When playing craps, practicing some level of strategy is extremely important. In this complete and comprehensive guide to craps strategy, you’ll find everything you need to know about the best online craps strategies, how to employ them, and which you should choose.
If you want to maximize your odds and chance of winning while playing craps, this guide is for you. Read on for all the details you need to know to give yourself the best shot at landing a win.
Basic Craps Strategy – How to Choose a Strategy
When it comes down to it, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of craps strategies. To make it even more complicated, everyone has their own favorite. However, for the purpose of this guide, we’ll mostly be sticking with basic strategy tips that can be successfully employed by both beginners and experts alike. Getting too far into the weeds makes craps feel even more overwhelming than it already does and may hinder the enjoyment of the game overall, which is absolutely not our goal at Bonus.com.
The best way to choose a strategy is to do so based on your comfort level. If you’re a beginner, build a strategy out of easy to understand, simple bets that have low house edges. If you’re an advanced player looking to increase your payout potential in exchange for a higher house edge, consider inner bets such as field bets. In the end, there are so many options and variables in craps that it’s really up to you how to build your own personal strategy.
Online Craps Terms
Before we get started, let’s review some of the most common terminology used in craps as knowing these terms can help you understand how the game is played and the different bet types available.
- Come out roll: The first roll by a shooter to establish a point.
- Don’t pass line: A line that represents a bet that the shooter will not make a point. Bets placed here are betting against the shooter.
- Front line: Another term for the pass line.
- House edge: The odds advantage that any casino holds.
- Marking the point: The act of placing the puck on the current point number.
- Natural: When a shooter rolls a 7 or 11 on the come out roll, immediately paying out all pass line bettors.
- Pass line: A line that represents a bet that the shooter will make a point; bets placed here are known as betting with the shooter.
- Point: The number determined by the come out roll that a shooter must roll before a 7 in order to make a point.
- Quick pick: A feature that allows you to select popular bet options quickly.
Quick Overview of Common Craps Bets & Craps Payouts
Before we dive into the details of craps strategy, let’s review a quick explanation of the most common craps bets to make the strategy we cover below easier to understand.
Pass Line
The Pass Line Bet is one of the simplest in craps – simply place your wager on the Pass Line before the come out rolls. If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11 during the come out rolls, your pass line bet pays out even money. Once a point is established, your pass line bet wins if that point appears again.
Most strategies recommend placing a pass line bet as it gives you great odds during the come out rolls (8 ways to win, 4 ways to lose). However, those odds do drop once a point has been established.
Come Bet
The Come Bet allows you to add additional number bets without picking specific numbers. It’s similar to a Pass line bet, but occurs after the point is established. Once made, a Come bet wins if the shooter rolls a 7 or 11. If the shooter rolls a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, the Come bet is moved to that number and pays out if the number is rolled again before a 7.
Don’t Pass/Don’t Come Bet
Think of these bets as being the flip side of the previously mentioned bets. They are, for all intents and purposes, mirrored opposites of the regular Pass/Come bets. If you’re playing in real life, these bets may not make you the most popular person at the table, but they are used in some strategies and are worth being aware of at least.
Other Craps Bets
The bottom line is that the best odds of winning craps sit with the pass/don’t pass and come/don’t come bets, and some players choose to ignore the rest of the table. However, there are many other bet types that can play into winning online craps. Here, we’ll provide brief descriptions of each bet, as well as provide a payout table below so that you can see the odds of each.
- Field Bets: This is a bet on a single dice roll. It wins if the roll is a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12. A roll of 2 lands a double payout, while a roll of 12 lands a triple payout.
- Free Odds/Laying the Odds Bets: These bets are some of the most popular options in craps as they hold no house edge. Essentially, this is a bet that the shooter will roll a 7 before rolling a specific point number.
- Place Bets: This is a bet that a specific roll will land before a 7 is thrown.
- Buy Bets: Buy bets are similar to place bets in that they are placed on a specific number being rolled before a 7. However, if a buy bet hits, the casino will pay out at true odds but take a 5% commission on winnings. Rules vary here, with some casinos only taking commission if the bet wins and others charging the commission before the dice are even thrown, so make sure to read the rulebook.
- Big Six, Big Eight: This bet pays out if a 6 or 8 is thrown before a 7.
- Hardways Bets: Hardways bets are placed on dice rolling a specific number before a 7, with both dice showing the same number. For example, a hard 6 bet would require both dice to show 3.
- 2 or 12 Bets: These are bets that the dice will roll either 2 or 12. These bets must land on the next roll and will lose if any other number is rolled.
- 3 or 11 Bets: These bets are similar to 2 or 12 bets but continue until a 7 is thrown.
- Any 7 Bet: This bet is simply wagering that a 7 will land in any combination.
- Any Craps Bet: Bet that the next roll will land on craps numbers (2, 3, or 12).
Payouts
| Bet | Payout | House Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Pass Line Odds | 2:1 | 1.41% |
| Don’t Pass Odds | 2:1 | 1.36% |
| Pass Line Odds / Come Bet Odds / Buy Bets (4 or 10) | 2:1 | 4.76% |
| Pass Line Odds / Come Bet Odds / Buy Bets (5 or 9) | 3:2 | 4.76% |
| Pass Line Odds / Come Bet Odds / Buy Bets (6 or 8) | 5:6 | 4.76% |
| Don’t Pass Odds / Don’t Come Odds / Lay Bets (4 or 10) | 2:1 | 2.44% |
| Don’t Pass Odds / Don’t Come Odds / Lay Bets (5 or 9) | 3:2 | 3.23% |
| Don’t Pass Odds / Don’t Come Odds / Lay Bets (6 or 8) | 5:6 | 4% |
| Place Bets (4 or 10) | 9:5 | 6.70% |
| Place Bets (5 or 9) | 7:5 | 4% |
| Place Bets (6 or 8) | 7:6 | 1.52% |
| Field Bets (2 or 12) | 2:1 | 5.50% |
| Field Bets (3, 4, 9, 10 or 11) | 1:1 | 5.50% |
| Hardways (4 or 10) | 7:1 | 11.10% |
| Hardways (6 or 8) | 9:1 | 9.09% |
| Any 7 | 4:1 | 16.90% |
| Any Craps | 7 to 1 | 11.10% |
| 2 Craps or 12 Craps | 30 to 1 | 13.90% |
| 3 Craps or 11 Craps | 15 to 1 | 11.10% |
| Big 6 or 8 | 1 to 1 | 9.09% |
| Horn Bet (2 or 12) | 7.5 to 1 | N/A |
| Horn Bet (3 or 11) | 3.75 to 1 | N/A |
Craps Strategy – Full Rundown
Now that we’ve laid out the basics, let’s get into the nitty gritty details of craps strategy. In this section, I’ll clue you into some of the best pieces of strategy you can follow to a T or mix and match as you desire.
Don’t Skip the Pass Line Bet
This piece of strategy stands especially true if you’re a beginner. The Pass Line is one of the simplest, safest bets you can make in craps. And, it comes with a low house edge of just 1.41%. It also enables you to make an Odds Bet once the point is established, which has no house edge at all, making it one of the best bets you can make in any casino game.
Place Odds Bets
Once the point is established, you have the ability to place an Odds Bet if you’ve bet on the Pass Line or placed a Come Bet. Think of it as an additional bet on the point number that offers true odds. In other words, it does not have any house edge and can increase your payout if your point number is rolled before a 7. As you can see, taking this bet is almost a no-brainer.
Place a Come Bet
A Come Bet is essentially the in-game equivalent of a Pass Line bet, and it also features favorable odds. It serves as a nice way to get some inner bets without placing high-risk bets, which we’ll get into in the next section. Like a Pass Line bet, the house edge sits at only 1.41%. Also like a Pass Line bet, placing a Come bet allows you the ability to place an Odds bet, which has no house edge.
Consider the Don’t Pass/Don’t Come Bet
These bets have a house edge even slightly smaller than the Pass/Come bets, sitting at 1.36%. This makes them a slightly better option than the alternative, at the expense of potentially going against the tide of the rest of the table and drawing some ire from fellow players. Of course, in online craps, that doesn’t matter.
Bet on 6 or 8
Most single-number bets are high-risk, with this being an exception. If you put a Place bet on 6 or 8, the house edge is only 1.52%. If you put a Don’t Place bet on 6 or 8, the house edge drops to a minuscule 0.56%. All that said, this is likely one of the only times you should be delving into the inner bets unless you have a high bankroll and risk tolerance and are looking for big payout potential.
Avoid High-Risk Bets
This strategy stands especially true for beginner players. High-risk bets, such as Field bets, offer big payout potential at the expense of a higher house edge. As a player, you need to understand and determine your own personal risk level and how far you’re willing to take it for potentially higher payouts.
Mix and Match
All of the above pieces of craps strategy can be mixed, matched, and melded into your own personal strategy. Some common examples include placing a Pass Line bet followed by 2 Come Bets, or placing a Pass Line bet with 2x Odds Bets and no other bets. In the end, the choice of strategy is up to you, but I would recommend sticking with that choice, which leads into my next piece of craps strategy.
Be Consistent
When you build a strategy, stick with it. Constantly flip-flopping strategies will do nothing but skew your winnings and cause you to be confused. In the end, the main goal of playing craps is to have fun, so don’t take it so serious. Try out different strategies and, like the previous section said, mix and match, but once you’ve found one you enjoy, stick with it. Don’t hop around to a different strategy at your first loss.
Practice Your Craps Strategy
Free Online Craps: Practice and Learn
New to craps? You can play online craps for free, with no download or sign-up required, and if you run out of credits, simply refresh the page. Click below to play First Person Craps by Evolution Gaming, one of the most common and most popular craps variants you’ll find at online casinos and sweepstakes casinos. This craps demo even offers a craps tutorial for both basic rules and advanced play.
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Other General Casino Strategy Tips
- Manage your bankroll. Know how much you’re wagering and how much you have. Never bet above your means.
- Play responsibly. Practice responsible gambling. Set time, wager, and deposit limits to make sure you stick to a level of play where you’re comfortable.
- Avoid gambler’s fallacy. Avoid thoughts about being “due for a win” or similar fallacies. In reality, casino games are random, and previous outcomes don’t hold any weight for current games.
- Have fun. Most of all, playing craps and other casino games should be fun. If you’re not having fun, you shouldn’t be playing. Playing at online casinos is meant to be a form of entertainment, not a job.
Final Thoughts on Craps Strategy
As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when looking at craps strategy. However, once you practice and start nailing down your own personal strategy, the game becomes a relatively simple and understandable way to have a ton of fun. With so many options and so many ways to play, getting to learn and understand craps strategy is worth it for players of all types, even those who may not have delved into table games before. If you don’t at least give it a try, you’re missing out on one of the most fun online casino experiences available.
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