Hi and welcome to our instructional video
that is designed to make you a smarter gambler my name is Steve Bourie
I'm the author of the American Casino Guide which is the number one
bestselling book in the US
on the subject of casino gambling and travel and the
only book that comes with more than one thousand dollars in casino coupons
if you want to know more about the book be sure to visit our website at
americancasinoguide.com and if you have an iPhone or iPad
be sure to download our free app just go to the app store and search for
American casino guide In this video syndicated gaming writer John Grochowski
who is also the author of six books on casino gambling gives details on the
five
best bets that can be made in the game of craps And now
here's john Grochowski When we talk about the best bets in craps we're really talking
about the best
commonly available bets Sometimes
somebody will offer a bet that's better than some of the ones that were listed
here
there was a time for example that I saw a casino
on the field paid 3-1 on both two and 12 which is a
no house edge bet. I've never seen it again
but we're not going to list bets like that that're just available short term
one or two places. We're talking about the best commonly available bets in craps
and the best commonly available bets in craps are all
multi-roll bets fit If the bet's decided in
one roll it's probably going to have a higher house edge than some of these
So with that little bit of a warning here the number five best but in craps
is buying the 4 or buying the 10 they work just like place bets
the buy bet that means that you're betting that your number
will be rolled by the shooter before the shooter rolls a seven
and normally you would not want to place the 4 or the 10
it's a bad bet with a house edge of 6.67 percent
But buy bats are an opportunity you give the house a five percent commission
in exchange for getting paid at true odds if you win In this case it will be a 2-1
payoff
on 4 or 10. On other place bets we don't look at paying that five percent
commission because the house edge
already is lower than 5 percent it makes no sense to pay a five percent commission
when you're already getting a better deal however
buying the 4 or 10 with that 6.67 percent house edge
it does lower the house edge not really enough
if the house is collecting a commission on every bet it lowers it then
only to 4 percent that's still too high in my book i wanna talk about bets here
with house edges of 2 percent or lower If the house takes the Commission only
on winning bets
then buying the 4 or the 10 has a house edge that's all the way down 1.67
percent
Under two percent it's one of the better bets in the casino and it is number five
our list
of the best craps bets. Number four on our list of the best craps bets
is placing the six or placing the eight. These are among the most commonly made
bets at craps
You're betting that the shooter will roll a 6 or roll an 8
before he rolls a 7 Now in craps
sixes and eights are the second most commonly
rolled numbers 7 is the most commonly rolled number
there are six ways to roll a seven, there are five ways to roll a 6
there are five ways to roll an 8 so the odds are 6-5
against your place bet winning the house pays you
7-6 that's not quite true odds but it's not bad
it's a house edge of 1.52 percent, making
placing the six or placing the 8 number four on our list the best craps bets.
Number three on our list of the best casino bets are pass
and come, we're going to group them together they're really the same bet
they're just made at different times in the case of the pass line bet
the sequence starts with the come out roll on the come out roll
if the shooter rolls a seven or 11, you win.
If the shooter rolls a 2, 3 or 12 that's craps
and you lose. There are eight ways to win and four ways to lose so
the shooter that that the bettor who bets the pass line has the edge
on the come out roll. If any number other number is rolled
four, five or six or an 8, 9 or 10
that becomes the point number and what you are rooting for the shooter to do
is to roll that point number again before he rolls a seven
if he does roll the point number again then you win
if the shooter rolls a 7 first before rolling the point number
then you lose. The overall house edge on this is
1.41 percent , one of the better bets in the casino.
Come bets work exactly the same way except
that you don't have to wait for it to be a come out roll, you can make the come bet
on any roll it's just that the first roll becomes the equivalent
of a come out roll for your bets so at 1.41 percent
pass and come are the third best bets
at the craps table. Number two on our list of best casino bets
is don't pass and don't come in essence
you're betting against the shooter in this one you're betting against the
shooter making
a point number on the come out roll.
If the shooter rolls a two or three you win
if the shooter rolls a12 you push and that's important because that's where the house
edge comes from
if the shooter rolls seven or 11 you lose So that's kind of the opposite
of the pass line bet except for that little provision about the
12 and the push instead of a win or loss
if any other number is rolled that becomes the point number just like on pass and
come
except here you win if the shooter rolls
a 7 first If the shooter rolls a 7 you win
if the shooter rolls the point number before rolling a 7
then you lose Don't come is the same as don't pass
except the sequence doesn't start on the come out roll
whatever the next roll is becomes the equivalent to come out for your don't
pass bet
The house edge here is only 1.36 percent so
that's one of the better bets in the casino it's better than the pass
line
by of a few tenths or a few hundredths of a percent
still most players really prefer to make pass and come bets because they're betting
with the shooter there
they're playing together there's a camaraderie at the craps table
when you hear a big cheer coming from the area of the craps table
chances are the shooter has just made a point but don't pass and
don't come bettors there are fewer of them they're kinda playing on their own
they're getting a marginally better deal than on pass and come
but the camaraderie aspect isn't as much a part of the game for them
nonetheless with a 1.36 percent house edge
don't pass or don't come is the second best bet
at the craps table And the best bet at the craps table is one you can't really
make
unless you're betting pass or don't pass or come or don't come
and that's the free odds the free odds enable you to back your pass or come
bet or your don't pass or don't come bet with a second wager that
is paid at true odds. For example
if you are betting on pass
and the point number is six then the odds against
the shooter rolling a six before he rolls a 7 are 6-5
so your winning free odds bet that's backing your pass line
wager would be paid at 6-5 odds
If you're betting but don't pass side then it's kind of the opposite its so
that your
laying the odds and you're spotting the house the 6-5 odds instead
so you're betting six dollars to win five dollars instead of five dollars to
win six dollars
If we're talking in terms of approximately five dollar bets
what the combination of the pass line plus free odds does
or don't pass and laying the odds is that it lowers the overall house edge
on the combination with the pass line your basic
house edge is 1.41 percent on the house edge
if you get single odd which means that you are betting
the same amount on free odds as you are on the pass line
that lowers the house edge on the combination to 0.8 percent
At double odds where you're betting double in free odds what you did on the pass line
that house edge on the combination
drops all the way to 0.6 percent
at 10 times odds if you're permitted to bet 10 times the amount
as you had on the pass line that drops all the way to 0.2 percent
and at a hundred times odds and some casinos do offer 100 times odds
that drops to 0.02 percent
it's practically no house edge at all
there's always a house edge on the amount that you have on the pass line
but the free odds themselves have no house edge you're being paid at true odds
what this means for the better is that
your best play if you can afford to make the free odds
is to bet the table minimum on the pass line
and then make up the rest of your normal betting amount in the free odds
you want most of your wager at the point where
there's the least house edge and that's the zero percent house edge on the free odds
So the free odds are as good a deal as you're going to get in the casino
on the don't side laying the odds leaves you with a slightly lower house edge
with don't pass plus laying the odds than with pass plus
odds just as the don't pass house edge
is just slightly lower than the pass house edge it drops from
1.36 percent for the don't pass by itself
to 0.7 percent when you lay single odds
0.5 percent with double odds, 0.1 percent
with 10 times odds, 0.01 percent
with 100 times odds Again that's a very very
minimal house edge if you're able to make
larger odds bets For the high rollers this is a very very low house edge
proposition and for that reason
the odds with your taking the odds or laying the odds
is the best bet at the craps table
If you wanna know more about me and my work you can look for me at casinoanswerman.com
in a variety of magazines including strictly slots, casino player
midwest gaming and travel, southern gaming and destinations online at Casino City Times
and of course
every year in the American casino guide
Don't that you can see more of our educational gaming videos on our
YouTube channel
just go to youtube.com/americancasinoguide