Maximizing comps on craps

I like to play craps (sometimes), especially at a joint where I know dealers are cool.

But I also like comps. I thought of a way to maximize my comps. Do you think this will work?

Start off by playing pass with max odds and risk similar amount as pass line on the inside numbers, 5-9

The bet the come. If any of inside numbers hit, replace the place bet with the come bet / come odds.
After a few rounds like this, stop placing the 5 and 9, and just place the 6 and 8.
This should minimize the big negative theoretical loss on the 5 and 9. But hopefully the supervisor continues to give me credit for betting all inside numbers on the screen.
This may work better on a busy table, especially when it takes longer per roll due to action from multiple players

A few things to note before I start:

- Are you primarily playing craps for fun / enjoyment or are you trying to "AP" the game and get more comps than expected loss? It can be done (to AP it), but difficult...and you need the right conditions, obviously.
- Some places will rate you on your odds. Some don't.
- Most places, I believe, rate you on your total action after about 3-4 rolls.
- Avoid the center bets (horns, hardways, hops, and other bets like fire / all-tall-small / etc.) as well as field bet. If you choose to make these bets, they have a high HE and oftentimes get missed when rating a player, unless you do something every roll (like $5 on each of the hardways).
- Tipping the dealers can go a long way and help you a good amount. Bosses like it when you tip the dealers and will generally be more willing to comp you more. On the other hand, this isn't always true. Also, if there's some discrepancy, you'll be more likely to get leniency if you tip than if you're a stiff.

Obviously, the place has to be a place where you'll get a good amount of comps, and it seems like they are already, or else you wouldn't be posting this.

If it were me (and if the casino doesn't rate your odds), I would probably make a pass line bet and 2 equal sized come-bets, with no odds.

Main goal is for fun.
Side goal is to maximize comps, but I wouldn't do that if I didn't enjoy playing

I don't think tipping helps. The guy who rates my play on the computer screen is a supervisor who is not there the whole time. Not the box man. The box man may care about the tips, but he isn't inputing my action or swiping my players card

>the supervisor continues to give me credit for betting all inside numbers on the screen.

anytime you are able to to establish a certain expected loss, and change it up later without it being noticed, you might benefit. The only thing is, I'm not sure casinos get so sophisticated. From my understanding, you are just a craps player with a certain size bet. The table in the link below almost all the way down suggests Craps players are just logged as averaging a 1.58% HE on their bets, which I can believe. Thus you may be wasting your time assuming they are paying attention to what bets you make [except they are likely to ignore free odds bets]

But there may be exceptions.

https://wizardofodds.com/gambling/house-edge/

Oh. I thought they cared what type of bets the players make.
I thought the casinos in general give better comps to those betting place bets on 5/9 than 6/8 due to the higher house edge.


If they simply lump it all together, then I'll just play 6/8 only

Quote: Frogger

Oh. I thought they cared what type of bets the players make.

Not really, indeed they don't care if you win or lose. Most places comp for your action. They may sweeten the comp slightly for major wins and major losses but in general they don't look at whether you won or lost, they look at your ACTION and apply the various formulas and that is it. If the floorman is there when you win a hardway bet, he doesn't care.... he knows what happens in the long run to people who make center bets. Its the ACTION that he looks for. If you a conservative, basic strategy bettor,,,, that is nice, he just looks to see what your action is.

There was a sweet lady who I used to deal to, she'd always have about $15 or so in action in the prop box and rarely anything in the field/pass/place bets. Tried to get her a higher rating because that $15 in the prop box has a way higher edge than the guy betting $15 on the pass line. Didn't matter -- your average bet is what you're rated for and not what type of bets you make.


If you can, you might be able to get away with betting more when you first start playing (when you're gonna initially get rated). After that, you can drop your bet significantly and likely still get rated on the same average bet. Be aware the supervisor is probably not an idiot and may be aware of what you're doing. But, it's best to play more $$$ when he's around and bet less when he's not.

Are you guys sure? So when they input my action in their screen, they are just putting in total amount risked? So they view a $200 place bet in the 6 the same exact way as a $200 place bet on the 5 even though the 5 has more than double the house edge as the 6? That sounds very simplistic. I thought they would differentiate a bit more

Agreed with what has been said.

My recommendation as a craps player is to stay away from the 5 and 9. I get the allure, I'll throw a small bet on them sometimes, but they're really terrible bets. Placing the 6/8 vs. 5/9 is like the difference between 3:2 vs. 6:5 blackjack*. Stick with placing the 6 & 8, line + odds, and a come if you want. If you can find a place that lets you buy the 4/10 or 5/9 with commission paid on win only, make those bets instead of placing the 5/9.

Also, is this just to boost the 30-60 minutes of play? What will you do if the supervisor checks all total bets when a few new people come to the table in a half an hour, start betting the 5 & 9 again to keep up the facade? Best case scenario is you get away with your "trick" for an hour then get knocked back down if you play a longer session. I don't see this being worth more than a few bucks, maybe a meal if you play a lot of individually inflated hours. If it's worth it to you, I'm not going to stop you.

*I get that come + max odds vs. placing the 6/8 is the same difference, but I just can't play that way, personally.

Edit: I was looking at a response screen that was very old when I responded earlier. Basically came to the same conclusions another way.

Quote: Frogger

Are you guys sure? So when they input my action in their screen, they are just putting in total amount risked? So they view a $200 place bet in the 6 the same exact way as a $200 place bet on the 5 even though the 5 has more than double the house edge as the 6? That sounds very simplistic. I thought they would differentiate a bit more

Pretty sure. I believe we've had some reports of special buttons / boxes to fill to press if someone is betting a lot in the middle, but my personal random guess is that it would bug most members of this site to consistently make the bets required for that trigger.

What you describe is how games will be soon... whenever they get around to tracking every chip on the felt. However, bubble craps, which would have the ability to, doesn't differentiate at all on bet type made.