Craps Strategy

It was in the early 2000s that I first learned about a technique called “rhythm rolling” from my friend and fellow gambling author Frank Scoblete. Frank and I met periodically in Las Vegas when we were both card counting at blackjack.

Craps gives you one of the best shots to win among casino games.

There are hosts of ways to play the game of craps.

Very few players alive today had the privilege that I had; that is, knowing and learning from the legendary Captain of craps, the late, great dice player, craps expert and teacher who called Atlantic City his domain. I was lucky to know him, play with him, and learn the game of craps and casino gambling in general under his tutelage. 

What is Crapless Craps? Among possible comeout rolls, only four are losers for pass bettors in craps: the one way to make 2, the one way to make 12 and the two ways to make 3. What if there were no losing numbers on the comeout? What if the craps numbers were point numbers? Then you could win on the comeout, but you couldn’t lose.

Casino gamblers know that the house has the edge on them; lottery players are also aware that the state-sponsored games also have a house edge, although most of these gamblers do not know what those edges are, how they are obtained, or what they mean in terms of the players’ losing expectation.

I think most successful athletes, scholars, writers, doctors, actors, chefs and, yes, casino gamblers often need a mentor; someone who can jog the unthinking fog that often settles in our brains when we perform an activity.

There are times craps shooters are cold, times they're hot, and times they're on fire. It's for those time shooters are burning through the points that the craps fire bet was devised.

There are a wide variety of bets when you're playing craps. Some of these bets have low house edges; a few with under 2% and these tend to pay one-to-one.

So many people want to learn how to play craps, yet the layout looks too complicated and before even making an attempt to learn the game these people flee for the safety of what they consider simpler games such as blackjack, roulette, slot

There are dozens of craps bets advertised right on the live casino table felt - wagers including pass and don't pass, come and don't come, place numbers, the field, hardways, one-roll propositions.

When craps players put together combination bets, there are two key things to keep in mind:

The house edge is a weighted average of the house edges on all bets in the combination.

The overall house edge can never be lower than the best individual bet in the combination.

Casino players have the rare opportunity to play craps with a house edge of less than 1 percent. Unfortunately for low rollers, may require wagers too large for their comfort zone.

When craps players bet against the shooter in a live casino, the most common strategy is to play don’t pass and don’t come.  Backing those bets by laying the free odds cuts the house edge to the bone for “Dark Side” or “wrong bettor” – as the majority who bet with the shooter refer to don’t players.