Hello,

My name is Chris and I have been perfecting the game of casino craps for 12 years now.  I currently own a 12 foot table which I practice on everyday in my home.  I enjoy developing betting strategies and systems for every scenario and am an avid dice controller.  Please feel free to reply and converse with me on this site, as I am going to get very involved in the conversations here.  I recently began teaching the game of casino craps on an intermediate and advanced level.  I encourage anyone who likes to gamble to make casino craps 95% of their gambling arsenal if they frequent casinos for lesiure or for business.

If played properly, craps possesses the lowest house edge over any other casino game, including blackjack.  It is also the funnest to play.  Keep in touch with me if you would like to know anything about casino craps.

Thank you so much, and I look forward to communicating with each and every one of you.

Chris - “Dice Class”

Hey Dr Craps, that would be fun to make a craps table to practice on!  Me and my wife are going to Las Vegas in 35 days and we want to play craps.  We have money set aside just for this in fact lol.  So each session we will have 100 each and want to play on a 5 dollar table, what would you recommend stratagy wise so we can maximise our wins and minimize loss so we can play for awhile?
Thanks!

Hi Mr. Dan,

Thanks so much for the reply.  It’s nice to know that this site’s got some traffic to it.

Well, first and foremost, if you are going to play craps in Vegas, make sure you scope out the tables with the minimum bet requirements.  I like to play at $5 tables, though, I believe in Vegas, you can play for $3, $1 or even 50 cents.  But the $5 table is your best bet.

If I were you, and somewhat new to the game, my emphasis would be trying to get to “No Risk” as soon as possible.  What I mean by this is place bets appropriately, then collect on those bets until you have your initial bankroll back, then start playing with casino money should the shooter continue rolling numbers.

I’ll give you an example.  Let’s say you buy-in for $100 at a $5 table.  Your first bet should be the pass line for $5 with a $1 crap check.  7 or 11 on the comeout wins you $5 minus your $1 crap check = $4.  A 2, 3, or 12 on the comeout loses your $5 pass line bet, but wins you $7 on the crap check, netting you $2.  Say neither of these roll, and instead the point is established, which will be any other number besides the 7, 11, 2, 3, or 12.

Now, with your $5 pass line bet, place the 6 and 8 for $6 each = $12.  Now you are all in for $18… ($5 pass + $1 crap check + place the 6 for $6 + place the 8 for $6 = $18)

If the point is a 6 or 8, then place either the 5 or the 9 instead for $5.  Now your ready to gamble.  On your first hit of the 6 or 8, rack $7, meaning put that money back into your rail.  This $7 minus your $18 buy-in on this roller leaves you with an $11 risk.  On your second hit of either the 6 or the 8, rack another $7, dropping your $11 risk to $4. Even if the shooter rolls a 7, you have only lost $4 on this hand.

If the shooter 7’s out right away, you have lost $18, but your $100 buy-in allows you this strategy 5 times before you have to leave with $10 left.  See?

If you happen to grab a hot shooter who brings you to no risk quickly, say 3 straight hits on the 6 or the 8, start placing the other numbers (4, 5, 9, 10) with your winnings, but only after you have reached “no risk” on your $18 buy-in.  You can even place $5 behind your pass line bet at this point giving you free odds.

Make sense?  This is the most senseible way to play on a low buy-in at a low minimum table. 

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss a betting strategy, feel free to reply.

Thanks so much,

- Dice Class

MrDan1964 - 25 April 2010 01:10 PM

Me and my wife are going to Las Vegas in 35 days and we want to play craps.  We have money set aside just for this in fact lol.  So each session we will have 100 each and want to play on a 5 dollar table, what would you recommend stratagy wise so we can maximise our wins and minimize loss so we can play for awhile?
Thanks!

35 days, eh?  Looks like I’m sneaking in just under the wire with this response, then.

New crapshooters are frequently amazed, not to mention disappointed, at how quickly the money can evaporate at the table, so a strategy I recommend to newbies on a low budget is Jim’s Parlay Method (JPM), so named by its developer Jim Ferr, who used to be a regular poster to the newsgroup rec.gambling.craps.  Make no mistake; this is not a winning system in the mathematical sense—the casino is expected to win in the long run—but IMHO it gives its users a fair shot at a profit with a very good shot at some table time.

The method—note that I did not say “system”—combines a winning progression with bets that the decision before last will repeat, a strategy called avant derrier.  In terms of units the progression is 1-2-4-5-5-5-..., so at a $5 table you would start with a $5 bet, parlay it to $10 if you win, parlay that to $20 if you win again, and then take it $25 if you win a third time.  You would not progress past $25 regardless of how many additional wins you get, and you start over at $5 after every loss.

As for what to bet on, you play only Pass or Don’t Pass, and you start by observing two line decisions.  You can use whatever method you want to keep track of what those (and all subsequent) decisions are; I use chips to do so, red for Don’t, white for Do.  Once you have a two-decision history you then bet that the decision before the last one will repeat.  So, if the previous two decisions were Pass and Pass, or Pass and Don’t, you would bet Pass; if the decisions were Don’t and Don’t, or Don’t and Pass, you would bet Don’t.

Of course with this method you might find yourself shooting while betting Don’t Pass.  If that bothers you then you can abandon the avant derrier sequence and bet strictly Pass, or pass the dice.  I do not do this, which led to a somewhat humorous situation some decades ago at Peppermill in Wendover, NV.  Shooting from the Don’t it took me many rolls (sorry, I have no idea how many, only that it was several minutes worth) to 7-out, at which time I commented, “I’ve never had to work so hard to lose in my life!”

Veteran players will no doubt observe that I have not recommended taking or laying odds.  My reason for not doing so is to keep it simple, and to maximize your playing time.  When I use JPM I do take odds front side instead of parlaying my flat bet, but this variation requires some additional record keeping after a natural winner (7 or 11 on Pass; 2 or 3 on Don’t), and so I would wait until you have completed a few sessions before using it.

It’s been some time since I have been to Las Vegas, but I’m thinking downtown will be the only place you will find $5 or less tables.  Golden Gate, Union Plaza, Fremont, and Main Street Station were my favorite venues.  I never played there, but last I heard El Cortez had $3 craps, but you might want to take a body guard or six along if you go there after dark.