In need of new craps bets.

I'm heading to LV tomorrow and I'm looking to add some new bets to the way I play craps. Please don't mistake this for me asking for a "strategy." I know there are no guaranteed winning strategies or systems. I'm simply looking for new bets that I don't usually make.

I have been playing craps for over 3 years so I would consider myself in between an intermediate and advanced player (what's the word for that?) I like to mix it up so I don't play the same every session. My go to bets are pl with odds and place 6/8 or pl with odds and 1 or 2 come bets with odds. I recently got into playing the dc which is really fun despite the looks from other players. I'll mess around with hardway bets for maybe $5-$10 a session just because. I know hardways are some of the worst bets on the table but oh well.

The only new bets I've come up with are buying the 4 and/or 10. I will definitely try it during my trip but I don't know how long I will want to give this a try.

Any fun bets I'm missing?

Yeah, for sure try a Fire Bet every now and then. You have to place the bet at the beginning of a new shooter and wins when the shooter makes 4 (or more) individual winning points. Remember though that repeats don't count, they have to be unique.

If you are talking FUN.....I enjoy this bet more than any other on the table!

Quote: Tomspur

Yeah, for sure try a Fire Bet every now and then. You have to place the bet at the beginning of a new shooter and wins when the shooter makes 4 (or more) individual winning points. Remember though that repeats don't count, they have to be unique.

If you are talking FUN.....I enjoy this bet more than any other on the table!

+1

Except I only enjoy the bet when it wins. Well maybe even when there is 3 points. The anticipation is good as well.

There really aren't a whole ton of bets to make.

One idea is not necessarily a new bet per se....but you could do something like $12 6 and 8. When it hits, drop $4 and press to $30. If it hits again drop $1 and press to $66. On the next hit, you can drop $7 and go to $150 (if you got big balls), or you can press it to $90....or just collect the $77. For 5 and 9 you can place $10 on each. On a hit drop $1 and goes to $25. If it hits again either collect $35, press to $35 (collecting $25), or press to $60. Then it pays $84 and you can collect or press to whatever your heart desires.

That's just an example, but play around with numbers and "power pressing" (full press and a little extra). Of course, you really need a hot shooter for it to actually be fun and win. But when you do....oh boy!

Something that may be fun is drop $10 in the field and if it hits, let it ride. 5 field rolls in a row (yes is not highly likely), but can give for a nice payout ($10 goes to $320), especially if you catch a 2 or 12.

So, not that there are really new bets to place, but just different style of play (more aggressive) than what I assume you already do.


But most importantly, have fun!

All, Tall, Small. Screw the fire bet.

Quote: DeMango

All, Tall, Small. Screw the fire bet.

Can you tell him which casinos are best for the new weird bets.... I understand Sams Town is one.

I play mostly in Biloxi, where most casinos have it, even the Beau. The not so grand, renamed Harrah's, has the fire bet to which I regularly give them grief for.

Quote: DeMango

All, Tall, Small. Screw the fire bet.

I know they have or had it at Mandalay a couple years ago. I hit an all tall once. Made some guys very happy.

I like everyone's ideas so far. Thanks a lot.

I have played the fire bet. My mistake forgetting to mention that. I don't think every casino has it so it slipped my mind.

Quote: GoodShooter_com

All tall, all small, and all or nothing at all:

* Sam's Town
* Wynn
* Palms (not sure they still have this bet)
* Aria
* Mandalay Bay
* MGM Grand
* New York, New York
* Golden Nugget
* Bellagio
* Luxor
* Jerry's Nugget

The least often taken bets in the casino are lay bets. You generally pay $1 up front for every $20 that you hope to win.

If you target your win at $25 or $50, you can reduce your cost by $0.25 and $0.50 respectively.

For vig up front:
Lay 4/10: $51 wins $25, $102 wins $50, each $40 wins $20 beyond that
Lay 5/9: $37 wins $24, $76 wins $50, each $31 wins $20 beyond that
Lay 6/8: $31 wins $25, $62 wins $50, each $25 wins $20 beyond that

The dealer will put the vig (the extra dollars) on their stacks not into the bet, but they will return the vig if you take the bet down.

Chance to win is better than 50/50 and the edge on laying the 5/9 is better than the edge on placing it, even with the vig up front.

If you are just entertained by exploring unusual bets, this can be fun. Most people don't like making these bets, and many dealers are annoyed by setting them up as there are several motions in setting up the bet (calculating the vig, putting the vig on the dealer stack, putting a lay lammer on the chips, etc).

It's a good stroker bet, though.

Quote: Ahigh

The least often taken bets in the casino are lay bets. You generally pay $1 up front for every $20 that you hope to win.

If you target your win at $25 or $50, you can reduce your cost by $0.25 and $0.50 respectively.

For vig up front:
Lay 4/10: $51 wins $25, $102 wins $50, each $40 wins $20 beyond that
Lay 5/9: $37 wins $24, $76 wins $50, each $31 wins $20 beyond that
Lay 6/8: $31 wins $25, $62 wins $50, each $25 wins $20 beyond that

The dealer will put the vig (the extra dollars) on their stacks not into the bet, but they will return the vig if you take the bet down.

Chance to win is better than 50/50 and the edge on laying the 5/9 is better than the edge on placing it, even with the vig up front.

If you are just entertained by exploring unusual bets, this can be fun. Most people don't like making these bets, and many dealers are annoyed by setting them up as there are several motions in setting up the bet (calculating the vig, putting the vig on the dealer stack, putting a lay lammer on the chips, etc).

It's a good stroker bet, though.

I know ZERO about lay bets but the whole vig thing is so confusing to me. Why would some places get it up front and some only on wins. Isn't it all the same in the end. If you win you are still paying and if you lose you are still losing all of the money. Instead of 51 wins 24, couldn't they just do $50 wins $24?

Vig up front is a higher house edge, because you pay it whether the bet wins or loses.

Quote: wudged

Vig up front is a higher house edge, because you pay it whether the bet wins or loses.

only because the bet becomes $51 instead of $50?

Yes, you are still winning the same amount but it costs you more.

Quote: DeMango

All, Tall, Small. Screw the fire bet.

I like the all or nothing, all tall, all small too
much better than the fire bet
darn fire hardly ever hits

I just returned from my trip and gave some new things a try. First day I lost at other games and had a $10 voucher that I decided to put into a shoot to win machine, also known as "bubble craps." Played at Planet Hollywood and taught my little sister how to play craps. I was teaching her basic pass line with odds and before we knew it we turned my $10 into $134. That happened on thursday night. Nothing to report for friday and saturday as the tables were spanking me. Today was a different story. A big group of us went to Binion's to play some $5 craps for our last opportunity to play together. I was down to my last $130 and threw $100 on the table. The table started off decent but quickly picked up speed. I was betting $5 pl with max odds (they offer 5x odds). I was up to $200 and it was my turn to shoot and made 4 points before I sevened out. One of my points was 10 so I threw $5 on hard ten and it hit. I was up to around $300 total and started buying the 4 and 10 for $25. Sadly the other shooters sevened out almost immediately after I bought the 4 and 10 so I didn't make money of those numbers. Anyways, I cashed out with $400 total. Not bad after an hour on a $5 table.

If your goal is to have the best possible chance to win, a single bet (bold play) is always preferable. This is true until you want to win more than triple what you start with, and then you need to use a parlay strategy for the best chance to win your target win amount.

I believe in playing with a target win amount and a maximum loss amount at all times, especially if you are a beginner.

I personally enjoy having smaller target wins and like walking away winning more frequently, which means I have a maximum loss much greater than my target win.

Here's a few quick moves that I don't see all that often on the tables that are fun for me.

Triple your (eg pass line) bet on a win

Say you have $10 on the pass line and your roll a seven winner. A parlay would be somewhat common going to $20. Try tripling to $30. Or if you started with $20, triple to $60 using all red stacks and go for another natural winner on the pass line. The compound edge for a parlay win on a comeout-roll natural is quite low. Just don't feel obligated to always bet max odds and you're fine. Sometimes I consider how much I will win for rolling the point instead of getting the lowest possible edge after pulling a trick like this and ending up with triple my normal bet on the pass line.

Lay the (eg already established 5 or 9) point to win $24 or $25 (if point is 4,6,8, or 10)

If you just walk up to the table and you missed the pass line, never "put" the pass line even if you're adding odds. But you don't want to place the point if it's a five or a nine. Laying the 5 or 9 is always cheaper if you target a $25 win. Laying $36 to win $24 is a $1 vig up front, effectively a $37 bet to win $24. 1/(37+24) is a 1.64% house advantage. It's just a good low house edge bet if you don't mind playing dark to a table already on a five or a nine point and have $37 to risk against it hitting. And of course it wins most of the time which can be a good way to start a game.

To lay the point, put the entire amount of the bet in one stack on the don't pass and the vig in a separate stack or chip to the right of the bet. Tell the dealer "I want to lay the point," while physically pointing to the extra chip or chips and tell them, "it's a $1 vig up front, right?" They don't always know and sometimes have to ask someone depending on where you are. 4/10 are often vig on the win and you will just put up some multiple of $50 to win some multiple of $24 per $50 or $95 per $200. These are good bets as are the buy bets on the 4 or 10 when you first walk up and want to be involved in the number that everyone is focusing on and don't mind being on the darker side.

Bet a larger than normal DC bet and hope for no seven or eleven, and place the point or take odds depending on what number is rolled

This is not a great combo strategy if the player rolls a five or a nine. This strategy works best with some multiple of $6 on the DC. $30 is a good choice if that's not too much. You are basically betting against a seven or an eleven, and anything else besides a 12 you can count as a win, although it could be small if you end up getting a six or an eight.

The average compound edge per resolution is something like a field bet. You can effectively win $9-$10 per $30 if the outcome is a 4/10, $5 per $30 if the outcome is a 5/9, $2 per $30 if the outcome is a 6/8 (placing for improper $28). You are really hoping for aces or ace-deuce on the first roll of course. And you may choose to just lay odds on a 6/8 instead of taking the smaller fractional win.

This is a terrible system to employ over and over (placing the point to extract the edge out of a DC), but the chance of winning is the chance of not rolling a seven, eleven, or twelve on the first roll, or (36-9)/36 = 27/36 = 75%. The chance of not losing is even higher at 77.78%. I forget the average edge per roll, but it's better than a field bet, better than placing the four five or nine or ten, and worse than placing the six or eight. Plus you have the option of laying odds (you don't have to do max on a $30 DC) if you feel like it, you'll just be taking another chance. This is a good way to warm up to betting the dark side if you're still unsure about laying odds but like the DC leg.

The hardest part of this one-two combo bet is remembering to work the place bet on the comeout if you want to ensure to lock in your win from the first roll of the DC.

Bet a gigantic random come bet

You could think of it as a red or a black on a roulette wheel with a smaller sectioned single zero. Just bold play the come in the middle of some roll for some extremely oversized amount. This is often the most fun when everyone is struggling and the roll comes up seven or eleven. I have had people get really pissed at this play when the seven comes, but it can be quite entertaining when out of nowhere everybody's chips get scooped up and as many chips come to you in a single roll. Just remember the game is made to be fun, and you get to play however you want.

Quote: Ahigh

Bet a gigantic random come bet

You could think of it as a red or a black on a roulette wheel with a smaller sectioned single zero. Just bold play the come in the middle of some roll for some extremely oversized amount. This is often the most fun when everyone is struggling and the roll comes up seven or eleven. I have had people get really pissed at this play when the seven comes, but it can be quite entertaining when out of nowhere everybody's chips get scooped up and as many chips come to you in a single roll. Just remember the game is made to be fun, and you get to play however you want.

I love this idea.

Quote: Ahigh

Bet a gigantic random come bet

That is your signature move.

As a regular place bettor, I am intrigued about the following bet, as described by the Wiz:

Place to Lose

"Place to Lose bets to lose are the opposite of Place bets. They win on a seven, and lose on the the number you're betting against. As far as I know, Place to Lose bets are found only in Australia, England, and some Internet casinos. The odds paid are as follows.

6 and 8: 4 to 5
5 and 9: 5 to 8
4 and 10: 5 to 11


The following tables show the house edge of Place to Lose bets.

Place to Lose — 6 and 8
Per House Edge
Bet made 0.56%
Bet resolved 1.82%
Roll 0.56%

Place to Lose — 5 and 9
Per House Edge
Bet made 0.69%
Bet resolved 2.50%
Roll 0.69%

Place to Lose — 4 and 10
Per House Edge
Bet made 0.76%
Bet resolved 3.03%
Roll 0.76% in a casino: "place to lose." "

I wonder why it isn't part of the crap shooter's regular plays?

I've never seen it anywhere at the tables.

.....

Never once have I seen or even HEARD about a single instance of the place to lose bet in Las Vegas. I asked about it when I first moved here based on information on the Wizard's site, and it generally doesn't exist as far as I know here in Vegas.

So why is it overseas but not in America?

Seems easy enough.

Once people familiarized themselves with it, there could be some fair action.

For whatever reason our craps pits just don't seem to want to allow this bet.

"In need of new craps bets?"

The answer has been hiding in plain sight all along.