Craps: Advanced Strategies

Obviously, the first step is to stay away from the fancy bets in the center of the table. In case you’reBasil Nestor is the author of the new Playboy Complete Guide to Casino Gambling. This wonderful book teaches players how to avoid sucker bets and win more when playing gambling games.  He is also the author of The Smarter Bet Guide series for video poker, slots, craps, and many other books about gambling.  Basil's website is www.smarterbet.com  still temped, here’s something to consider. It’s an equation you learned as a child.

And, of course, switching the order of the numbers doesn’t change the sum.

No matter how we divide or merge three units, the result will always be three, and never four.

Yes, it’s simple enough, but craps’ cornucopia of betting options tends to obscure this basic truth:

A combination of bets will never outperform the combination’s individual components.

And yet some people can’t resist the challenge of trying to pull four out of three. For example…

Trimming the Hedges

The worst craps betting strategies usually involve hedge bets. These are tricky systems that combine bets to supposedly reduce risk. They actually do work to the extent that they protect against one particular result, but the alternative is usually even more expensive. For example, some bettors “insure” the pass line by also betting any craps. That supposedly turns the first roll into a can’t-lose bet. Right? Wrong! Let’s do the arithmetic. The table titled “Craps Insurance” shows why insuring the pass line is usually an expensive mistake.

Craps Insurance