Smart Craps Play Starts at Home

Craps is a game with a large variety of bets, most of them not worth making, and a small, select group of bets that can keep the house edge at around one percent, give or take a few tenths of a percent. These good bets can give a savvy craps player a very good chance to take home the money today or tonight.

So what are the best bets at craps? The math tells us clearly that the Pass, Don't Pass, Come and Don't Come have the lowest house edges - around 1.4 percent. That means for every $100 you bet on these, you will lose about $1.40 in the long run. You can make these bets even better by utilizing the "odds" bet that the casinos will allow. Here you can put up extra money on the aforementioned bets (once these bets are on a number) and reduce the house edge even further - down to as low as one-tenth of one percent in some games.

The fact is that the casinos are making it easy for you to play a tight game against them - if you choose to do so.

Then how come so many craps players make bad bets and not good bets? I guess the same answer is found with this question too: How come most students are not competing for valedictorian?

The sad fact is this: Most craps players are inveterate gamblers and they want action. They are looking to get their blood boiling and the quickest way to do that is to make bets that have high payouts, even though these bets have extra-high house edges attached to them. Most craps players are losers - that's a plain fact. In fact, most craps players can be considered pretty dim when it comes to craps.

The smartest craps players have taken another route. Since craps is a game where your betting choices dictate your future prosperity, the savvy craps player takes the time to read and study about his passion. There are many good books and tapes on the game of craps - and many bad ones as well. Suffice it to say that I recommend my books (I was trying to figure out how to write that recommendation humbly but I couldn't): Beat the Craps Out of the Casinos, The Captain's Craps Revolution, Forever Craps, and The Craps Underground. I recommend Dominator's email book, 10 Easy Steps to Beating Craps; Sharpshooter's book, Get the Edge at Craps and John Grochowski's book, The Craps Answer Book.

All of my recommendations are books that are solidly based on the math of the game and none give betting systems where the house edge flies over 3 percent. None of the books recommends crazy hedging systems that will give the house edges almost in the double digits on some bets. None of the books pretends that the math of craps is not important for understanding the dimensions of the game.

In truth, good craps play starts at home. Good craps play starts in your brain, not in your heart or emotions. You should understand the bets that exist in the game of craps and know exactly how you are going to wager your money when you enter the casino. Don't wait until you are under the pressure of play to make your betting choices. Too many players succumb to the craps mania that exists at the tables and they throw their money away because they have gotten caught up in the madness.

Craps is a powerfully exciting game and when things are going well at the table, too many players begin to make very bad bets, thinking that they are going to overcome the house edge and make a killing. On some nights this might happen but what actually happens, in the long run, is bleak. Once you get used to making poor house-edge bets, it is very hard to turn off the spigot. The player thinks, "I know I can get hot again and I'll keep making these bets because when I do get hot I want to really make it big."

Those are the thoughts of a loser. And losing is what most players do quite well. Don't you be fooled by such thinking. The only people who make money at craps are controlled shooters who make low-house edge bets; the casino who books all the bets; and the dealers who are salaried and get tips from friendly players. Everyone else loses, including experts who create betting systems utilizing bets with high house edges.

But how much you lose can be controlled completely by you. Make high house edge bets and you will lose a lot. Make low house edge bets and you will lose a little. Even if you don't want to go the extra step and learn how to control the dice, smart betting choices will keep the house edge at bay. The lower the edge, the better chance you have of bringing home the money.

Gambling is a great adrenaline rush but one can have that great rush and make good bets too. After all, it is just as much fun - no it is more fun - to make a bet that you have a good chance of winning than to make a bet that gives you long-term major losses.

If you make the Pass or Come bets, and if you place the odds on those bets, you can be confident that you will be in a strong position against the casino. There are no better wagers at a craps table.

According to the latest Harrah's poll titled "A Day in the Life of a Casino Gambler," there are approximately 1.5 million craps players in America. The majority is playing a game where the house hammers them. Don't you join their company. Go home, read a good book, plan your battle and go into the casino with the best bets and lowest edges as your weaponry. Oh, and good luck, too.