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Craps Playing Tips
For most casino players, Craps is
either their favorite game or the game they don't play at all because
they don't understand it and can't win. These people would easily
change their tune if they gave Craps a shot and stuck with the bets
that give them the best chance of winning.
Like all casino games, in Craps the
house holds the advantage – but if you place your bets correctly
and stick with it, you can keep the odds on the house low while giving
yourself a better chance at making a few bucks.
When you're rolling the bones the
bets you should be playing are the pass line, and place bets on 6 and
8. If you can limit your Craps bets to these wagers then you give
yourself the best chances of winning because the house edge is only 1.5
percent or lower. Let's take a closer look at them.
The pass line is the most popular
bet in craps because it's the easiest to figure out, and in live
casinos you have to place a bet on the pass line if you want to be the
shooter. On the pass line, the house advantage in 1.41 percent. That's
not how you make your money on the pass line though. After the point
has been established, the best way to make money is to take the odds on
the point. This bet is won if the point is rolled before a 7 is rolled
and pays true odds.
This means if the point is 4 or 10
it pays 2-to-1, if the point is 5 or 9 it pays 3-to-2, and if the point
is 6 or 8 it pays 6-to-5. What makes taking the odds really
advantageous is the mere fact that the house has no advantage on them.
So, if you take the maximum odds (which at VIP is three times the
initial pass line bet), you can lower the house percentage for any
given bet down to as low as 0.5 percent. You aren't going to find a
lower advantage for the house than that, anywhere else in the casino.
To keep yourself from getting bored
by simply betting on the pass line and laying odds all day long, you
can also get good odds by putting down place bets on 6 or 8, or even
both if you're feeling especially lucky.
A place bet is not paid in true
odds, but it is still a good bet on 6 or 8, which pays off 7-to-6. The
house advantage on this bet is 1.52 percent, which is the lowest
advantage the house has in Craps after the Pass and Come line. This is
still a very marginal house edge compared to some bets you can make
around the casino. In comparison, the highest house advantage on the
Craps table is the Any Seven bet. The house advantage there is 16.67
percent, much higher then either of the bets we outlined earlier.
The best way to compare them is to
see how these percentages translate into money lost. If the house holds
a 1.41 percent advantage on the Pass Line then a player should expect
to lose $14.10 for every 100 bets of $10. On a place 6 or 8 bet, where
the house advantage is 1.52 percent a player should expect to lose
$15.20 for every 100 bets of $10. Now on the Any Seven bet, where the
house has a whopping 16.67 percent advantage, a player should expect to
lose $166.67 for every 100 bets of $10. It's not hard to see how the
bets you choose can determine your outcome, when you look at the bets
that way.
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