payoff is 7 to 5. The house edge is 4%.

In the next post in this series, I’m going to look at some more of your betting options. That’s right. Craps has so many betting options that I can’t cover them all in a single post. More importantly, I’ll start offering some advice about which bets you should actually be placing on a regular basis.

For now, take this away from this post: Craps is a negative expectation game, but if you stick with the right bets, the house edge is so low that you can often walk away a winner. The larger number of bets available at the craps table is one of the more confusing aspects of the game. The casino makes its money from craps by making sure they’re going to win more often than you do or by paying you at odds lower than the odds of actually winning. Depending on the bet, the house edge can be as low as 0.18% or as high as 16.67%.

I can cover the best craps strategy in a single sentence. Use only the don’t pass or pass line wager, and back it with full odds. This gives you the best chance to win at the craps table.

But there are other things you can do to become a better craps player beyond this simple strategy. Most of these tips involve reducing or controlling your losses, and they’re just as important as using good strategy.

Here’s a list of seven ways you can become a better craps player that don’t have anything to do with strategy. Combine these seven tactics with the simple strategy and you’re going to see better results when you play craps online.

1 – Contrarian Craps Play

Most craps payers lose when they play, so a smart thing to do is watch what they’re doing and look for different ways to play. This is true for most online casino games.

Every craps series starts with a come-out roll. You can bet on the pass or don’t pass space on the table. These are normal wagers, and you need to make one or the other of these. But beyond one of these two wagers, you need to do the opposite of what most craps players do.

The first thing you’re going to do when a point is set is back your original wager with an odds wager. Many craps players ignore this option, but it’s the best wager on the table.

The next step is to ignore all other betting options. Craps players make all kinds of wagers, but every other option just makes you lose more money. Don’t be like most craps players. Make your two main wagers, and don’t make any other bets.

2 – Make Smaller Average Wagers

Real money craps is the same as other casino games in some ways. It’s designed so that the casino makes money and the players lose money. And the more you risk playing craps, the more you lose.

This is why you should never risk more than the table minimum when you make your come-out roll wager. And the lower the table minimum bet is, the better.

I’m going to cover this in more depth in the section about playing craps online, but the table minimum bet amount is usually quite a bit lower when you play online or in a mobile casino. This means you can limit your losses even more when you play online or on a mobile device.

But even if you always play live craps, stick with the lowest possible come-out roll wager to limit your long-term losses.

3 – Stop-Loss Considerations

Limiting your losses when you play craps is just as important as increasing your wins. Both things do the same thing, which is leave more money in your pocket.

A powerful way to limit your losses is to use a stop-loss limit. This works well when you play craps, but it works equally well with any gambling activity.

A stop-loss limit is simple an amount that you choose before you start gambling. If you lose this amount, you stop gambling immediately. You can set your stop-loss limit at any amount that you want. So, this doesn’t really need to change anything about the way you play craps.

How To Win At Craps Reddit

The main thing a stop-loss limit does is make sure that you never keep playing when you reach a certain loss point. If you don’t have a stop-loss limit, you might be tempted to keep playing to try to make up some of your losses.

This is always dangerous, because you’re more likely to lose more than make up some of your losses. This is why using a stop-loss limit is so valuable.

When I set a stop-loss limit before I play, I only take the money equal to my limit to gamble with. That way, there’s never a doubt about when I need to stop. If my stop-loss limit is $400, I buy $400 worth of chips and start gambling.

If I run out of chips, I’m done gambling for the day or session.

4 – Stop-Win Considerations

You can also use a stop-win limit. A stop-win limit is a great way to lock in a profit when you play sometimes. And just like a stop-loss limit, you can set your stop-win limit at any level you want.

A stop-win limit works the same basic way that a stop-loss limit works. Anytime that you reach your stop-win limit, you should quit playing immediately.

Here are some of the options for setting a stop-win limit, using the stop-loss limit in the last section:

• A stop-win limit of $400 with a stop-loss limit of $400
• A stop-win limit of $200 with a stop-loss limit of $400
• A stop-win limit of $100 with a stop-loss limit of $400

The thing to understand is that the higher you set your stop-win limit, the more likely it is that you’re not going to reach it. On the other hand, when you set your stop-win limit too low, you might hit it soon and wrap up your real money gambling.

I like to use stop-win limits because when you hit it, you lock in a profit for the session or trip. Play around with a few different stop-loss and stop-win limits to see what works best for you.

5 – Don’t Bet on Every Roll

Craps is a good game to play in the casino. When you stick with a simple strategy, it has a low casino edge. And the way craps is designed, you don’t have to make a new wager on each roll of the dice.

When you make a come-out roll wager, you leave it in play until the wager resolves. This can take several rolls. And when you make an odds bet, you leave it in play until it resolves.

On a roll where a point is set and isn’t resolved for many rolls, you can have two wagers working without risking any more money. This is a good way to limit your losses.

Many craps players feel like they need to keep making wagers while waiting for a come-out roll to resolve, but this just increases their risk. Don’t bet on every roll to limit your risk.

6 – Online Craps Is Usually a Better Option

The game of craps is the same whether you play on a mobile device, play online, or play in your nearest casino. All of the odds and wagers are the same, but online and mobile craps offers a few benefits that live craps doesn’t.

How To Win At Craps Strategy

The main benefit is that you control the speed of the game when you play mobile and online craps. You can play slower than when you play live craps, so you risk less money.

How To Win At Craps Youtube

Online and mobile craps also have lower bet limits, so you can limit your risk even more. And some mobile and online casinos give craps players a bonus when they play for real money.

Online craps play doesn’t change your odds of winning no matter what you do. But it does give you ways to play longer and limit your losses.

7 – Explore Controlled Shooting

This tactic is surrounded by controversy, but it’s something you need to learn about so you can make a decision about whether or not it can help you. Some craps players believe that you can control the dice enough when you shoot them to alter the outcome of your wagers.

Most craps players don’t believe that dice control works, but if it does work even a little bit, you can use it to make money. I’m not going to tell you if it’s realistic or not, but I recommend checking it out for yourself.

How To Win At Craps In Vegas

Conclusion

Ways To Win At Craps

Doing the opposite of what losing gamblers do is usually a step in the right direction, and craps play is no different. Control your losses by using smart bet sizing and stop-loss limits. And lock in a win from time to time by using stop-win limits.

Don’t feel like you have to place a new wager on every roll of the dice. Make your two smart wagers, and let them ride it out until they resolve. This reduces your total risk and lowers your losses.

Ways To Win At Craps

Check out the benefits if you’re playing craps online and see if controlled shooting is real or not. When you do all of these things, combined with using a simple craps strategy, you’re in a good position to win when you play.