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Table Games Did You Want To Try Craps, But Felt Too Intimidated?

Discussion in 'Table Games' started by Sonya, Sep 30, 2017.

  1. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    Re-posting this thread from @Ben Jammin . It got corrupted in the merge to the new software.
    ----------------------------------

    Not very many would want to admit that. For years I'd just walk by the craps table, see a hot game going on, but didn't know anything about the game. It wasn't that I was afraid to learn it, but more like there wasn't anyone to teach me how to play, and short of buying a book and learning the hard way, on a table, we can now go on line to one of a hundred sites to learn correct strategy and practice in a virtual enviornment.

    But still, every time I read a how to on Craps the author went into way too much detail on things that weren't important to the new player. Example, since only a small percentage of players play the "Don't" side, or don't come line as opposed to the "Pass" or passline side, why teach it? All it does is confuse the newcomer. If you're a newcomer you're confused already. See what I mean?

    Before there were craps tables the game was played in back alleys, or on any flat surface next to a wall, or in a box. It has only been since the advent of the"Craps Table" with it's confusing and intimidating layout that the game has become to be perceived as complicated requireing a PHD in mathematics and nerves of steel to play it.

    The fact is that there are a few, and only a few, straight forward bets that benefit the player, insofar as minimizing the house edge and maximizing the opportunity to win some money.

    All those proposition bets in the center of the table, and strategically placed right in front of the player, like the field, the big six, and the like were added later to increase the take for the house.

    bottom line?
    You don't need to know anything about those bets to play and win!

    You walk up to any table, and wait for a new roll.That's called the "Come Out Roll" You put $5 bucks on the pass line, and that's it. You are not required to make any additional bets if you don't want to. Then you can see how it's done.

    If it's a 2,3,0r 12, you lose. Not Likely

    If it's a 7 or 11, you win. Hooray! End of Story.

    Any other number is your point, and you simply keep rolling until you either hit your number and win, or the 7 comes up and you lose.

    That's it.

    If you win, you roll again! If you lose you can just bet with the next guy.

    $5 bucks on the pass line...
    if you win make it ten, and then do it again!

    How Sweet It Is

    New shooter comin out, place your bets everybody! Place your bets!

    :thumbsup:

    before you go off to another site and experience information overload, when you walk up to the table you will know when the roll in progress is over. It will be obvious. Yes the craps guy will turn over the hockey puck to the black side that says off.

    He'll also say"Seven out line away pay the don'ts" "New shooter coming out" or words to that effect.

    just keep it simple for the first time and don't worry about any of that stuff.

    $5 bucks on the Pass Line will do it for the first time out.
     
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  2. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    (part 2 - Odds bet)

    Having read part one, you now know how to: Get your chips, by placing your cash down on the table between rolls, make your pass line bet, by setting $5 in the pass linewhile the puck is still in the off position as indicated by it being black side up, and now the shooter rolls those dice.
    This is called the "Come out" roll.
    2,3,or12 you lose.
    7 or 11,you WIN even money.
    Any other number,4,5,6,8,9,10, is your point.

    So the shooter rolls a point...Now What?

    You may;
    Just let it play out until either the point or a 7 comes
    Take the free odds
    Take the free odds and make an additional bet or bets

    To keep it simple we're just goint to take double odds, and no additional bets at this time.
    Now some will tell you to take the maximum odds allowed by the casino, some will say to take double odds, and others will give their opinion of what you should do with your money.

    Double odds. Why? Every casino in Las Vegas will let you take at least double odds, and it's the easiest to calculate for the new player, on a $5 dollar table.

    See the pass line bar. Your original bet is inside the pass line bar right in front of you .
    To make the free odds bet
    You set and amount double to your original $5 bet(that's $10 in this case) right behind your pass line bet in the unmarked area, after the shooter has established his point.

    Just watch the table, you'll see most other players make this bet. Some will put $10, others more.

    So now you have $15 total out there. Tha's a good amount to start with.
    now remember, you do not have to take this or any other bet in addition to your original pass line bet if you don't want to.

    Now, the shooter is going to continue to roll until either the point comes,we all WIN! or a 7 comes and we lose.
    but that's ok, thats the whole point of the game.
    Remember the house has only a 1.4% advantage on that pass line bet.

    That is HOW we take odds
    So now WHY take the odds?

    Odds pay more than even money.
    on a 6 or 8 they pay 6 to 5
    On a 5 or 9 they pay 3 to 2
    On a 4 or 10 they pay 2 to 1

    So, if the shooter hits his 6 or 8, you'll win $5 for your pass line bet, and $12 for your $10 odds bet.
    On the 5 or 9 ,it'll be $5 for the pass line bet, and $15 for $10 dollar odds bet.
    On a 4 or 10 it'll be $5 for the pass line bet,and $20 for that $10 dollar free odds bet.

    $10 dollars is an easy multiplier, it works on any point, although the payoffs are calculated by the odds of that particular number.

    Don't worry about trying to figure the odds payoffs yet, that's the dealers job. They very rarely make a mistake, and they know how to do it.

    They'll go around the table paying everyone off, they'll get to you in order. They'll set you winning chips down in front of you somewhere on the board and you then wait until they are done and pick up your chips, put then in the chip rail in front of you.
    Then when he's done paying everyone off and all is said and done, He'll say "Place your Bets"
    and you go again.

    The main reason we might want to take the free odds is to get the greater than even money payoff.
    The more you put out there the more the risk, but the greater than the even money payoff sweetens the deal.

    For example, on a ten or four we're winning $20 back for our original $10 dollar free odds investment, and $5 on our line bet.

    So here's the catch. The 7 comes more that any other number, six out of thirty six possible dice combinations. The ten comes only three possible ways out of thirty six possible dice combinations. So, since the possible combinations are 2 to 1,(six to three) the odds 2 to 1 in our favor.

    The best part is you don't need to know how to figure the odds multiples yet, just bet $10 behind the line, and you're golden.

    Now, the best part.

    Making the free odds bet, in addition to the pass line bet, decreases the house advantage to about two thirds of a percentage point.
    That's better than most blackjack shoe games.

    When you start winning you may increase your bets, sticking to multiples of $10 makes it easy.

    Like, $10 on the pass line, $20 behind the line and so on.
    You can get fancy later.

    I usually wait until I've won a few times in a row before I increase my bet size.

    The dealer may ask you if you would like to "Press your bet?"
    You are not Rusty Griswold, aka 'Nick Papageorgio"
    Just take your winnings and put them in the chip rail.
    Later you can increase your bet size
    But don't get too big for your britches yet, like put it all out there for one big hit!
    Save some for a show or a meal.
    Always quit while your ahead.
    That is not to say stop in the middle of a hot roll. Keep going until you lose say three in a row. The Craps gods may be telling you it's time to take a break.

    If you're losing, Don't ever try to "Win it Back" or "Get even"
    set a limit on what you're willing to lose and stick to it.
    My loss limit is 50%, so if I started with a hundred and I'm down to $50, I'll take a break and come back later when the Craps Goddess is in a better mood.

    If you're on a winning streak rat hole your original stake and some of your winnings and play with the excess until you either "Beat the pants off the casino", or play it smart and accept a modest victory.

    You've won some money and will walk a winner, guaranteed.
     
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  3. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    (part 3 - Come bet)

    Having reviewed parts 1 and 2, We've gotten our chips, made our pass line bet and either won on a 7 or 11, or lost on a 2,3,or 12,(not as likely) or we've established our point number. So we've elected to take double odds, in this case $10 behind our original $5 dollar pass line bet, and the shooter is ready to roll those dice again.
    But before he does that, we have a new opportunity to place an additional bet if we so desire.
    Let's start with a come bet or two.

    See the area in the layout that says "Come". If we want to make the come bet we simply set another bet, say $5 down in the come area and this bet will act just like the pass line bet in that on this roll, a 2,3,or 12 will lose, or a 7 or 11 will win on this roll only. Any other number that is rolled will be your"Come point".
    It's basically a clone of the pass line bet, but you can make this bet any time during the game, as the other bets don't affect this bet. It's like a separate game within a game.
    What is important, is that once your come point has been established and you have chosen to take odds or not, the outcome of this secondary game rests on either the point being repeated, We win!, or a 7 is rolled and everyone loses all bets on the table, including this one.

    So it is possible to have two or more come numbers working during this game, as well as our pass line point.
    We can make additional come bets on every single roll, and win, lose or establish an additional point and repeat these steps until the shooter either hits our points, or that nasty 7 appears and we all lose our money.

    Yes, here is where it starts to get a bit confusing, trying to keep up with everything that's going on on the table and watching our bets, but we can in the vast majority of cases trust the dealers to know where and how much we have out there on the table at any given time, and how to pay us off correctly when we win our points.

    They do this by placing our bets in a certain area on the table that denotes which bets belong to which player and they have a mathematical formula they use to calculate the pay offs for each bet and player, and they are very good at it.

    There are a few other bets we can make as well, but the pass line bet, and the come bet, are favored by most players and are easy to make and understand for the newer but now slightly seasoned player.

    As the game progresses, and if the shooter is hot, our numbers will keep coming up repeatedly, and with a new come bet up on every roll we can conceivably keep going until the shooter" Sevens Out" and all bets are taken by the house.

    There have been cases where the shooter has held on to the dice and continued to roll winning numbers for an hour or more.
    The world record was said to have been 118 rolls, at the California Hotel and Casino in 1989. The roll lasted over 3 hours and netted a table win of over $750,000 dollars.(some say 1.2 million)

    http://www.nextshooter.com/longestroll

    Could this happen to you? Why Not!
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2018
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  4. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    (final part 4 - Place bets)

    The Place Bets

    An alternative to pass line and come bets is the place bet. You can place bet any or all of the numbers, but the best bets are the 6 and 8. A place bet on the 6 or 8 carries a house advantage of only 1.52 %. Not quite as good as the pass line or come bet, but you have more control over wager in that this bet can be made at any time during the game, and you can take it down or change it any time you want to.

    The down side is you don't get to take free odds, so every place bet carries a specific house advantage that does not change.

    You may however combine place bets with your pass line and come bets if you choose.

    Place bets are done in multiples of $5 or $6 depending on the numbers you bet.

    To make the place bet you just put your chips down on the table between rolls and tell the dealer what you would like to do. He'll position your chips in such a way that he'll know it's your bet, and he'll know how to pay you when you win. So, you don't need to worry about that. Don't be shy about place betting. Many players make multiple place bets, move, change, or remove them several times during the course of a roll. It's the norm, and it's quite acceptable to do this.

    On a 6 or 8, you must bet $6 or multiples of $6. The place bet o payback is 7 to 6, so you would win $7 dollars for every $6 dollars you place on a 6 or 8, when it hits before the 7. The house edge is 1.52%

    On the 5 or 9, a multiple of $5 must be wagered, as the payback here are 7 to 5, so for every $5 we wager the payback for us is $7 The house edge here is 4%. Not so good, but still better than a proposition bet.

    On the 4 or 10, a multiple of $5 must also be bet. The payback is 9 to 5, so for every $5 we wager, we get $9 if it hits before the 7. The house edge on this bet is 6.67%. Ouch!

    So the best place bet by far is the 6 or 8, which has a house edge of 1.52%, which is pretty close to a straight pass line bet (1.44%).

    Since both the 6 and 8 carry the lowest house edge, most players elect to make a place bet on both the 6 and 8 at the same time. Set your chips down on the table and say "Place the 6 and 8 for $6 each", or place the 6 and 8 for $12 dollars. You can place for$6 each, $12 each, $18 each, $24 each and so on, as long as it's a multiple of $6, on the 6 and 8. You're paid $7 for every $6 multiple you bet.

    Here's the catch. There are six ways to make a seven, and five ways to make the 6 or 8. Since the 7 shows statistically one out of six rolls, The theory is the more rolls that are made the closer you are to hitting the 7, so after three or four rolls, (some players take these bets down after only two rolls) you might want to take down your place bets.

    If you're hot then you can place additional numbers. Sure the house edge is higher, but if you've got a rail full of chips and you're on a winning streak, you can take maximum advantage!

    As you can see this bet is more about feeling than logic. But, sometimes you get on a roll and you want to get as many numbers up as fast as you can to take advantage of that trend. When the table starts to get cold, you'll feel it, but by this time you've won some money. Best to pocket at least half of your winnings and play out the excess, but if you lose three times in a row run!

    So, now you know how to play craps, the most exciting game in the casino. Next time you hear that crowd cheering victory, or moaning in defeat, you can find the action and get in on it yourself. It's exciting, it's fast, and it's the most fun you can have in Las Vegas (at least by yourself that is!).

    So give it a try! You'll be glad you did!
     
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  5. Tex

    Tex VIP Whale

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    Best game in the casino imo
     
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  6. Ben Jammin

    Ben Jammin MIA

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    Awesome! Thanks a million!
     
  7. Ben Jammin

    Ben Jammin MIA

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    Can you find the photos?
     
  8. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    No, all but one of the images were broken links. The one was just the photobucket error image. If you have them, PM them and I can insert them.
     
  9. BlacklabberMike

    BlacklabberMike MIA

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  10. Jackpot Johnny

    Jackpot Johnny Wynn Fan

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    This a great post distilling all crucial dice need-to-knows into a few concise lessons. I wish Sonya had been my teacher when I was starting out.

    My only addition is that while I agree with Sonya that dealers seldom make mistakes paying you off, they sometimes do. Her lesson of starting off with the same bets is excellent-it doesn’t take a huge effort to fairly quickly learn what you’re supposed to get back. If you wind up winning and doubling up, the ratios stay the same.

    My experience is that the odds of getting a wrong pay increase as your bets and payoffs increase. The dealers could probably do line bets of $5 and $10 with double odds in their sleep, but sometimes bigger bets and odd multiples produce an occasional miss-pay.

    I was taught not to make a bet where I did not know what I was supposed to get back if I won, but that’s a more advanced lesson which defeats Sonya’s excellent purpose here.

    (If I think I get a wrong pay I raise my hand before I touch the chips and politely say, “excuse me?” Almost never happens, particularly in the better joints with experienced people)
     
  11. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    Not me. Credit for writing goes to @Ben Jammin. I just reposted a thread that got lost in the software migration.
     
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  12. Jackpot Johnny

    Jackpot Johnny Wynn Fan

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    A great posting series by any name nonetheless. Thanks. I really enjoyed the nice reminders.
     
  13. Ben Jammin

    Ben Jammin MIA

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    One thing I did not go into was "Money Management" I could write an entire chapter (book) on that. The casinos know all too well what we do and why we do it. They also know how to maximize their profits on the unsuspecting new gambler (and some of us old dogs too!). It pays (literally) to have knowledge of the game and full command of your bankroll.

    Rule #1. Know when to hold em and when to fold em. (applies to all forms of gambling, and in life as well). We have to learn to cut our losses and get while the gettin is good!
    Rule #2 See Rule #1
    But how do you know when to stay in and how to play it smart and quit while you're ahead?
    Well that is a science in itself.
    See my next insert, "How to stay in it to win it"!
    Until then, Bye for now!
     
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  14. tigers4life

    tigers4life Low-Roller

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    I just had some friends ask me for a craps lesson and I am showing them this thank you so much
     
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  15. Ben Jammin

    Ben Jammin MIA

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    Thanks gang for your following this guide to Craps for the new player.
     
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  16. flyguyfl

    flyguyfl MIA

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    Thanks for going to the trouble of creating it.
     
  17. pebbles

    pebbles Micro Roller.

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    I'm intimidated by all table games. Hopefully this guide wil get me confident enough to try next visit.

    Thanks.
     
  18. gmarquez1976

    gmarquez1976 Tourist

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    I'm in the same boat as @pebbles. Tables games scare me. I'm going to Vegas in a couple weeks. I'm going to try to step outside my comfort zone and try Craps. These instructions are easy enough for someone who is a lil slow at times with numbers to understand. @Ben Jammin thanks for the easy to understand instructions.
     
  19. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    I was intimidated by craps, even though that was my parents' game growing up. I took one of the morning classes in the casino. They teach you the game, give you some fake chips to let you practice and then you can buy in and play for real. I'd recommend this for people who want to dip in a toe to the game. It's a very easy way to get your mind wrapped around it before you play with real money.
     
  20. gmarquez1976

    gmarquez1976 Tourist

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    I remember taking a Craps class at the GN many years ago. But I for some reason didn't understand it. Gambling is sometimes over my head (I think cause it moves so fast) but I generally have no issues with understand the stock market lol.