This and that about craps

Don't pass and don't come bets can be taken down if you desire to do so. Why? Because the house edge on the darkside bets comes on the first placement of the bet, but the game shifts heavily in favor of the darksider once the bet is up on a number. The casinos aren't being kind in allowing you to take down your darkside bets; they are being clever since some players will actually take down some of these bets once they are up on a number. And that is a foolish choice.

You can place the pass line and don't pass bets yourself. You can also put the odds down behind them. You can place the come and don't come bets but the odds for these bets are put on by the dealer. Just place the amount you want in odds on the come section and say, "Odds." All place bets, don't place bets, and lay bets are placed by the dealer as are all crazy crapper/proposition bets except for the field, which you place yourself.

The "crazy crapper" bets such as the hard ways, the horn, the whirl and others are a total waste of your money. The Captain said, "You have to be crazy to make them." He was right. Many casinos usher in new side bets and usher them out again because most craps players don't go for new bets. The rule of thumb and brain is this: It is a rare snowball's chance in hell that a casino is going to put in a side bet that is any good or even just slightly bad. Ignore them and feel sorry for the hopeless, hapless players who make them. Keep in mind that the casinos thrive on ploppies -- and you never want to be one of them.

Want to reduce the hit on your bankroll by 57% against random shooters? Then use the 5-Count. You can last longer at the tables and if a hot roll is coming in that time you will be on it. In addition, it has been proven that the 5-Count will get you on controlled shooters 11% more often than bet-all players. This is even if you don't know the shooter has control over the dice! (Go to http://www.goldentouchcraps.com/proof.shtml for a full explanation.)

There are two aspects to the basic game of craps. There is the come-out aspect where the pass-line bettor is hoping for a 7 or 11 and not the 2, 3 or 12; where the don't pass bettor is hoping for a 2 or 3 and not a 7 or 11. That's part one. Part two is the point cycle where the shooter must make a point before the 7 shows in order for the pass line bet to win. Combining parts one and two, which you must ultimately do, the house edge is 1.41% on the pass line and 1.36% (or 1.4%) on the don't pass.

A crossroader is a cheat or criminal. A railbird is a person who stands next to you at a craps table and tries to steal your chips from your rail. When you aren't protecting them or when you are shooting, the railbird scoops a couple up. The worst railbird I ever heard about was a man from Greece at Bally's in Vegas -- this was in the 1980s. He was stealing black chips ($100) from a gentleman next to him and stuffing the chips into his pants. He was caught. The police were called in and he was taken down to the station and told to drop his pants. Nothing. No chips. Then it dawned on the police where the railbird was stuffing the black chips he had stolen. Guess those black chips must have blended in up there.

Casino dice for all intents and purposes are unbiased and each side is the same as all the other sides. The pips do not weigh any more than the plain areas. So the six-pip side weighs the same as the one-pip side. Sure, casinos could put in fixed dice, but what would they be fixed for? The casino has small to hefty edges on all their bets, why take a chance on being caught? Also if the 7 were the fixed number that two-to-one edge on the come-out roll would be more than enough to make the casino sweat buckets. Also it is likely that doey-don't players might have a field day as well. No, casinos would be stupid to cheat -- as players would also be stupid to cheat. Cheating isn't worth the risks.

Are all craps tables the same? No. Some tables are 10 feet long (a few); some are 12 feet long; some are 14 feet long; some are 16 feet long (a few). Some tables have hard surfaces; some have what we call traditional surfaces; some are bouncy; some are super bouncy. The layouts come in various fabrics; also their colors can be quite different, some vibrant, some dull. Some tables have seats for two box people. The width of tables can differ, too. When you play, just note how close or far the pass line is from you and that will usually give you some idea of the width of the table. The height of the tables can be quite different too; some tables are so high that shorter players have to get on their toes to shoot the dice. Some tables are shorter. The only thing that seems to be relatively consistent is the height of the layout from the floor -- usually about 28 inches, give or take.