man throwing dice at a craps table with chips

How to Play Craps for Fun and Pleasure

We often give strategy advice to gamers.  One reason we do so is because we have unlimited space on our website.  We can “fit” as many online games at Everygame Casino as The New York Times can fit news!  We are very different than a land-based casino in this regard.  Land-based casinos are limited by their walls so they don’t have any “room” for a library of timely casino gaming articles!

Blackjack and Video Poker

These are the two most prominent games of skill at Everygame Casino.  Naturally, live poker is THE quintessential game of skill but many gamers prefer video poker because it gives them the pleasure of playing a poker variant and the return to player rate is so close to 100% that they can play for extended periods of time and win a little or lose just a little.

Of course, there is an element of luck in both blackjack and video poker.  But, with excellent strategy, gamers can win as often as otherwise and a session can be pure fun without any concern for a massive loss.  And remember the big extra payout for a rare Royal Flush in video poker!  So, in video poker, you can win a lot with a lot of luck and you should never lose a lot if you follow the best strategy.

We have written about both of these great games extensively.  So, in this article, we would like to talk about strategy in craps.

Why Craps?

Well, first of all, craps is one of the loudest games at a land-based casino!  It is loud because the shooter is shooting the dice and every player’s result is predicated on the roll of the dice.  So players whoop and holler for their bet to come in and pay off!     

At a land-based casino, many players don’t even know the basic rules of the game and many don’t know the best strategy.  They get caught up in the revelry around the table!  So, it often happens that players will make incorrect bets. 

When you play craps online here at Everygame Casino, there won’t be any whooping and hollering.  But craps is a tremendously fun game in and of itself even without loud exhortations to the gods of dice during a throw!

Many players think that learning all of the different bets is the key to success and fun playing craps.  We will get to the bets a little later on but first we want to talk about bankroll management.

Is Bankroll Management Different in Craps than in other Games?

Naturally, bankroll management is fundamentally the same in most games.  For instance, you decide how much you are willing to bet and you stay with that size bet even if you are having a winning streak.

For some reason, winning streaks in craps have the power to induce gamers to bet more.  Eventually every winning streak ends and a player who has increased his or her bet riding the wave may have a difficult time lowering their bet.

If you play at Everygame Casino online, the best way to deal with the end of a winning streak is simply to close out the session!  Everygame Casino is available to you every day, whenever you wish to play some casino games.  No land-based casino can be available to you on a 24/7 basis.  In fact, most players go to a land-based casino perhaps twice a year.

Therefore, winning and losing streaks are more problematic for land-based craps players.  The tendency is to keep playing!  We recommend playing in moderation at all times.  If you play in moderation, you should never run into the bane of land-based casino players which is taking more money to continue playing.

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Type of Bets and Bet Size

As we said, we will go over the different types of bets soon.  We have already touched upon the concept of bet sizing.  Some advisors tell gamers to decide what percentage of their bankroll might be the top limit for a single bet.

We have a different approach.  We tell gamers to play for a fixed or semi-fixed period of time.  Then we urge gamers to set a budget for that session.  If you bet in a reasonable manner, there is every reason to assume that most of your bankroll will still be in your hands when you end the session.

The key, then, is to make reasonable bets.  The reasonableness of bets is totally subjective.  Simply try to be true to your financial ability to place a bet and the fun will follow exponentially from that decision.       

The Bets in Craps Can be Confusing

We will try to divide the many craps bets into categories to make it easier for you to understand them.

Pass and Don’t Pass

These are two-part bets.  These bets have to be made before the come-out roll in which the point is established.

If you make a pass line bet, you win immediately if the dice come up 7 or 11 and you lose immediately if the dice come up 2, 3, or 12. 

If you make a don’t pass bet, you win with a 7 or an 11 and you lose with a 2 or 3 and a 12 is a push.

You can see that with a pass bet the house has three numbers that it will win on and you have two.  In a don’t pass bet both sides have two numbers that win right away.  This is where the house has the edge.  If the don’t pass bet won for the bettor with 2, 3, and 12, everyone would make that bet!

Part two takes place if none of the five numbers mentioned above come up.  That number becomes the point.  A pass bet wins if the point is rolled before a seven and a don’t pass bet wins if a seven is rolled first.

Come and Don’t Come

These are bets you can place after the point has been set.  They are essentially the same as pass and don’t pass bets.  The only difference is that the point in a come or don’t come bet is personal just for the bettor and the point is his or hers alone rather than belonging to the entire table.

Odds Bets

These are bets players can make after a point is set.  These are excellent bets for players since the payouts are in line with the true odds.  In other words, the house has no edge in the odds bets.

Place Win and Place Lose

These are like the odds bets but these bets are on specific numbers while the odds bets are on all the numbers.  The payouts in place win and place lose bets are riskier for players since they are on only a single number.

Many players try to avoid these bets in the interest of good bankroll management.

Buy and Lay Bets

These are the same as place bets but the payouts are truer to the real odds so there is a commission associated with them.

Big 6 and Big 8

These are easy bets.  They say either that a six or an eight will be rolled before a seven.

Hardway Bets

These are bets that doubles will come up.  You have to choose which double you are betting on.  The payouts are high and the risk is high as well.

Field

This bet is always decided on the next roll.  It wins with a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12.  The payouts are v1-1 on all numbers except 2 and 12 where the payout is 2-1. 

Remember that the four numbers that are the most common numbers to be thrown are all losers on this bet.

Join Everygame Casino

Everygame Casino Red offers more than 300 great games!  Most gamers play slots, blackjack, and video poker.  We suspect that one of the reasons a relative few play craps is because the bets are a bit confusing.

We hope this article has helped you understand the bets in craps.

We have a fantastic Welcome Package for new gamers that is worth up to $5555 in bonuses.  You can play all of our games with your bonus money and if you play craps and stay with the pass or come bets you will find it to be a great online casino game!

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