The most common and popular bet at the craps table is the pass line bet.
Although I have tested a lot of systems, I don't need to test all of them to know they are all worthless. No system can ever pass the test of time. It is not unusual to win for a while with a system, but if you keep playing the odds will eventually catch up to you and you will fall behind.
For more information about the futility of betting systems, please see The Truth about Betting Systems.
That is known as 3-4-5X odds, and is now pretty common. The following table shows all the possible outcomes, for the pass and odds combined, with full odds.
Event | Pays | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|
Pass line win | 1 | 0.222222 | 0.222222 |
Pass line loss | -1 | 0.111111 | -0.111111 |
Point of 4 or 10 & win | 7 | 0.055556 | 0.388889 |
Point of 4 or 10 & lose | -4 | 0.111111 | -0.444444 |
Point of 5 or 9 & win | 7 | 0.088889 | 0.622222 |
Point of 5 or 9 & lose | -5 | 0.133333 | -0.666667 |
Point of 6 or 8 & win | 7 | 0.126263 | 0.883838 |
Point of 6 or 8 & lose | -6 | 0.151515 | -0.909091 |
Total | 1.000000 | -0.014141 |
Unlike most gambling writers, I don't put much emphasis on betting strategies. Assuming the same game and bet, there is no one right or wrong strategy. They all behave differently in the short run, but in the long run you will give the house the same percentage of total money bet.
This is similar to a question I got last week. Yes, it is true that there are ten ways to roll a 6 or 8, and six ways to roll a 7. However, one must not look at the probabilities alone, but weight them against the payoffs. The place bet on the 6 and 8 pays 7 to 6 odds when fair odds would pay 6 to 5. By making six unit place bets on the 6 and 8, and taking the other down if one wins, the probability of winning 7 units is 62.5% and the probability of losing 12 units is 37.5%. If the player must cover both the 6 and 8, then the place bet is the way to go. This rate of return isn't bad but could be better. For the player who puts a priority on minimizing the overall house edge, the best strategy is to make combinations of pass, don't pass, come, and don't come bets, and always take the maximum allowable odds.
The better system is to bet on the don't pass only and take full odds. Yes, betting on both does increase you chances of winning on any one bet. However you are suffering a higher combined house edge by betting on both the pass and don't pass and it will cost you in the long run.
Yes, it was luck. It helped that you stuck to the low house edge bets. However, next time, make the line bets with odds only, and don't bet the field, especially if it pays 2 to 1 only on both the 2 and 12.
No combination of bets can give the player an advantage. In your example you would lose one unit for every 12 on the come out roll. You don't make up for it laying the odds. While you usually win laying the odds, you have to risk more. In the end, laying the odds has zero house edge.
As long as you are backing up your pass and come bets with full odds, it doesn't make any difference how many come bets you make. However, it does reduce the overall house edge to keep the odds on your come bets working on the come out roll.
You should never remove a don't pass bet after a point is made! Once a point is made of 6 or 8 the don't pass has equity of 9.09% of the bet amount, which you would be throwing away by taking the bet down. The equity of a don't pass bet on a point of 5 or 9 is 20%, and on a 4 or 10 is 33.33%.
Thanks for the compliment on my site. The best thing I can say about this system is that it composed of low house edge bets. Yes, a 12 will lose the pass bet and push the don’t pass on the come out roll, this is where the house edge is. By making the pass bet you are increasing the overall house edge. If you’re afraid losing you shouldn’t be playing at all. Never hedge your bets. So my advice is to stick to just the don’t pass and laying odds. Yes, you’ll lose some on the come out roll. However if you don’t lose on the come out roll the don’t pass bet will usually win.
I am a novice, just starting to play. My question concerns the 'Five Count Doey/Don’t' System. The way I understand the system:The rationale: Limit your exposure until you find a 'qualified' (five rolls without a 7) shooter. Only betting the odds so there is no 'house edge'! Can you compare this system with just playing pass/come and taking the odds?
As I stated in the other craps strategy question you are only mixing another house edge bet into the game by betting on both the pass and don’t pass, or come and don’t come. It is also not going to help to wait until a shooter hits five points. The probability of making a point is the same for me and you as it is for somebody who just threw 100 points in a row. In other words, the past does not matter. As I stated to the person who asked the other question (whom I think may also be you) don’t make opposite bets, just stick to either the do or don’t side and always back up your bets with the odds.
Unless bankroll preservation is very important to you then Kelly betting won’t help. I would just flat bet. Nice strategy to milk the comp system.
The American Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling has the following 'anything but seven' combination of craps bets that shows a net win on any number except 7. Here's how much MENSA advises to bet in the 'Anything but 7' system:Good question. To confirm their math I made the following table, based on a field bet paying 3 to 1 on a 12. The lower right cell does shows an expected loss of 25 cents over $22 bet. So the house edge is indeed .25/22 = 1.136%.
Number | Probability | Field | Place 5 | Place 6 | Place 8 | Win | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | 0.027778 | 10 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 10 | 0.277778 |
3 | 0.055556 | 5 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 5 | 0.277778 |
4 | 0.083333 | 5 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 5 | 0.416667 |
5 | 0.111111 | -5 | 7 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 2 | 0.222222 |
6 | 0.138889 | -5 | 0.000000 | 7 | 0.000000 | 2 | 0.277778 |
7 | 0.166667 | -5 | -5 | -6 | -6 | -22 | -3.666667 |
8 | 0.138889 | -5 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 7 | 2 | 0.277778 |
9 | 0.111111 | 5 | 0 | 0.000000 | 0 | 5 | 0.555556 |
10 | 0.083333 | 5 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 5 | 0.416667 |
11 | 0.055556 | 5 | 0 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 5 | 0.277778 |
12 | 0.027778 | 15 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 0.000000 | 15 | 0.416667 |
Total | 1 | -0.25 |
The reason the overall house edge appears to be less than the house edge of each individual bet is because the house edge on place bets is generally measured as expected player loss per bet resolved.
However, in this case the player is only keeping the place bets up for one roll. This significantly reduces the house edge on the place bets from 4.00% to 1.11% on the 5 and 9, and from 1.52% to 0.46% on the 6 and 8.
For you purists who think I am inconsistent in measuring the house edge on place bets as per bet resolved (or ignoring ties) then I invite you to visit my craps appendix 2 where all craps bets are measured per roll (including ties).
Craig from Los Angeles
No. I had to Google this to find out what this is. This appears to me to be an amusing urban legend about some young scientists who developed a winning craps system. The story is told at Quatloos. I would file this under other fictional stories that have become mistaken for fact, like Joshua’s missing day. As I have said hundreds of times, not only can betting systems not beat games like craps, they can’t even dent the house edge.
If the player bets $5 on the field and 5, and $6 on the 6 and 8, then he will have a net win of $2 on the 5, 6, and 8, $10 on the 2, $15 on the 12, and $5 on the other field numbers, assuming that the 12 pays 3 to 1 on the field. The player will lose $22 on a 7. On a per roll basis, the player can expect to lose 25 cents compared to $22 in bets, for a house edge of 1.136%.
This begs the question, why is this lower than the individual house edge of each bet made? It’s not. The reason it seems that way is the result of comparing apples to oranges. The house edge of place bets is usually expressed as the expected loss per bet resolved. Looking at the individual bets on a per-roll basis, the house edge on the 5 is 1.11%, and on the 6 and 8 is 0.46%, according to my craps appendix 2. Comparing apples to apples, the house edge is a weighted average of the house edge on the field, 5, 6, and 8, on a per-roll basis, or (5/22)×2.778% + (5/22)×1.111% + (6/22)×0.463% + (6/22)×0.463% = 1.136%.
For the benefit of other readers, the 5-Count is a method of slow-playing craps, as discussed in ’Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution’ by Frank Scoblete and Dominator. As the book states, it is a way of betting nothing on some rolls, reducing your expected loss on random shooters, while still getting the full comp value of table time.
The way the 5-Count works is you start counting rolls as soon as a new shooter throws any point number. When you get to five rolls after you start counting, the shooter is deemed worthy, and you start betting. However, you if the 5th roll is not a point number, it doesn’t count.
The book says you will only be betting 43% of the time, which I agree with. It is common for craps players to not bet, bet small, or bet the don’t pass on new shooters, as a way to qualify him. Once a shooter has made a point, or thrown lots of point numbers, the other players will gain confidence in him, and start betting with him. So, this kind of strategy seems natural. When casinos rate your average bet, they don’t lower the average for betting nothing some of the time. However, sometimes they will dock your time, especially if you are betting big.
An alternative strategy is to wait until the shooter makes a point. Under this strategy you will only be betting 40.6% of the time, less than the 43.5% with the 5-Count.
Yes! I’ve said many times that betting systems not only can’t beat a house edge game, they can’t even dent it. That includes denting it in the house’s favor. In other words, even if he tried to lose, he still only gives up 0.18% over the long-run, under your assumptions. Over a shorter time, he probably could do this, but not over 'years.' Some might argue that to deliberately lose, the player should do an anti-Martingale, where the player kept pressing his bets until he lost. However, a problem there is that a winning player will eventually reach the table maximum, which is rather low in craps. It just goes to show how futile betting systems are.
The dream of every real gambler is to make a living out of his favorite game. If your favorite game is craps, you should think about making a living from this game only. If you win at craps $25 and you play 8 hours a day you will actually make around $50,000 per year. This is not bad for the average person and you are able to do that just by playing your favorite game. In the lines below you will find out how this dream can come true for you.
Making $50,000 per year by playing craps may sound like a dream but it is nothing in comparison to the opportunities. For example, if you can make $25 per shoot, the amount is actually about $150 per hour and thus more than $300,000 per year. The amounts increase as the hourly wage increase but this is not the essence of the article.
If you want to make this kind of money, you should play professionally. This means that you should avoid distractions of all kinds. If you will be distracted you can lose a lot of money. This can also happen if you let your emotions control you.
None of these things are good when playing craps for a living. The great thing about playing craps instead of working is that you do not have to pay a lot of taxes and benefits. Besides, you do what you like so you will not see playing as a chore.
The best thing about playing craps for making a living is that there is no real competition. This does not mean that there are no other people playing craps for a living but they also play against the casinos so you will not be disturbed by them. For poker players, as an example, there are a lot of interferences between the best players both online and offline.
There are some things you should know before you decide that playing craps will be your next job. First of all, you need iron discipline. Secondly, you need to have a good starting bankroll for managing the downswings. It is a known fact that you simply can’t play every day and expect to win every day. There will be days or even weeks when you will lose.
The biggest problem of them all is probably the fact that onl
y a few casinos in the United States operate with craps tables. If you are not lucky to live in Las Vegas for example, it can be really hard to make money as you will need to move first. The travel expenses can be pretty high in comparison to the income as a player.
In this second part of this article, you will find out the exact strategic things you need to know for beginning your career as a craps professional player. If you want to make serious amounts of money every year, you need to start with the beginning. The beginning means the strategy that brings you $25 every shooter.
If you want to be successful while playing craps, you should not consider it a hobby anymore. You should consider it a way of life and treat it professionally. There are a few things you shoul
d have in mind before you start your advent in the craps world.
First of all, you should stay at the craps tables only for short spans of time. Also, you should not get greedy no matter how much you win. Greed is the enemy of every bankroll and you should have it under control. You should not gamble if you are depressed, tired or you are not feeling at your best. This is a general rule of gambling and it applies to craps as well.
Another general gambling rule says that you should not risk money you do not have or you can’t return in case you lose. When you start losing, you should not increase your bets because you will only lose much faster. Substance abuse is of course something you should not even think about while playing craps for a living. This is because you need to focus at all times for the best results.
There are many professional craps players and they earn much more than $50,000 per year. However, this does not mean that they do not have their bad periods. This is why they never brag and this is why you have not heard about them. If you want to be a player you should think about which strategy you will be using at the craps tables.
Many people think that playing craps for a living is impossible. Actually, this is a reality that many people face. If you want to make a living from playing you should know what to do because you will surely not be able to make money without strategies and a proper bankroll.
A proper bankroll and money management scheme are the two things you should never forget about if you want to make money and become a professional craps player. If you do not want to lose your bankroll, you should make sure that you do not bet more when you lose.
Also, you should play at the tables with limits you can afford. You should not play the hero because you will burn if you will play at the high stakes craps tables with a small bankroll.
Andy has been playing online slots for over a decade and has a wealth of experience working in the online casino sector. Always keen to share his knowledge of slots games you can be sure he’s bringing you the best tips and updated stats about every game he reviews!