Craps Dealing Tips
He told that he witnessed himself the dice right after the dealer rolled the dice and required the dealer to replace the dice. In a sec, he exchanged his dice prepared before and got away with the big money worth $86,000. Learn More: #4 Tips To Win For Beginners Dragon Tiger. Follow The Past Posting. If you want to do well at the craps table, these are the only 11 tips you’ll ever need. 1 – Stick With the Pass, Come, and Free Odds Bets The pass line bet is the basic bet when playing craps for real money.
With only a little searching on the internet, you’ll find pages that claim to have “solved” craps.
You’ll also find sites promising to teach you how to win “consistently” at craps.
They claim that you can make profits on a regular basis by shooting dice and betting on other shooters.
This isn’t one of those pages.
That’s because I’m not a liar.
Here’s the truth about how to win at real money craps almost every time you play.
Winning Craps Systems
I can tell you where to find the winning craps systems. They’re right next to the unicorns in the zoo and the mermaids in the aquarium.
How do craps systems work?
They use a combination of bets that are meant to hedge against losses. They also usually involve raising and lowering the size of your bets based on what’s happened on previous rolls and previous bets.
Often, they try to capitalize on hot and cold streaks.
Here’s the problem:
Some of those negative numbers are bigger than others, but they’re all negative.
And if you double or triple those bets because of something that happened on a previous bet, you still have a negative number.
And yes, you will see winning and losing streaks at the craps table.
The problem is that you have no way to predict when these winning and losing streaks will begin or end. They’re only available in hindsight.
The nature of gambling games – craps especially – is to be streaky.
But a streak can win or end at any time.
Here Are 10 Easy Steps to Beat Craps – Yeah, Right
I don’t have a problem with writers offering tips for how to beat craps. Heck, I offer tips for craps players in some of my posts, too. My problem is the overselling of these tips.
But heck, even that’s not too bad.
What’s really bad are people who take your money in exchange for some kind of unbeatable craps system. These craps systems are NOT unbeatable. In fact, in the long run, they can’t win.
You can’t defeat the math at the craps table by combining various bets at the table. There are NO craps bets with a positive expectation. The closest you can get is a bet called the odds bet which has no house edge at all.
But just because that bet is a break-even bet doesn’t mean it can help you get an edge at the other bets. In fact, you’re not able to place an odds bet unless you’ve placed a pass bet first, which has a house edge.
But there’s one possible exception to this…
Taking the Odds Bet on Someone Else’s Bet
I read a book by Frank Scoblete where he suggested becoming the “odds man.” I haven’t tried this in a casino, so I don’t know if it’s a viable strategy or not. I do know that it won’t get you an edge over the casino.
Here’s how it works:
You find a craps player who’s betting the pass line or the don’t pass line – but who isn’t taking or placing odds.
You ask that player if you can make odds bets on his bets.
If the casino allows this, and if the other player allows this, you can place or take odds without having to make the negative expectation bet that precedes the odds bet.
But this still doesn’t give you an edge.
The odds bet is, in the long run, a break-even proposition.
There’s a big difference between breaking even and making a profit. Sure, in the short run, you might see a quick profit, but over enough time, this strategy is just a break-even strategy.
A break-even strategy is far better than a losing strategy. I suppose if you take advantage of some comp drinks, it might even be considered marginally profitable.
Why Does the House Have a Mathematical Edge in Craps?
The mathematical edge in craps resembles the mathematical edge for every other casino game. It’s just a function of offering bets that pay off at less than the odds of winning.
The easiest example to understand is the even money bet.
Most people realize that if you place an even money bet and have a 50% probability of winning that bet, you’ll break even in the long run. By definition, a 50% probability of winning means you’ll win as often as you lose.
And since even money means you’re betting the same amount you’ll win, you’ll eventually see results close to a net loss or win of $0, regardless of the size of your bets.
But you don’t have a 50% probability of winning the even money bets in craps. The probability of winning an even money bet in craps is always slightly less than 50%.
In this case, the probability of winning the pass line bet is 49.3%, which is close to 50%, but it still gives the casino an edge. The casino will win this bet 50.7% of the time.
In the long run, you can’t win with those odds.
And that’s arguable the best bet at the table. (The probability of winning the don’t pass bet is higher by 5/100 of a percent, but that’s such a small number that it’s not especially interesting.
What if I Hedge My Bets?
Hedging your bets doesn’t work. The idea is that you bet on one outcome, but you also place a bet on another outcome that will compensate for when your initial bet loses.
This sounds good in theory, but it doesn’t work in the long run for one simple reason:
Your original bet AND your hedge both have a house edge.
In other words, you’re just adding one negative expectation bet with another hoping to get a positive expectation.
But that’s not how negative numbers work.
Add any set of negative numbers together, and you’ll get a negative sum.
Okay, But What if You Could Control the Outcome of the Die Rolls?
The biggest potential I see for beating craps is learning how to exert some control over the outcome of the die rolls. The idea is that by holding the dice in a specific position (“setting the dice”), and then by throwing the dice without a lot of force (“a controlled throw”), you can reduce the probability of losing by enough to shift the already low house edge in favor of the bettor.
Is this possible?
Frank Scoblete thinks so, but he suggests a lot of hare-brained strategies, so I don’t lend him much credence.
But I’ve also seen Michael Shackleford say that he’s seen some pretty impressive demonstrations, and I have a lot of respect for him.
Do I think it’s practical to become a controlled dice shooter?
Let’s talk about what that would involve in the next section.
What Would It Take to Become a Controlled Shooter?
I’ve seen being a controlled shooter called different things. Scoblete calls such shooters “rhythmic rollers.” I’ve also seen them called “dice setters.”
The verbs used to describe this approach varies, too. I’ve seen it called “controlled shooting” or “dice setting” more often than anything else.
The idea is to learn how to roll the dice well enough that you can reduce the odds of rolling a 7 by a significant enough margin that you flip the odds from favoring the house to where they favor the bettor. (This assumes that you’re betting the pass line, of course.)
The first thing you would need to do to learn how to set dice is to find an instructional video, a book, or a coach. Those aren’t hard to find, but I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on such a thing.
The next thing you’ll need is somewhere to practice. This includes having a realistic craps table with similar dimensions to what you’d find in an actual casino. It also includes having room for that craps table.
Then you need to practice what you’ve learned from the video, book, or coach on that table.
Finally, you’ll need to track your results. This is where the rubber hits the road. To be statistically sure of how well you’re affecting the odds, you’ll need at least 1000 trials.
And the more trials you record, the more accurate your accounting of your skill at dice throwing will be.
One more thing…
I suspect that dice control might be like other feats of athleticism or skill. Some people just might not have a knack for it. It’s possible that some people just might be able to learn how to do it, even if it is possible, and even if they do practice.
95% of poker players lose money in the long run. This means that only 5% get an edge.
My guess is that a similar percentage of dice shooters have the knack for controlling the dice. It might even be a smaller number than that.
Conclusion
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.
When’s the last time you saw the casino tell a craps player he’s too skilled?
Yeah, me neither.
For years, my favorite casino game was roulette, but then I went through a blackjack phase. Both games were fun, but I’ve left them behind in favor of my favorite casino game of all time – craps.
The game of craps doesn’t offer the best odds in the casino. That distinction belongs to blackjack (with video poker getting an honorable mention.)
Craps doesn’t have game-play decisions which challenge your mind, either. You also can’t win huge jackpots in a craps game.
What makes craps so special?
It’s the levels of excitement in the game.
If you want to improve in craps, here are seven tips that should take your game of dice to the next level.
1 – Stick With the Best Bets at the Craps Table
Craps has more bets available than most other games. And unlike many casino games, the house edge for those bets varies widely.
The house edge is just a way of measuring how much of an advantage the casino has over the player. The higher the house edge is, the more money you’ll lose on average over time.
The house edge for the most popular and easiest bet to play at the craps table is 1.41%, and that’s for the pass line bet.
The come bet works almost just like the pass line bet, and it also has a low 1.41% edge.
Wrong bettors – players who bet against the shooter – have slightly better odds. The house edge for the don’t pass and don’t come bets is 1.36%, which is marginally better.
Those are the four best bets at the table:
- Pass
- Don’t pass
- Come
- Don’t come
The other bet you must know about is the odds bet. This is the best bet in the casino because it has no edge. It’s a break-even bet in the long run because the odds bet pays off at the same odds as you have of winning it.
To place an odds bet (or take an odds bet, if you’re a wrong bettor), the shooter must first make a point. You place your odds bet in addition to the pass or don’t pass bet that you already have in action.
I won’t go into a lot of details about how those bets work. You can find other pages on the site that explain how craps works in detail.
Just know for now that those are the bets you want to stick with.
2 – Avoid the Worst Bets at the Craps Table
In some games, like roulette, all the bets at the table have the same edge. It doesn’t matter if you bet on red or black or on a single number, the house’s advantage is the same.
But in craps, some bets are much worse than others.
Craps Dealing Tips
I recommend staying away from all the bets besides the ones in the previous bullet points, but if you are going to branch out, at least stay away from the bets that the stickman is trying to convince you to place.
In many cases, the house edge on those bets is well into the double digits. You’d almost be better off playing keno than placing those bets.
These bets are called the “proposition bets,” and they’re all terrible. Most of the time, they’re one-roll bets, which means they’re resolved based on the outcome of the next roll of the dice.
For your own good, just skip those bets.
3 – Try to Keep Your Head
Craps is an exciting game that stimulates a lot of action, and it’s easy to wind up with a lot of action on the table at any time. You can also see huge winning streaks when a shooter gets hot.
The downside to this streakiness is that you can also see all those bets washed away with a single roll of the dice.
A lot of craps gamblers like to place a new bet every time the dice are rolled. Others like to have multiple numbers working at a given time, but they limit themselves to having three or four numbers working at once.
My favorite technique, though, and the one I recommend to you, is this:
- Bet the pass line every time there’s a new come-out roll.
- Place the odds bet when the shooter sets a point.
- Wait until that series of rolls is completed before placing any additional bets.
Think of the house edge in a casino as being similar to compound interest. The more money you save in a bank account, the faster it grows.
Only the house edge in the casino is like compound interest in reverse. The more money you put into action, the more you lose – and faster.
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and put too much money into action.
Keep your head, though, and keep your action reasonable even when it seems like you can’t lose.
4 – Don’t Bother With Foolish Betting Systems
Betting systems aren’t as popular in craps as in games like roulette, but they do get used sometimes.
What’s a betting system?
It’s a set of rules for raising and lowering the size of your bets based on what happened on your previous bets.
The classic example is the Martingale System, which is used on even-money bets. The idea with the Martingale is that you double the size of your bet after a losing bet. Eventually, with the bigger bets, you’ll win back what you’ve lost along with a profit.
The problem with these betting systems is that they don’t really change the math behind the game. The house still has a 1.41% edge, regardless of whether you bet $5, $10, or $20.
It can be fun to use some kind of betting system, and if it makes the game more interesting, indulge yourself.
Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that any betting system can overcome the house edge in the long run.
5 – Don’t Worry About “Rhythmic Rolling” or “Dice Control”
You’ll see people selling books and videos about how to control the dice, or set the dice, or how to roll the dice “rhythmically.”
You should save your money, and here’s why:
If such techniques really worked, the casino would institute countermeasures to stop them. Most casinos are comfortable with their existing countermeasures, which should tell you something right there.
Even if it were a possibility, most people aren’t talented enough to pull it off. And sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you practice. If you lack the talent for something, you just can’t make it happen.
Imagine being 5’1” and hoping to play professional basketball?
I don’t care how much you practice, your odds of succeeding in that quest are slim to none.
Blackjack Dealing Tips
Most people just aren’t dedicated enough to pull that off, but even if you are – even if you’re willing to build a craps table in your basement and practice for 10,000 hours – there’s no guarantee that you’ll succeed.
You’re better off learning to count cards in blackjack.
Or try poker.
Stick with craps for recreational play and look for other advantage play opportunities.
6 – Use Sound Money Management Techniques
You’ll see varying opinions about money management techniques in gambling. I’m a believer in money management, but not from the perspective that it will improve your odds of winning money. No amount of money management can help you with that.
But the principles behind money management are crucial for craps players. Yes, you should have a bankroll set aside specifically for playing craps.
You should have a clear goal for how much money you hope to win during a session.
You should also have a limit to how much you’re willing to lose when playing.
That might sound like common sense, but why is it so uncommon?
7 – Don’t Forget to Join the Player’s Club
Some people think that the player’s club is just for slots players. They don’t realize that your player’s club should also be used at the table games, too.
All you have to do is present your card to the dealer, and he’ll make a note of how much you’re betting and how many bets per hour you’re placing.
Your card will be credited accordingly, and you’ll get the comps that you’ve earned this way.
Conclusion
Those are my seven best tips for improving your craps game, but maybe I left something out? Or maybe you disagree with one of these tips?
If so, let’s talk about it. Leave a comment with your suggestions about how to win more often shooting dice.
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