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Craps Guidance - learn the game the best way possible @ BettorsLuck.com
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It's not uncommon to hear that craps is one of the hardest games to get your head
around, but it doesn't have to be. Although walking up to a craps table in the
casino can be a harrowing experience, with the stickman yelling crazy stuff out
that everyone else seems to understand, and the dice flying a mile a minute. No
worries, all that talk is just slang trying to get the high rollers to place more
bets. You needn't worry about the cryptic slang surrounding the game, or the craps
board for that matter, as crazy looking as it is. Once you know the basics, craps
much simpler to understand than you might think.
Our craps guide will talk you through the major bets at the table, which are the
only ones you're ever going to want to make, because the rest all have a high
house edge. In fact, you can learn to play as well as the best at the table in
about five minutes, seriously! The complicated bets and hedging that many craps
fans enjoy are not actually advantageous to the bottom line. Playing the pass
line bets, along with a small selection of other offerings, are the only smart
bets on the board, and learning to stick with them may be the hardest part of
learning to play craps.
As
you can see from our craps table picture, the middle and one end of the board
are the only things which hold any significance. This is because of the fact that
a craps table is double the length it needs to be, with each end being a mirror
image of the opposite. Craps players stand around the entire table in a land based
casino and since everyone can be a shooter, the dice can be thrown from both ends
of the table. Online however, craps doesn't need the extra end, which is nice
for us because it removes some of the complexity from the board and makes it easier
to learn.
Like all good introductory craps instructions we will begin with a look at the
fundamental plays and bets in the game, including the come-out roll and the pass
line bet.
To bet a pass line bet you place your chips physically on the pass line. Bets
must be placed before the shooter lets go of the dice. The pass line is the wide
band usually labeled with a capitalized 'PASS LINE' that runs along the outside
of the table layout. To bet against the shooter you can place your bet on the
don't pass line. As you can see in our craps table graphic, the don't pass line
runs along the inside of the pass line and is noticeably narrower.
The come out roll is the first roll of a new round, which usually means you have
a new shooter (the dice are handed along in a circle to whichever bettor would
like to be the shooter, as each session starts). If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11
on the come out roll and you have a pass line bet down, you win. If the shooter
rolls a two, three or twelve, you lose. If the shooter rolls any other number,
that number becomes the "point" number. If you're betting with the shooter
(a pass line bet as opposed to a don't pass line bet), you want them to roll that
number (the point) again before a seven is rolled. If that happens, you and the
shooter win. If a seven is rolled before the point number is rolled again, you
lose and the shooter loses. The process begins again when either a seven is hit,
or the point is hit. So for the come out roll (the first toss for a new shooter),
the shooter wants to hit a 7 or an 11 because it's an instant win. They want to
avoid a 2, 3, or a 12 (collectively known as 'craps') because it's an instant
loss. You want the same things if you are betting the pass line bet.
A really fun aspect of craps is the fact that you can jump into the betting any
time; the only exception to this states that you can't bet the "pass line
bet with odds" on the come out roll - which is simply because you can only
bet with odds when the roller is going for the point. A pass line bet with odds
is a bet where you're putting additional money down on your pass line bet after
the point has been set by placing an extra portion of money down just below your
original bet (more precisely, half over the bottom bar of the pass line, so half
on half off). This 'odds bet' pays off slightly higher than the 1 to 1 the pass
line pays and so has a lower house edge.
Basically, if you've understood this, you can learn how to play craps. The pass
line bet with odds (sometimes called 'free odds') is the best bet in the casino,
not to mention the game of craps. The more money you put down on 'odds', the lower
the house edge drops. If the casino you're at lets you put 100 times your original
bet down in odds, the house edge drops to an incredible 0.18%. The pass line bet
without free odds has a house edge of 1.41%. For a look at each of the other craps
bets read more here.
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