Best Craps Strategy for Experienced Players

Craps is a lot of fun because of all of the different ways of betting involved in the game. Though it has elements that people will recognize from other table games – namely, picking numbers to bet on and waiting for a lucky roll of the dice – it also has a lot of unique elements. We’ll go over some of the necessary basics as well as the best craps strategy for more experienced players of this fascinating table game.

As you continue reading, you’ll find a range of information about the best craps strategy as well as other relevant facts about this popular casino game. If you’re interested in playing craps yourself, hopefully you will find yourself prepared to go out and try at a local casino or perhaps an online casino.

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• Craps Gambling Strategy Explained
• Best Way to Win at Craps: Advanced
• Other Rules to Bear in Mind
• Fun Facts About Craps

Craps Gambling Strategy Explained

As with many table games, there is not only one craps gambling strategy. There are a variety you can employ in order to make the most of your playing time, increase your odds of winning, and hopefully wrack up some chips! We’re excited to explore the best craps strategy with you. This may make more sense for experienced players, but read on and you’ll soon get the hang of things no matter how confident you currently feel about your skills!

What we talk about when we discuss craps gambling strategy is essentially a plan for how you are going to go into the game and play all the way through. A game of craps is played in several steps over the course of one game, but each step moves quickly, which makes it fun and fast-paced. For the new player, this can seem hectic maybe, since there is a lot happening at once, but it’s actually a great element of the game. If you follow some basic principles, you can play along, at least breaking even most of the time, and understanding how the game works.

Playing the Pass Line

That’s why our first best way to win at craps is to bet on the Pass Line. If you bet the table minimum – which will be clearly stated on the table – on the Pass Line, you can simply stand back and watch the game unfold while, hopefully, wracking up winnings if the right numbers are called. With the Pass Line, 7 or 11 will win, while 2, 3 or 12 will lose. With two six-sided dice, 7 is the most rolled number. 2, 3 and 12 are far less likely, so you have good odds of winning – and good odds of not losing.

Then you can bet further on “Come.” Depending on the next roll, that bet will move to one of the upper points – 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 – giving you another opportunity to win money, though you will lose that bet if 7 is rolled.

Though this is a basic strategy in some way, it’s also a solid one to follow thanks to additional bets. You can bet further on top of your Pass Line bet by moving a chip behind your original bet. Winnings on this chip are paid out fully, with no commission given to the casino. You can do the same for your Come bet by placing further chips onto the Come section of the table. Those will count towards whatever bet you have on the upper numbers.

Playing the Upper Numbers

As long as you’re not the shooter for this game, you can place bets anywhere on the upper numbers – they do not have to coincide with whatever has already been rolled. This is known as place betting. Six and eight are valuable bets – therefore one of the best ways to win at craps – as they are also more likely to be rolled than the other numbers on the board. Because of that, though, they are also more costly. You can double check with the dealer about how much you have to bet on these two, but for a $10 buy minimum, the bets would be $12 minimum, for example. You can usually follow increments of $6.

If you get some wins on these numbers, you may opt to increase your bets on the table by adding to the 6 and 8, or by expanding out to the other upper numbers. For a craps winning strategy, we recommend working your way outwards, first to the 5/9, and lastly to 4/10 since those are worse odds. Keep in mind, we recommend making safer bets, even if you are a more experienced player, if you don’t have a high bankroll to work with since you want to make it go as far for you as it can.

Don’t Pass, Don’t Come

Another solid, conservative bet is on Don’t Pass. This is an optimal craps strategy because it swaps the wins and losses from the Pass Line. Any bets here will win on 2 and 3 or lose on 7 and 11, while 12 is bar – neither a win nor a loss. You might think, why would you ever bet on those odds, since they are so much less favorable than rolling a 7 or 11?

This is because the next rolls will also swap their usual wins and losses from the Come to the Don’t Come bet. If you bet on Don’t Come with a certain number, you will lose if that number gets rolled again and win if a 7 gets rolled. The odds are actually in your favor from here on out, so it’s a very smart strategy as well! You can also increase your action in this strategy by continuing to add bets to the Don’t Come bet, just as you would add to additional numbers in the other strategies.

Best Way to Win at Craps: Advanced

You can modify these basic strategies, increase your betting amounts and take bigger, more aggressive risks in order to play advanced games of craps. Here are some strategies we would recommend.

Three Point Molly

In Three Point Molly, you play along the lines of the first strategy, playing on the Pass Line then the Come bet. Instead of staying on the same numbers, you continue placing bets on new numbers along the top row until you have three different numbers, as well as the Pass Line, covered. In addition, you should ideally maximize your bets on each of these so that you increase your chances of winning big, since you have good odds of having some of these pay out.

This of course requires a good sized bankroll, and you might not want to try this out if you aren’t as familiar with craps or if you’d like to play a longer and slow game, with more chances of testing different methods. If you are a more confident player, however, it’s definitely one we would recommend trying out. In addition, some recommend playing this way until the 7 or 11 are thrown, so that you can cash out then and decrease your chances of losing your bets.

Iron Cross, a.k.a Field Bet

With this strategy, you bet on the Field – a section of the board we have not yet mentioned yet, which lies above the Don’t Pass line. On the field, almost every possible dice combination roll is accounted for. If you place additional bets up above on 5, 6 and 8, you are covered in the case of every roll except for the number 7.

Of course, this is a risky strategy, too. On one hand, you have a great chance of winning something since literally every number is covered except for 7. But 7s do come up frequently since they are the most commonly rolled number, so you could risk it all.

Experts usually recommend to put $44 on the board total with this bet, so if you want to think about it this way, this is the amount it may cost you to take this kind of a risk. In all likelihood, it will pay out, but it’s not guaranteed, like everything in gambling. Another interesting fact to note is that some people think this strategy has a better house edge than place betting (on the 6 and 8 for example). That’s actually incorrect and has to do with how edges and payouts are calculated, so you can also stick with place betting if it’s more comfortable to you as a strategy.

Other Rules to Bear in Mind

A question that’s brought up a lot in Craps is how to roll dice correctly. You should know that there is a correct and incorrect way to roll in a Craps game, and breaking certain rules will get you in trouble with the dealer or even the pit boss of the casino! So pay attention. You must hit the dice against the back edge of the table, meaning the throw will span the entire table. However, you should avoid slamming the dice hard against the back edge.

If you don’t roll correctly the first time, don’t stress too much – the dealer will probably give you another shot if it’s obvious you weren’t skirting the rules deliberately. Some dealers may move on to a new shooter, however, in which case you’ll have to wait to get another turn.

You also cannot leave the table with the dice under any circumstances. The dealer must be able to see the dice during the whole of the game to make sure no funny business is occurring. You also must use one hand to roll – not two – and you shouldn’t throw the dice over the dealer or anything strange like that. Ideally, you aim for the back wall so that the dice softly bounce and land back down into place. They should not bounce on the table before that.

Is Dice Control Real?

According to pro players, yes, you can control the outcome of your dice to some extent – but be warned, this isn’t failproof. You can practice throwing dice at home to get the hang out of different throws. Since 7s come up the most frequently in the game, the focus tends to be on trying to avoid getting 7s, since some bets will really work against you if you keep rolling 7s. You stand to win a lot if you place certain bets that do not rely on 7s winning, if you can lessen your chances of throwing a 7.

The best way to learn how to throw dice is to watch videos and practice your technique at home, ideally on a real craps table and with good quality dice.

Fun Facts About Craps

Craps is an old game with an interesting past, and there are a few cool facts we thought you’d enjoy! For example, as opposed to other table games that are well-documented, no one is 100% sure of the origins of this fun casino game. Craps is sometimes called “rolling the bones.” It’s also helpful to know that the house edge of the game can be different depending where you are playing!

Though we are not totally sure of the origin, games similar to craps were played by Roman soldiers, allegedly, and later in France. The name is said to come from the French word “crapaud.” The word means “toad” and references how people look, hunched over, playing the game on the street.

Supposedly the version we know today was perfected in New Orleans when dice maker John H. Winn came up with an idea to fix a loophole in the game that made it too easily winnable: adding the Don’t Pass feature. Of course this is now a well known part of the game and the standard version in much of the world.