Pass Line:
Betting at
craps may seem confusing to new players because there are too many types of bets. However, playing at a craps table you will see that most of these bets are used very rarely, if at all. Actually, there is only one bet, and a couple of its variants that are worth betting on.
This bet is called Pass Line. So, all you have to do as a novice player is just to find a bar marked Pass Line at the craps table and place your bet there. Once you do so, you will see that after a number of shots the dealer will either take your bet away, which means you have lost, or will pay you the amount equal to your bet, which means you have won. If you have lost, replace your bet with a new one before the next shot, so you will be able to stay in the game. This, actually, is what betting at craps is all about. Even if you do not understand what exactly you are doing, you are still betting, and betting alright.
Betting Structures:
One thing you should remember about betting at craps is that the game has probably the most radical and misleading betting structure. In craps, you have some of the worst and some of the best bets casino bets at the same time. You can even bet on the same outcome different ways and with different odds. However, as was said before, having one of the most complicated betting structures in casino, craps has only a couple of bets that are worth betting. So, played properly, craps becomes a very easy game. It is made so complicated and confusing on purpose, and if you do not want to lose lots of money playing craps, you should better forget about most of the craps bets.
Dice Probabilities:
You probably want to know what these bets are and why they are better than others. Before explaining that, you should know the basics of dice probabilities. The game of craps is based on the outcome of two dice. They can land 36 different ways which means that each specific combination is rolled once in 36 times in average, while other combinations are rolled 35 remaining times, which makes the odd of every two dice combination 35:1 on each single roll. The bets you should usually play are not based on the exact dice combination, but on the total number of two dice together. These numbers can be from 2 to 12. These 11 total numbers have different probabilities, because some total numbers can be composed of many combinations, and others of few. For example, a total number of 6 can be composed of 1 + 5, 2 + 4 and 3 + 3, while a total number of 12 can only be rolled by two 6s.
Example:
Knowing to calculate probabilities we can know how much money casino earns on each bet. Taking, for example, a bet of two 6s, which, as other single combinations, has 35:1 odds, we can say that placing such bet, you will win once in 36 rolls and will lose in 35 other rolls in average. Such bet is paid 31:1, so if you place 5 dollars on it, you will win 155 dollars, once it hits, but will lose an average of 175 dollars (5*35) until you win it. These numbers, of course, are not fixed. One time you can win the bet on the very first roll, but another time you will lose 100 times before your combination hits. However, in the long run, these numbers will approximate the average value, and the casino will earn four times your bet on each cycle.
Pass/Bet and Dont Pass/Dont Come:
Pass and Come bets, as well as their opposites called Don%u2019t Pass and Don%u2019t Come are based on the total number and are played in a series of shots. The best thing about these four bets is that once you win one of them, you are allowed to place a so called Odds bet, which is a bet that pays in true odds, so if you place Odds bet on two 6s and win, you are paid 35:1, and do not lose a cent to the casino. You can increase the amount of your Odds bet up to the limit defined by the casino. The higher the difference between your Pass Line bet and your Odds bet is, the better the odds of two bets together become. So, rare
casinos that allow players to place 100 times the amount of Pass Line bet in Odds bet earn almost nothing on this kind of bets. Most casinos do not have such generous conditions, but anyway, Pass Line bet in craps, followed by Odds bet, has one of the best odds among all casino games.