How to Play: Live Craps Strategy

The most basic strategy in any casino game is just sticking to the most favorable betting options. We already mentioned that craps bets can have wildly different values in terms of RTP. As such, let’s look at the best bets in craps to get a fundamental craps betting strategy.

• Pass and Don’t Pass are the most basic bets at the craps table, and they’re actually a solid choice. Depending on how you want to calculate the odds, they come with an RTP of almost 99%. However, the RTP in both cases is much, much lower on the Come Out roll than any subsequent rolls. The 1% house edge is an average between the two.
• Interestingly, Don’t Pass is actually slightly better than Pass in terms of RTP. However, placing a Don’t Pass wager is considered a bit of a taboo in gambling circles, and the difference in RTP is down to a hundredth of a percent. We suppose this call is a matter of priorities. Do you want the camaraderie of your fellow payers, or to optimize the best mathematical craps strategy?
• Come and Don’t Come are statistically the same as Pass. Again, they are both most efficient on the first roll made after being placed.
• Of all the Place and Place to Lose bets, a Place to Win 6 or 8 is by far the best option.
• Most One Roll bets or Proposition bets in craps have a house edge of over 5%. As such, strategy-oriented players will likely avoid them unless they’re made as part of a larger plan. The one exception is the Field bet, though it still comes with an RTP of 97.22%.

In brick-and-mortar casinos, laying and taking the biggest odds is also incredibly effective.

Don’t Come Strategy in Craps

The optimal way of playing craps as a beginner is so-called playing the “dark side.” On a craps table, this means betting against the shooter (and most other players) every time.

Simply place the Don’t Pass bet on the Come Out roll and Don’t Come on every subsequent roll.

Additionally, in a real casino, you should also Lay Odds as high as you can. Playing this way will get earn some frowns thrown your way, though. Also, it’s worth noting that the Pass/Come/Back Odds alternative only has a 0.05% lower house edge.

The Iron Cross Strategy

If you want to make things a bit more complicated, don’t worry. There are ways of combining craps bets effectively, and they can end up being more than the sum of their parts. The so-called Iron Cross craps strategy is a popular way of doing so.

QUOTE: There are ways of combining craps bets effectively, and they can end up being more than the sum of their parts.

The typical Iron Cross bet puts $10 on Place 5, $10 on the Field, $12 on Place 6, and $12 on Place 8. It can only be made after the Come-out roll. The Iron Cross wins on every outcome except a 7. The profits are small but frequent and consistent – though it might feel weird to make the Lucky 7 your worst enemy.

The problem with this wager is that adapting it to different stake sizes can be annoying. For instance, if you’re playing low-stakes, you would need $1 on Place 5 and Field and $1,2 on Place 6 and Place 8. Essentially, you need to be able to place 1.2 units.

Craps Bet Hedging

One of the draws of a complicated game such as craps is that you can always bet against yourself, so to speak. This achieves a simple goal – it minimizes losses if you lose at the cost of decreasing profits when you win. Alternatively, you can maximize your profits if things are already going your way. Let’s go through a simple example.

Say you’ve made a Pass Line bet and the Point has been established. You can now use the Place to hedge your Pass bet. As we already established, the 6 or 8 Place bets are the best options here. They’re the most likely outcome in craps besides a 7, too.

If the Point is on 6, bet Place on 8. If the Point is on 8, bet Place on 6. If the Point is on neither of these, make both Place bets.

This way, you’re actively backing two of the most likely numbers to win after the 7. Better yet, both the Pass and Place bets can win on the same series of rolls, driving your profits through the roof.

This is just a simple example, of course. Our point is that you can think creatively about all the options in craps to come up with winning craps strategies. This is overall harder to do in live casino craps, but still perfectly viable. Check out some of these casinos if you want to start experimenting with games such as Evolution Live Craps.

Conclusion

Remember that live casino craps are essentially adapted from the casino table. That means different software providers adapted the rules and bets in different ways. Make sure to check out the payouts before attempting any strategies. Even a slight difference in how craps bets work can heavily impact the effectiveness of your wagers.