HOW TO WIN AT CRAPS

Let’s be outfront with this: Every craps bet except the free odds/lay odds has a house edge, and there’s nothing most players can do to reverse the math.

A small number of dice controllers may be able to decrease the frequency of 7s and increase the frequency of point numbers enough to change the odds of craps game in their favor. However, dice control is a physical skill that demands hours upon hours of practice, and even the most devoted controlled shooter will tell you the skill sometimes deserts them with changing physical conditions, fatigue or just whether they can find their rhythm that day.

In online play, dice are rolled by a random number generator, so there is no opportunity for dice control to come into play. Regardless of whether you’re playing online or in a live casino you can’t just start rolling the numbers you want. What you can do is to select the best craps bets, cut the house edge to the bone, win more often and have more frequent big wins. There are a couple of strong approaches, with the best using pass and come bets with free odds or don’t pass and don’t come while laying the odds.

The key is to keep your initial wagers to table minimum, then filling out the rest of your intended bet with odds. If your intended total bet is $25 and you bet $25 on pass with no odds, then your average loss is 1.41% of $25, or 35 cents. If instead you bet $5 on pass and wait to add $20 in odds, then your average loss is 1.41% of $5 or 7 cents. Not only that, the majority of your bet then is paid at true odds, so when the shooter makes his point you win more money.

When bigger portions of your bets are in odds, the overall house edge on the pass-odds or come-odds combination decreases. Check out this chart on the house edge of the combo when more odds are offered:
 

The house edge isn’t the sole consideration in deciding how much to bet on the odds. Never bet money you can’t afford to lose, and if all you can afford is single odds, then that’s what you should bet.

However, in a winning session as your bankroll is building, if you want to raise your bets, do it by increasing your odds wager while keeping your pass and come bets at table minimum. That gives you a chance to boost your winnings while exposing the smallest part of your bets to the house edge.

Only if you’re already betting maximum odds and still want to bet more should you consider raising your pass and come bets. Most craps players like to have several numbers working at once. The method for adding the numbers while keeping the house edge at a minimum is to follow your pass bet with come bets, then back the come bets with the free odds you can afford. The same applies to don’t pass and don’t come. Keep your original bets to table minimum, then make up the rest of the wager by laying the odds.

As with pass and come with odds, the house edge decreases as you put more of your bet into laying the odds.
 

Note that at all levels, the house edge is slightly lower on the don’t side. Still, the majority of players choose to bet with the shooter for win-together fun/

The best strategy for play can be expensive. If you bet $5 each on pass plus two come bets, and add $15 on each of those in 3x odds, that means you have $60 riding on one roll of the dice. A low house edge doesn’t mean you can’t lose big and fast sometimes. So here are my tips for small craps bankrolls.

One way to cut the risk is to skip the come bets and just bet pass plus odds. That keeps the house edge at the minimum. The downside is that you have only one number working, and most craps players find that boring.

If you want more than one number going can’t afford the odds, there are few methods with low, but not rock-bottom, house edges.

Bet pass and come, but skip the odds. Instead of the house edges below 1% you get when combining these with odds, you’re facing a 1.41% edge. If you bet don’t pass or don’t come, the edge Is 1.36%. Either way, the edges are lower than all the non-odds bets at the table.

Place 6 and 8. The house edge of 1.52% is only a little higher than on pass and come, and you get the most frequently rolled numbers other than 7.

Bet pass plus place 6 and 8. If the point number is 6, then place 8. If the point is 8, place 6. I the point is something else, bet both. The house edge is 1.41% on part of your bet and 1.52% on the rest, and you’re assured of having the frequent rolls of 6 and 8.

Any of these enables to have some fun with multiple numbers working while keeping the house edge low. But bigger-bankrolled players are best equipped to get the edge really low and take advantage of the best craps has to offer.