Of the most popular classic table games, craps is the only one that uses dice, and it comes with what can seem a bewildering array of betting options. If you want to finish ahead in best USA online casinos, we've put together a little list of tips to increase your chances of making money with craps.
We've paired together these two craps bets for a single tip because the pair of them offer great value for players. Identical value, in fact, as both the pass line bet and the come bet have a low house edge of 1.41%, making them fantastic for players determined to maximize their prospects of finishing a session in profit.
The odds bet has the surprisingly good house edge of zero, which is, of course, tremendous for craps players in USA online casinos. As you may have guessed, there is a caveat: the bet can be made after the come and pass (or don't come/pass) bets land on a number, and is a means of effectively decreasing the house edge and giving yourself more of a chance of ending up in the black.
One pitfall that players of certain table games (particularly craps and roulette) can fall into is believing that just because a certain result hasn't happened recently that it's more likely to happen next time. This is called the Gambler's Fallacy.
In a six ball lottery, the odds on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 turning up are as likely as any other combination. It might look peculiar, but the odds are identical. Similarly, if you toss a coin 12 times and it's heads every time, the odds on it being heads or tails for the next toss have not been magically changed. And this cuts both ways. If a player rolls the same result in craps twice in a row, them rolling that again is neither more nor less likely. Don't make bets based on what the dice have done in recent rolls.
Betting on 6 and/or 8 in craps has a pleasingly low house edge (around 1.5%) and offers excellent value for players. However, this is a relatively rare example of place bets being good for players. Most of them are far less attractive, so if you want to make place bets in craps you're better off sticking with 6 or 8.
Among the wide range of potential bets a craps player can make there are proposition bets. The house edge with these type of bets isn't quite a cheat but it's not far off, with house edges well into double figures. Yes, the payouts are tempting, but that's just to bait players into dreaming of big wins and risking hard-earned cash when, over the course of a craps gaming session, this is a golden goose for the casino. Take our advice and follow this tip: shun proposition bets.
A great general tip for craps is to always be aware of how much you have, and how much to bet each roll. Don't get carried away when things are going well, because you can easily end up cheating yourself out of profits by hiking stakes only for the dice to turn against you and rapidly wipe out your bankroll. Likewise, if things go poorly don't engage in a Martingale style mad system of doubling stakes until you come out ahead. That increases the chances of a small profit but also of a catastrophic loss, and should be avoided at all costs.
There's a multitude of bets you can make with craps and the ones we've highlighted in our tips above offer great value not only when playing craps, but compared to the vast majority of casino games more broadly. Always remember to keep calm, and bet within your means at any of the best online casinos in the USA.