When it comes to craps strategies, you can safely say, “No thanks.” Of all the guides currently featured on Amazon.com and all the Web sites currently hocking “winning craps systems” there isn’t one that contains a speck of truth. To be sure, we’re not saying there aren't ways to improve your game when playing craps. But, seeing as craps is primarily based on chance, it's simply impossible for craps strategies and “winning craps systems” to ensure victory.
What’s more, spending money on craps strategy guides will start you off in the hole and, more than likely, encourage you to wager – and lose – more than what’s sane or reasonable. The first piece of craps strategy advice we here at AceHoyle.com are going to give you, then, is never to pay for something that you can get for free at our site.
Now, as for ways you can improve your craps game, while they exist they’re hardly surefire. If you were hoping winning at craps would help pay for your retirement, for instance, you’re in for a rude awakening. As a luck-based game, craps has a House edge that players simply can’t overcome. Those who play the game for the sheer fun of it never leave a game disappointed; they only wager what they can afford to lose, and if they happen to win at craps they appreciate the occasion for what it is: Dumb luck.
Others, however, think they can learn how to win at craps in the same way you can learn to turn the tables in blackjack and Pai Gow. Others still believe they can appease the gambling gods enough to win at craps; they develop superstitions and truly think praying and carrying good-luck charms count as craps strategies. Players who fall into either of these categories couldn’t be more mistaken. And yet somehow their idiocies survive from generation to generation. All we can say if you’re one of these players is that you’re diluted at best. Again, there is no guaranteed way to win at craps. Beating craps – when it happens – is a matter of absolute coincidence, and anyone who tells you differently is either a moron or running a scam.
Good craps strategies, on the other hand, never claim to be anything more than a better way to play. Like this section, they don’t promise their readers will find themselves beating craps every time, but that by following a few choice bits of advice players can lose a little less often. We here at AceHoyle.com realize, of course, that lying about the score when it comes to craps could net us quite a bit of money; if we did so the online casinos that advertise with us would make more money and, consequently, pay us more. But unlike our felonious counterparts elsewhere online we don’t see the sense in misleading our readers. We realize that by giving it to you straight we’ll earn your trust and that, in turn, you’ll access online gambling providers more often from our site.
Winning Craps Strategies
Winning Craps Strategy No.1 – Don’t Bet More Than You Can Afford to Lose
One obvious way you can learn how to win at craps is to lose less. This might seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people overlook this point when approaching a craps table. Sure, craps is helluva exciting and occasionally someone will win at craps and walk away from a game with a small fortune. But this is the exception, not the rule. Our advice, then, is only to bet what you can afford to lose.
One way to follow this piece of advice is to open a small bank account just for your gambling bankroll. Many gamblers do this, depositing small amounts from their day-job salaries every paycheck until they have a sizeable bankroll saved up. When they do have enough dough in their bankrolls they leave their day-to-day credit and debit cards at home or with their spouses and only bring their bankroll debit cards to the casino. When the money’s all spent they quit playing. Overtime, this allows them to play a helluva lot without ever endangering their personal finances.
Winning Craps Strategy No. 2 – Set Up ‘Session Bankrolls’
Similar to our first tip, our second tip involves setting aside money before you log on to an online casino or visit a brick-and-mortar. Assuming you’ve followed our advice so far, you should divide the money in your bankroll into “session bankrolls.” A session bankroll is a portion of your overall bankroll that you plan to spend during one sitting at a casino game’s table. For craps one session bankroll should be no larger than the table’s maximum bet. So if you plan to play at a table with a maximum bet of $1,000, each of your session bankrolls should equal $1,000.
The reason for setting up session bankrolls – especially for craps – is that, as we said, beating craps is impossible. You’ll eventually run into a bad losing streak, and just as your general bankroll protects you from losing the money you need to live, session bankrolls will help protect the money you need to play. They work hand-in-hand with general bankrolls by keeping you from spending every dime you’ve set aside in one sitting. They thereby eliminate the possibility that you’ll dip into your regular living budget when a few hours’ play sees you lose all the money you set aside to play with. With session bankrolls, you can get on a bad losing streak, leave before losing too much and return later a for second, third or fourth attempt without ever losing too much at one time.
Winning Craps Strategy No. 3 – Set Up Loss and Win Limits
Now that you’ve set aside $10,000 for your next Vegas vacation and divided it into 10 session bankrolls, you’re next move should be to set win and loss limits. Because the most you can expect to win at craps is no more than 50 percent of your session bankroll, you should set this as a goal each time you play. Likewise, because you never want to have to win at craps twice for every one time you lose you should set a loss limit at 50 percent of your session bankroll. So with a $1,000 session bankroll, you should stop playing craps every time you’re up or down $500, pocket whatever you have and deposit it into your bankroll bank account.
This piece of advice will help you play more because your winning craps sessions will cancel out your losing sessions. Over time, it’s true, you won’t win at craps as often as you lose. But if you spread out your bankroll enough that you never touch all of it, you’ll occasionally return from Vegas with a little more than you brought – and this little bit can be transferred back into your day-to-day bankroll to give you a bit more spending money.
Winning Craps Strategy No. 4 – Set a Reasonable Betting Limit
The last of our money-management craps secrets, betting limits allow you to spread your money out. As a result, there’s less chance that you’ll run into your loss limit on a bad losing streak before your luck turns. Some craps players set their betting limits according to craps systems that require they vary their bets by specific amounts. If you come across one of these craps systems and want to try it out, by all means go for it. Just keep in mind that no craps system ever devised has worked to a player’s benefit.
If you’re not planning on using one of these craps systems, on the other hand, our advice is to set your betting limit so it equals the minimum of the table you’re playing at. Because you can’t bet less than the table’s minimum, you’re already boxed in at on one side, so all you have to worry about is not raising your bets beyond this point. If you have the willpower to do so, you’ll find your time at the table will last much longer. This is a definite plus because, after all, winning is winning and losing is losing. If you crave the excitement of possibly doing either it shouldn’t matter to you how much is at stake.
Winning Craps Strategy No. 5 – Choose Your Bets Wisely
As we said, “craps secrets” don’t exist. But if there’s anything close, this is it: In craps, you see, not all bets are created equal. Yo bets, for instance, have a much higher House edge than Pass/Don’t Pass and Come/Don’t Come bets. We’ve included detailed mathematical explanations of how this works in our “Craps Odds” section. But the long and short of it is that, over time, the House takes just 1.36 percent of each bet if you only play Don’t Pass bets. Compare that to, say, Yo bets, which take 11.11 percent of each bet over time, or even Pass bets, which take 1.41 percent. Because no craps system can help you overcome this fact betting on propositions with higher House edges is basically throwing money away.
Of course, many folks will tell you Don’t Pass bets are a social faux-pas. And, it’s true: Some of your fellow players might grumble because you’re betting against the shooter and, by extension, the rest of the table. But allowing this to affect your choice of bets is about as sensible as jumping off the proverbial bridge; just because everyone else is losing money doesn’t mean you have to. Just don’t expect too many congratulatory handshakes when you win at craps playing Don’t Pass.
A Final Word on Craps Strategy
As a final note in our “Craps Strategy” section, we would like to note that there are actually a couple craps bets that don't carry a House edge. These are called “Odds” bets and for a shot at them you must first make a wager. As we noted above, Pass/Come and Don't Pass/Don't Come bets all carry a very small house edge—only 1.41 percent and 1.36 percent respectively. This edge is significantly smaller than anything else a typical craps table offers except for free Odds bets, which have no House edge at all.
To bet the Odds you must first make an even-money bet like Pass/Don’t Pass or Come/Don't Come. In all cases, if the roll you made your initial bet on establishes a point (i.e. is not a 2, 3, 7, 11 or 12) the boxman will allow you to place an additional wager on the same bet. Because the odds of winning these bets are the same as their payouts the House doesn’t skim a percentage off them. In fact, if you only play even-money bets and bet the Odds every chance you get, you’ll essentially lower the House edge for your normal bets. Of course, this may not be one of those craps secrets you were originally looking for when you landed on our humble craps strategy page. But if learning how to win at craps means learning how to lose less, then it’s definitely one of the best craps strategies going.
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