New to Craps

My wife and I play a lot of slots, BJ, and 3 card poker. I am looking to get into craps some. WE have a trip planned after Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to hitting a live table.

Do most people just play the pass line, pass line and come bets, etc?

How do you play craps and do you stick to that plan the whole time at the table?

thanks,

JT

Pass line, backup passline bets to get the odds and maybe bets on 6 and 8 if I have decent bankroll. I might throw out a Yo bet if feeling froggy. You can win a lot pretty quickly with a lucky roller but worst part of craps is that you can lose even quicker with a dead table. Nothing worse than losing quickly and not even have any hot/fun roller with the dice.

Golden Nugget has free lessons every morning. After the lesson they let you buy in for a low limit game with dealer guidance.

What about the come bets? It seems you can get into trouble quickly with those bets. In my online practice you can win or loss money quickly with those bets.

I am looking for the lowest house edge on this game. Pass line and back up the pass with odds?

Also, do I need to pay attention to the pay tables for the numbers.

Ex. If the point is 6 do I need to back up the pass line that will pay 3:2 on a full $6 bet instead of the $5 bet I have out there.

I know some places wont pay out small change and I want my MONEY!!

Thanks for the help for this newbie.

JT

If you want the lowest house edge you can use the odds man strategy. Basically, you go to a casino with 20X odds like Main Street station or casino royale and piggyback on other players' odds bets. That strategy has 0 house edge, but personally I'm willing to give up 7 cents of EV per $5 pass bet to avoid stares from the dealers.

I like to play craps once in awhile. I'd also highly recommend taking one of the free classes - most casinos offer free gaming lessons in the morning. You're going to learn the basics and probably feel a little more confident playing for the first time.

From my limited knowledge:
The come bet is probably one of the better bets - lower house advantage. It's basically like playing another pass line bet.

You only need to adjust your pass line odds bet when the point is 5 or 9 (pays 3-2) to receive your full pay. So on a $5 bet, your minimum odds would be $6 (on any other number, $5 odds are fine). As a beginner it helped me immensely to know that if I consistently played a $5 pass line, $10 odds would be appropriate no matter what the point is.

When I play, I generally make a $5 pass line bet with $10 odds. I also usually place $6 on the 6 and on the 8. Depending what the shooter is doing, I may make other $5 place bets. I'll press my place bets if the shooter continues to hit them.

Best of luck! It's a great game!

- Linda in TX

The odds for points 6 and 8 pay 6:5, not 3:2.

Whatever odds you place on those points, you'll want to bet the odds in $5 increments, because very few places these days deal the game with chips less than $1, and you'll be giving up a significant edge to the casino on what should be a zero-edge wager.

The Bible for Craps is "Winning Casino Craps" by Edwin Silberstang which was published in 1979.

For me, I Yell 9ft> like a German with Turrets and bet it heavily.

If you want to play Craps very inexpensively, go to Jokers Wild Casino in Henderson where as long as you make at least $1 minimum bets, you can use 25 Cent (Quarter) chips.

RecVPPlayer

If you don't have one already, I recommend that you purchase an American Casino Guide (you can get it on-line at amazon.com or at americancasinoguide.com). In the front of the guide, there is an entire section devoted to various table games, including an excellent explanation of Craps (game structure, odds, betting strategies, etc.). In addition, there are many valuable coupons in the book that can save you a lot of money when you are in Vegas, including match-play coupons that you can use at the tables.

One thing about craps, in relation to most other table games, is that you probably need more bankroll to play the game effectively. Too often, I have tried to play the game with a limited bankroll, only to miss out on opportunities because I didn't have enough bankroll to make more (or higher) bets when the going got good.

Good luck!