Beware of what you Bet
Best Craps Bets
The casinos job is to take your money. Our job is to teach you how to take the casino's money by making the right bets and avoiding the bad ones. We've listed the best bets that you can make in Craps. These are not the only approved Craps bets, but they will put you in a better winning position.
In our Worst Bets section, you will read that you should never bet on the Pass Line, but, as with any rule, there are exceptions. One exception is betting on the Pass and Come with Odds and the Don't Pass and Don't Come with Odds. Always put the least amount of money on the Pass and Come bets. They already have a low house edge. Pass and Come bets carry a 1.41% house edge and, with Odds, this is lowered to 0.85%. Don't Pass and Don't Come bets carry a 1.40% house edge and, with Odds, this is lowered to 0.68%. As long as you put Odds behind these bets, then they're A-OK in our book.
Place the 6 or 8 to Win or Lose. These are the only worthwhile Place Bets on the table. In the case of placing to win, the house edge is 1.52%, and, to lose, it is 1.82%. In both cases, the house edge is pretty reasonable.
Lay against the 4 or 10. Here, the house edge is only 2.44%; higher than some, but still manageable.
If you Place the 5 or 9 to lose, the house edge is only 2.5% (not much more than laying the 4 or 10), so this is a fairly good bet to make. If you bet $8 on this bet and the 7 shows, you win $5.
Normally, Field bets carry a 2:1 payout. However, some casinos may offer triple pay for hitting these numbers. When this happens, the house edge drops to 2.78%, making the bet even more attractive. In this instance, and in this instance only, should you consider making a Field bet, but as much as possible try not to bet the field, especially if the payout is less than 3:1.
Worst Craps Bets
Any Craps expert will tell you that your chances of winning on a Field Bet are worse than a coin flip. In fact, there are are 16 ways to win on a Field Bet but 20 ways to lose. Although the payout looks great on the table, with double being paid on the Numbers 2 and 12, for example, the odds of winning are worse than 50/50. Betting on the Field is one of the worst Craps bets you can make.
The Pass Line is another bad bet, because it's an Even Money bet; meaning, whatever you bet, you'll get in return. So, if you bet $2 on the Pass Line, you'll only win $2. With the object of betting being to win more on your original bet, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why this falls into the category of worst Craps bets.
The Come Bet and the Don't Come Bet are definite "No-Nos". Why? Well, there are a few reasons: 1) they're Even Money bets; 2) you have to roll the same number twice to win money once; and 3) you lose your money when the 7 comes out during the Come Out roll. In all these cases, you can never take advantage of a long roll, because you lose your money in the middle of a long roll and then have to start from scratch. With these odds stacked against you, it's clear that this is not a very advantageous bet.
Hardways and Proposition bets should be avoided at all costs. These one roll bets are a recipe for disaster, because you only have one roll or one chance of hitting these numbers, which puts the odds in the casinos favour and not yours. Hardways generally pay 7:1 and 9:1 and the Props pay 4:1, 7:1, 15:1, and also 30:1 in the case of Snake Eyes and Double 6s, but the fact of the matter is that your chances of winning these bets are very slim.
The Big 6 and Big 8 bets don't offer any value to you, especially when you're in the middle of a long roll. You have to wait for either a 6 or an 8 to be rolled in order to win. Also, they are Even Money bets. There are 5 ways to roll either the 6 or the 8, but still six ways to roll a 7, so logic tells you that you're better off not placing wagers on the Big 6 and Big 8 bets.
Another really bad Craps bet you can make is to play at a table with a low maximum, because then you can't take advantage of a winning streak. Try as best as possible to seek out those Craps tables that have high maximum bets. This gives you the flexibility to raise your bet amounts, so that you're not stuck making only small bets.
The best advice we can give you is to always make educated bets. Learn the bets and their Odds before you begin playing, because at the end of the day, Craps is all about the numbers.
