Craps is one of those games that people think is difficult until they are shown the ropes. In its purest form, all you have to do is roll the dice and hope it doesn’t yield a seven. While the game is not easy, there are so many combinations that can give you a win and so many ways to lose.
If you are new to craps, you will wonder why all the players are always cheering while you seem to be losing. It turns out there are some best-kept secrets about craps that you can only learn from the legends. Luckily for you, we have compiled a list of the top six secrets of playing craps to win.
1. Don’t bet more than you need to on other shooters
When you bet on another shooter, you are playing against the house. Like every other game, the house never wants you to win against them. With every rolled dice, your expectation should be that you will lose. With this mindset, you will not place a significant bet on a shooter who will likely lose your money. While the rule of thumb should be to put the lowest wager on another shooter, you can also follow the 5-count rule. Just keep your bets low and reduce your chances of losing more.
2. Make the lowest house edge
Many people want to place a huge bet and make a killing in a short time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Craps is a game of patience and you stand a bigger chance to win if you take your time with low house-edge bets. The best strategy is to place one or two Pass line bets and one Come bet. The house edge on Pass and Come is 1.41%, so you can only lose 14 cents on every $10 wager. It would help if you were good with mathematics to calculate the odds and know when to up your wager.
3. Always place small bets
Whether you are playing craps in a brick-and-mortar casino or in an online casino, always know that you are meant to lose. As said earlier, the secret to winning on craps is playing the long game. While you can do this by sticking to good odds like Pass and Come, you can reduce your bets. For instance, if you have $10 and you bet with pennies, the $10 will take you a long way and give you better chances of winning. But if you bet with one or two dollars on that $10, it will be gone before you know it. If you have $500, the best value to bet would be only a dollar.
4. Learn the rhythmic roll
There is a debate on whether craps is a game of skills or that of luck. While this debate continues, some people have learned the art of beating the game. The trick they use is called rhythmic shooting. While the odds of an average man remains at a point 8, rhythmic rollers can do better. Their hand always rolls the dice to the right number, and that is how they beat the house and go home with all the money. This, however, is for the select few who have perfected the technique. The rest of us have to stick to playing safe!
5. You can score above maximum odds
The exciting thing about craps is that the house has very low odds and sometimes none at all. To combat this, the casino caps your wagers with a 5x limit so you can’t clean them out. Unknown to many, you can break this cap if you bet on the Pass 6 or 8. Please don’t confuse this with the Big 6 and 8 because those are losing numbers. 6 and 8 have 6:5 odds, which mean you will lose the least amount of money with these numbers. However, the house already knows this, so they dilute your winnings with extra bets.
6. Never go back to your starting stake
If you play your hand right using the long game, you are likely to win a good chunk of money. When most people attain double or even triple their starting stake, they get greedy and want to play more. Unfortunately, what happens is that eventually, you start losing. This is the time to get up and walk away while you are still at the top. If you continue playing, chances are you will lose all the money because you are tired and your decision making is not what it was when you began.
With these points in mind, we can say that craps is not entirely dependent on luck. You must have the skills to throw the dice and to do your calculations correctly. If you stay away from risky strategies and place a few bets at a time, you have a better chance of winning. Then again, it’s best to go through online casino gaming review sites to know a few hacks and improve your odds of winning at craps.