Sam Goldsmith Super Craps! Turn Craps Play Into Pure Profit Play! Silverthorne Publications, Inc.

Transcription

1 Sam Goldsmith Super Craps! Turn Craps Play Into Pure Profit Play! Silverthorne Publications, Inc.

2 Super Craps By Sam Goldsmith COPYRIGHT 2018 Silverthorne Publications All rights reserved. Except for brief passages used in legitimate reviews, no parts of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher. Address all inquiries to the publisher: Silverthorne Publications 848 N. Rainbow Blvd., Suite 601 Las Vegas, Nevada USA World rights reserved. Web Sites: YouTube: Channel: Gamblers Bookcase The material contained in this book is intended to inform and educate the reader and in no way represents an inducement to gamble legally or illegally. This publication is designed to provide an independent viewpoint and analysis of the subject matter. The publisher and the author disclaim all legal responsibility for any personal loss or liability caused by the use of any of the information contained herein. Questions about this publication may be addressed to: Published in the United States of America 2

3 Table of Contents Introduction 4 Why Craps? 11 The Game 18 Seven is King 31 The Bets 38 Winning with the Seven 56 Wrong Betting Strategy 65 Right Betting Strategy 82 Three Days at the Tables 95 Variations of Play 113 What It Takes to Win 129 3

4 Introduction Why are you reading this book? Is it because you want to be entertained? Well, that's certainly valid. Is it because you are looking for a system or method which will make you rich? That's a little better. Applying the methods, techniques and strategies in Super Craps may make you rich. But as a minimum, it shouldn't make you poorer. Most people approach casino gambling with about the same amount of preparation that is used to pick a movie to attend. This approach may get you to the casino, but the likelihood of coming out of it with more money than you started with is doubtful. OK, you recognize this. That's why you bought this book to begin with. You know that you have to know more than you do to win at gambling. So you have already separated yourself from the crowd. But you still may not have the whole picture. I know from experience that many people expect to learn one secret that will make them instant winners at gambling. A lot of books have been written purporting to reveal this secret, and I am not going to run down all books on gambling. I have written a number of them, and I know that each of these books I have written 4

5 or published, including this one, will help make the reader a better gambler. So I am going to tell you the biggest secret to winning at gambling right now. No suspense. No waiting until the last chapter. Are you ready? You have to have guts, knowledge, bankroll, discipline and patience. Guts are required before entering any gambling endeavor. You need the intestinal fortitude to enter a contest where the odds favor the opposition, and to keep a cool head, successfully apply a winning strategy and leave a winner. Knowledge is deceptive. Most people manage to acquire some knowledge of a game and then think that their limited knowledge is all they need to become winners. Knowledge is important. I am still amazed by the number of people who will walk up to a craps game and ask how to play the game. If you don't understand the game, a casino is not the place to learn it. But knowledge is not everything. You may know every wager and every payoff in craps and still be a lousy player. You need all of the ingredients to be a winner. Bankroll is the amount of money you bring for gambling. Different games and different systems require set amounts of bankroll. Yet people ignore this. They will take whatever money they have and enter a craps game. Usually their wagers are too large for their bankrolls. The results are all too predictable. They lose. They blame their lousy luck, the crooked dealers or the crummy book where they learned the gambling system. Having an adequate bankroll is a key ingredient for winning. Discipline. Without it, everything else falls apart. How many times have you been up while gambling and ended up playing until all of your money was gone? Without discipline, you are dead in the water. No system will save you from yourself. Patience is the final category. It deserves a special mention in a book about craps. Because craps players probably have the least patience of any casino players. 5

6 Craps is fast. Craps is exciting. The fortunes of craps players can rapidly change with just a few dice rolls. So players get antsy. If they lose a few wagers they rapidly up their bets to recoup losses. If they get a few bucks ahead, the size of their wagers jump. And eventually the game gets them. They have no patience to wait out a few bad rolls. They try to recoup everything in a couple of rolls. You want to know the one thing that illustrates the stupidity of most craps players? They will stay at a table until they lose every single chip. For many, the last few rolls seem to be dedicated to losing their last chips so that they can take a break. Why they can't leave the table with chips in their hand is beyond me. People don't act like this at any other endeavor except gambling. Can you imagine going to the corner drugstore, paying for an item which costs $5.95, handing the clerk a ten dollar bill and walking away? Craps players do it every day. The information contained in Super Craps is enough for anyone who applies it to become a winner. But I can't predict that you will become a winner. That is up to you. I do know that the author of this treatise, Sam Goldsmith, is an excellent craps player. He has to be. He plays the game for a living. Several times a week he matches wits with the casinos and nearly always comes out a winner. When he has a losing session, he limits his losses and walks away from the table. When he is winning, he may continue to play for hours, so long as winnings come his way. When the tide turns, he walks. He is the toughest player in the world to beat. He never loses control and drops a bundle. And when he is winning he keeps on pressing the casino for all it is worth. He is a firm practitioner of the old stock market adage of "Cut your losses and let your profits run." Whenever I come across a reputed "winning" gambling system, I always take it with a grain of salt. There are almost as many gambling systems out there as there 6

7 are gamblers. More than one pit boss has remarked that the casinos love system players, they will send taxis to the airport to bring them in. To say that I am skeptical of gambling systems would be an understatement. Nearly every system has such obvious and fatal flaws that it will fail in short order. I have developed a list of criteria I use to review any gambling system I come across. Checking a system against these tests will eliminate most systems in short order. First, the system or strategy has to be definable. This would seem obvious, but most gambling systems are not well defined enough that other people can play them and experience the same results as the author. Many of the gambling books I have read over the years recite the author's extraordinary experience and how he won at such and such game. But when you look for a knowable, definable strategy, there isn't one. I remember one memorable craps treatise I read some years ago where the author won $250,000 or some such amount by playing the old pass line - come bet with odds strategy and happened to hit some hot craps tables. The book recounted each of the author's trips and the memorable rolls when he rolled the dice for thirty minutes or some such nonsense. "Great" I thought. Now how can I do this? The answer is you can't. The author was either spinning a yarn or had a very lucky run at craps. Strategy? System? Well, if you want to try his system and only use it on hot craps tables, I wish you the best. But the practical side of this is that there is no way to define his strategy in such a way that it can be used to win time after time. It was a product of luck or timing or happenstance. It may or may not ever happen for you. 7

8 Secondly, the system needs to use a realistic and controllable amount of bankroll. Some systems require simply too much money to be practical. For example, if a system requires that a player start with one dollar wagers, eventually increases the wagers to as high as $2,000, and requires a bankroll of $5,000 per session, then this system is simply unrealistic. If you come across a system like this, do not try it. Other systems do not even consider bankroll requirements or set them too low. Be suspicious whenever someone tells you that you don't need much money to play because his system is so good. I look for a reasonable bankroll requirement as compared to the amount of hourly winnings the system can produce. The winnings possible with the system should bear a reasonable relationship to the bankroll and the size of the bets used. A system fitting this description can be adjusted up or down depending on the player's preference, but will produce winnings proportionate to the session bankroll used. The losses or draw-downs produced by the system must be reasonable and as small as possible. There are many systems which produce small winnings per session with occasional monster losses which wipe out all of the winnings. These systems must be avoided. A reasonable system will not allow for ten hours of work to be wiped out in one losing session. The system or strategy must produce consistent results. I have always shown winning broken down as winnings per session or winnings per hour in every book I have published about gambling. Most authors don't. Beware of systems and authors who can't or won't show all aspects of the system. It is either not definable and therefore unpredictable, or if it is predictable it produces losses. 8

9 And finally the system must be profitable. Sound easy? It's not. The reason most systems fail one or more of the above tests is that they are not profitable. It is easy to come up with a gambling system. Anyone who has knowledge of the game (or a lack of knowledge in some cases) can do so. So what? If it doesn't meet all of my tests and produce a profit over a reasonable period of time, why bother. Anyone can figure out how to lose money at casino gambling - no system needed. Sam Goldsmith's Super Craps strategy passes my tests easily. It is definable and therefore teachable. It does not depend on some extraordinary streak of luck. The Super Craps strategies are adjustable to different bankroll levels. It is not just a high roller system. Neither is it a nickel and dime proposition. Winnings of over a $1,000 a day are reasonable and doable with a moderate bankroll. The losses or draw-downs are reasonable. You will not experience ten hours of winnings wiped out in one bad session. You will have some losing sessions. These are unavoidable. No system wins 100% of the time. But your losses will be infrequent and of reasonable size. You will be able to win consistently. The system is geared to the player wanting to win $150 to $200 an hour at craps. But it will accommodate the $50 an hour player as well as the $500 an hour player. And it is profitable. I have had very good experience playing craps with Sam's system. 9

10 I present this system to you without apology. It is a good one. And it is Sam's story from this point on. Best of luck. Martin J. Silverthorne Publisher 10

11 Why Craps? Dice have been used as gambling devices for several thousand years. Even the language of dice reflects its influence on history. When Caesar made his decision to take his army across the Rubicon in defiance of the edicts of the Roman Senate, he chose his response from the language of the dice player: "Iacta alea est." The die is cast. Gambling with dice is pervasive. It has been found in almost every culture, from American Indians to Africans. The Greeks and Romans used dice made of bone or ivory, others used dice made of bronze, onyx, alabaster, marble or even porcelain. Craps is of American origin. Some time after 1800 around New Orleans, the American Blacks begin playing a version of the game, no doubt adapted from the English game Hazard, which the French sometimes called Craps. The New Orleans version of Craps moved up the Mississippi on the nineteenth century river boats. By about 1890 the game began appearing in the form of Bank Craps in some 11

12 American casinos. The big casino game at this time was Faro, and Craps did not become really popular until World War II when thousands of GIs learned backroom Craps. Street Craps, also called private Craps, backroom Craps or even back alley Craps, was where a lot of us first cut our teeth. I learned to play Street Craps before I was old enough to buy a drink (at least legally). I used to cut school at lot and hang out around some of the pool halls. I didn't know beans about the game, and I used to regularly bet pennies or even nickels in the games where I was tolerated. An old Craps hustler let me in on the secret of beating the game. With Street Craps, the players bet against each other. In order to make a bet, you had to find a player to take your action and fade your bet. The hustler explained to me that about two-thirds of the players would always bet right, that is, with the shooter. Almost a third would bet wrong (against the shooter) when someone else held the dice, and would switch to betting right when they got their hands on the dice. A very small percentage - maybe two or three percent of the players - would bet wrong 100% of the time. And only this small percentage of wrong betters stood much of a chance of being long term winners in the game. Street Craps always favors the wrong better. The mathematics of dice, which we'll talk about a bit later, favors the wrong bettor in the back alley game. Most people don't know this, and most players wouldn't change their betting if they did. There are a couple of problems with betting wrong all of the time. For one thing a lot of players don't like it. They figure you are running some kind of scam or 12

13 are a dice hustler (which of course my mentor was). The second risk is that when the dice get hot and stay hot, the wrong bettor can find himself facing escalating losses which can wipe out hours of winnings in a few minutes. The hustler figured a way out of these problems. He bet wrong nearly all the time except when the dice got hot. Then he would go with the shooter for a few rolls. This strategy kept him from getting labeled as a hustler or con man and also protected his bankroll. But when he switched to betting right, he would always drop the size of his wagers and only increase his right bets if the shooter kept popping numbers and winning his bets. On the wrong side he was willing to increase his bets after a couple of losses, figuring that every roll has to come to an end and hanging in there with the shooter for a couple of passes was just good business. And he made some pretty good money using the system. I never learned to hustle dice games. I played if there was a game going and did pretty well using the hustler's system. The casinos have simplified the game of craps by banking the game. It is no longer necessary to find another player to fade your bet; the house or bank fades all the bets. This can be a real advantage for the wrong bettor. He doesn't have to disguise his moves because the house doesn't really care how he bets since they figure that they hold the hammer on all players anyway. But the house did one thing to hurt the wrong bettor. They took away his mathematical advantage over right betters. With street craps, the right bettor (betting for the dice to pass) fights odds of about 1.4% against him. The wrong bettor (betting for the dice to miss) has an 13

14 advantage of about 1.4% working for him. This is why the only sensible way to bet in Street Craps is to bet wrong. When the casinos cleaned up the game, they barred the number 12, or in some cases the number 2, as a win for the don't bettor on a come out roll. With this rule change, the wrong bettor bucks about the same odds of losing as the right bettor. So in theory it doesn't make much difference which way you bet in bank craps, the house holds the hammer on all bets. Except that it is still possible to play a version of the old hustler's system. It has been modified to work for Bank Craps. You give up a little because the casino takes the Come-Out 12 away from the wrong better. But every other advantage for the wrong bettor stays in place. So why play craps? Because its origins are ancient? Because some old dice degenerate taught me how to beat the game? Naw. Not good enough. I don't think that anyone ought to play the game unless they play to win. Not for fun. Not because the game is the number one casino action game. These reasons are not good enough. The only reason to play the game is to learn how to hold the hammer over the bastard casinos. And I am not trying to talk anyone into taking up gambling. I don't have to. Nearly everyone gambles. And most do it badly. If you don't gamble, don't take it up on my account. But if you do, I want to present a little theory on why you should consider Craps, and if you do pick Craps, how you can learn to hammer the game. Let's assume that you don't know zip about casino gambling and you are thinking about the choice of games. I plan on presenting a pretty good case for choosing Craps. But don't take my word for it. Consider for a minute the house edge or advantage over the player in most casino games. Table 1 summarizes the house advantage in certain casino games. 14

15 TABLE 1. HOUSE ADVANTAGE IN CERTAIN CASINO GAMES Keno Average about 25% Slot Machines 2% to 25%, use 10% as an average Big Six Average about 18% Roulette Double zero % Single zero (Atlantic City) - Single zero and en prison (Europe) - Baccarat Player - Banker - Blackjack No strategy - Basic strategy with multi decks - Card counting theoretical advantage % 1.35% 1.36% 1.17% 5% to 20% 1.5% 2.0% Craps Pass, Come, Don't Pass, Don't Come - Odds Bets: Single odds - Double odds - Place, field, proposition bets % 0.8% 0.6% 1.5% to 16.7% 15

16 If you look at the numbers in the table, the only number with a minus in front of it, meaning the player has an advantage, is for card counting at blackjack. I didn't come up with this number, it is the number the card counters like to use. I don't believe it. I have never met one card counter who successfully made a living at blackjack. Most of them develop elaborate systems, try them a few times to see how miserable they really are in the real world, and then write books and newsletters. I have my own approach to blackjack, and I'll go up against the card counters any day. But that's another story. Ignoring the unproven claim of card counters, where do you see the best numbers in Table 1? For those of you who cut classes like I did, best means lowest numbers, as in the lowest house edge against the player. The best numbers are in the craps section. When you can get numbers down to less than one percent against you, the game is beatable. If you know what you are doing. And that's why I'm here: to show you what to do to beat craps. Craps has some advantages over the other casino games that don't show up in tables of house advantages. It is the only game that lets you bet that a number won't show. Ever try that in roulette. Walk up to the table and tell the croupier that you want to bet a no-36 on the next roll. They'll send for the men in little white coats. But in craps you can always bet that a number does or doesn't show. You have the ultimate flexibility in putting together a winning strategy. 16

17 The old hustler always went with the probabilities of winning. He wasn't playing for fun. He followed the dice and tried to stay on the side that was winning. And that's what I am going to show you how to do. 17

18 The Game If you have ever played craps in the back room of a store, or on an old bed cover spread on the floor, you have played street craps. The shooter would establish his point, and everyone would stand around until he made his point, or sevened out. The casino version of the game is called Bank Craps. The casino acts as the bank, rather than players betting against each other. In addition, numerous other bets are allowed. In the casino version of Craps, you can bet Pass or Don't Pass, Come or Don't Come, make Place bets, Buy and Lay bets, or bet the Hard Ways or any one of several proposition bets. You can make one roll bets like the Field, or make bets which stay up until a decision occurs, like Pass Line wagers. You have a great variety of bets which can be made. A right bettor (one who expects the shooter to make his point) could have as many as twenty bets on the table at one time. Craps is the traditional game of high rollers. It is the fastest and most exciting casino game. It is the only casino game where it is possible to run a $100 stake into $10,000 in a couple of hours. 18

19 And it is the most vocal of all casino games. Walk into any casino and listen to where all the noise is coming from. It's the craps players yelling up a storm. Every throw of the dice evokes a new response of whoops and hollers. Now stroll back to the Blackjack tables or the Roulette wheel. Hardly a whimper from the players. The Blackjack players are using hand signs to signal the dealer. A Blackjack player could play for a week and not utter a word. In Craps, the players are constantly talking to the dice, the dealers and each other. CRAPS LAYOUT 19

20 To the novice player, the game appears very intimidating. Everyone else knows what they are doing, or so it seems. Once, when I was showing a lady companion how to play the game, she looked down for her bet and it was gone. "What happened to my bet?" she asked. The shooter had rolled a come out craps and her Pass Line bet had been whisked away by the dealer. She felt like she had hardly settled in and they already had the audacity to take her bet. The game moves very fast to the newcomer, but after you learn the game, you will notice the times when the game is slowed down (to your irritation) much more than speeded up. The game is fast, but it only seems fast when you don't understand the bets or what the dealers and players are doing. Because of the speed of the game, and the variety of bets available, what is normally the best casino game for a player becomes a trap for many. Many people lose money at a ferocious rate at Craps because they lay down too many bets and have no patience. Most casinos figure to keep about 20% of the drop, that is, win 20% of all money exchanged for chips at the craps table. The thing I like best about Craps is that when you start to win, there's not a damn thing the house can do about it. Blackjack card counters get thrown out for winning. Winning Craps players can cause the casino bosses to break into a cold sweat, but they are not thrown out. Usually the bosses start engaging in "slow down" tactics at a table where the players are killing the house. The boxman may reprimand the shooter for his shooting style. (I've seen players chewed on for shooting too high, too low, too hard or too soft you tell me). 20

21 When the shooter starts to make pass after pass with lots of numbers in between the action can get serious. When the majority of players have black ($100) or pink ($500) chips in play, the casino can drop $50,000 to $100,000 in short order. I have seen individual players win over $100,000 at the craps table. The bosses will try to slow down the game, excessively examine the dice between rolls, bring in fresh racks of chips and in general make total nuisances of themselves, but the players are allowed to keep on winning. Don't you like this game? 21

22 I recently showed a young man how to play Craps in a casino. He was a died in the wool Blackjack aficionado, with delusions of counting down multiple decks and all that crap. After an hour at the Craps table I asked him what he thought. He calmly turned to me and said, "Well, I guess I'm finished with Blackjack." If you have played the game before, forgive me my waxing eloquent. If you haven't played, then please take the time to try it and better yet, use my system so you will win. Most casinos will have at least one craps table, except for the slot palaces specializing in the one-armed bandit trade. Some states allows slots and blackjack, or some other combination of casino games, and exclude craps. The "real" casinos will have at least one craps table. The big joints in Nevada and Atlantic City will have eight or more craps tables per casino. Within the last year, I experienced some of the most enjoyable Craps in Mississippi. Those Southern boys know how to play the game with a vengeance. The area where the craps tables are grouped is called the craps pit with the casino employee in charge of this area known as the craps pit boss. A casino craps table may range in size from 14 to over 20 feet. They look like oversized billiard tables. In the old days some of the floating craps games and games in sawdust joints used to convert billiard tables by attaching boards to the sides of billiard tables to act as backstops for the dice. This was also handy when the law showed. Pull the side boards down and the boys were just having an innocent game of billiards. The number of players who can play at a craps table is limited only to the number who can squeeze in. If the table is crowded, it is considered polite to ask if you can fit in, rather than just shoving your way into the table. Some craps players 22

23 have been known to shove back, and asking is usually the better policy. If the table is crowded, the nearest dealer will usually ask the players to scoot over, if you ask nicely. The table is covered with felt which is usually colored green, but I have seen them in shades of blue, purple and even eye jarring red. I don't recommend the red ones for all night sessions, too hard on the eyes. The possible craps bets are marked on the felt in a pattern of betting areas called the craps layout. In the old days, these were drawn on billiard tables with chalk, now they are all nice and printed. The table layout has three sections. The middle section, called the center, rests under the watchful eye of the person on stick. The end sections are mirror images of each other, with one dealer per end. The center bets contain the lousiest bets in the game such as the hard ways bets and a number of one-roll bets. I will tell you about these bets, but in general, you can enjoy a long and successful craps career without ever tossing a chip to the center section for a wager. The more important wagers are available on the end sections of the table. Here you will find Pass Line bets, which are made by over 90% of all craps players, Place bets, Come Bets, Don't Pass wagers, Don't Come Bets, Field bets, the Big 6 and Big 8 wagers, and Buy and Lay bets. Odds bets, which are not marked on the table, are also made on the end sections of the table. There are usually four casino employees at a craps table. The person seated in the middle of the table, in front of the casino's chips, is the boxman. Today, many of these boxmen are box woman, so I guess you ought to call them box people, which doesn't quite sound right. Anyway, these box whatevers are the 23

24 people in charge of the craps table. They drop your cash into the dropbox when you buy in, watch the dealers, settle disputes with players, and in general act as managers of the game. Many times a floor person will be standing behind the boxman. If you have casino credit and need a marker to buy in, the floor person will accommodate you. They will also rate you if you are trying to get a comp (a freebie from the casino, usually a meal). Many times the floor person may be joined by the pit boss, the big honcho of the craps pit. If the game is very active, another boxman may be brought in as well. Recently, playing in Mississippi, I played at some tables with no boxmen. I hadn't seen this before. I asked one of the dealers about it, and he told me that it saves the casino about seventy grand a year per table. I think eliminating the boxmen may be one of those cases of being penny wise and pound foolish, but time will tell if it becomes a trend. In addition to all the bosses, there are three working stiffs who handle all of the players' wagers. The dealer in the center of the table is called the stickman and handles all of the center bets for players, calls the game and moves the dice around with a stick. The dealers on each end handle the bets for the end sections of the table. There are four dealers to a crew, and they rotate positions every twenty minutes, with one of the crew taking a break at that time. Each dealer takes turns at the stick and at each end of the table. An active stickman can really liven up the game. The action of the game can be announced in a very enthusiastic and colorful fashion. This tends to stimulate the players to make more, and bolder wagers, which is exactly what the house wants. The person on the stick will constantly extort players to make bets in the center of the table where the odds range from miserable (Hard Six or Hard Eight 9.09% in 24

25 favor of the house) to ridiculous (any of the one roll bets house odds from 11.11% to 16.67%). The stickman often uses craps superstitions to exhort the players to make the worst bets. One craps superstition is that if the player's point is one of the even numbers of 4, 6, 8 or 10, for which there is a corresponding hardway bet, betting the number to show the hard way will help bring out the number. In general you can ignore the betting advice of the dealers on stick. Their recommended bets are the best wagers for the house, not for you. Each table has its own table limits. These limits are usually shown on small plaques at each end of the table on the side rail, next to the standing dealer. Both minimum and maximum bets for the table are shown. Typical table limits are $2 minimum, $200 maximum (smaller casinos) or $5 minimum, $1,000 maximum (larger joints). Minimum wagers will vary from casino to casino and from table to table in the same joint. A $5 minimum table may be operating next to a $25 minimum table. Table minimums will be raised whenever more players are available such as at night or on weekends. It is always to the casino's advantage to have higher minimums set. Many players, who should be making $2 wagers, will make $10 or even $25 wagers if that's what the house mandates. From a player's viewpoint, higher minimum wagers can be devastating. If the house does not offer a minimum wager within your range, then don't play the game. Many players have no idea of the relationship between the bankroll used for a craps session and the minimum wager which should be used, and get cleaned out in short order playing beyond their means. If you want to play where the maximum wagers won't restrict your style, try the Horseshoe Club in downtown Las Vegas. The place caters to craps players, offering ten times odds and wall-to-wall craps tables. Your maximum wager is 25

26 limited to the amount of your first wager. If you want to bet a million bucks a pop, just clear it with one of the Binion bosses, they will accommodate your action. While we are on the subject of downtown Vegas, I want to mention quarter craps. Some of you eastern players who have been weaned on ten buck minimum tables may sneer, but I have had some of my best action on the quarter craps tables. For twenty bucks, you can begin your craps education. Here, for five bucks, you can have several bets working for you. Casinos use checks or chips in place of cash at the craps table. Chips come in $1, $5, $25, $100, $500 and $1,000 denominations with twenty five cent chips thrown in for the tables which allow them. Each chip is colored differently. One dollar chips may come in any color, or the casino may use dollar slot tokens as chips. Five dollar chips are usually red, $25 chips, green and $100 chips, black. Five hundred dollar chips are usually pink. The big $1,000 chips come in various flavors. I'm sure you will remember the color if you are playing with them. Cash is not used at the table, so you must change your cash for chips. When you first arrive at the table, you lay your cash on the table and ask the dealer for change. Watch the table before you barge in. Wait until the shooter has thrown the dice. It is extremely bad dice etiquette to have the dice bounce off your arm. Do not hand the cash to the dealer, place it on the table when the dice are not rolling. If you want a certain number of chips of different denominations just ask the dealer. The dealer will hand your cash to the boxman who will count it, drop it into a slot in the table where it falls into the dropbox, and tell the dealer the amount of chips to give you. The dealer will place the chips in front of you, and it is your job to pick up the chips and get them off the table. Your chips may be kept in the rail in front of you on the top of the sidewall of the table. 26

27 When you have finished playing, you must take your chips to the casino cashier to convert them to cash. The craps table only takes cash for chips, not vice versa. With your chips in the rail in front of you, you are now ready to begin playing. I recommend that you keep one hand over your chips. Some thieves like to snatch chips from careless players and you should keep you eye on your chips. Unless you are the only player at the table, the craps game will be in progress when you arrive. The game consists of a series of mini-games. A player who rolls the dice is called the shooter. This player will roll the dice on one or more Come Out rolls until a point number of 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 is rolled. After a point number is rolled, the shooter will continue to roll the dice until one of two things occurs. If a 7 is rolled before the point number, the shooter has sevened out and a new shooter will try his or her hand at making a point. If the point number is rolled before a 7, the shooter has made the point and has the opportunity to shoot again. Each mini-game consists of the shooter establishing a point and then rolling the dice in an attempt to repeat the point number. Of course, in Bank Craps, a lot of wagers can be made in between. After a shooter fails to make his point and sevens out, the dice will be offered by the stickman to the next player. The dice rotate around the table in a clockwise fashion, with each player, in turn, being offered a chance to roll the dice. The only requirement to shoot the dice is for the shooter to make a Line bet, that is a bet on the Pass Line or Don't Pass Line. Any person who does not wish to shoot the dice may refuse when the dice are offered. There is no stigma to not shooting the dice and many players do not shoot as a rule. Usually the players who are betting against the other shooters 27

28 (Wrong bettors in craps parlance) by making such wagers as Don't Pass and Don't Come bets, will refuse to shoot. A marker or "buck" is used on the table to indicate whether a shooter is in the "coming out" phase of the game or whether he is trying to roll an established point. When the player is coming out, the marker or buck rests in the Don't Come betting area, with the black side marked "Off" showing. After a point is established, the buck will rest on the backside of the point box for the shooter's point, with the white side marked "On" showing. It is important to know which phase the game is in before betting. Some bets are made only before the Come Out roll, other bets may be made at any time during the game, while still others are made only after a point is established. One more word of advice before moving into the intricacies of the game. Keep track of your own bets. Dealers track individual bets by positioning the chips in each betting area to correspond with the position of the player at the table. By observing where your chips are placed by the dealer you can tell exactly which bets are yours. When the table action is heavy it is not uncommon for a dealer to miss paying off a winning bet, or to place your winning chips in front of another player. It is your responsibility to watch your own bets and know when they win or lose so that you won't reach for another player's winnings or let another player pick up your winnings. Whenever you win a bet, remember to pick up the chips promptly. Chips left on the table will probably be considered to be a wager and if you forget to pick up your winnings, you will probably be making another wager whether you intended to or not. 28

29 Many players act like the dealers are the enemy at the craps table. They're not. Most are decent people working at a thankless job where obnoxious players are the rule rather than the exception. There are a few dealers with an "attitude." When I encounter one of these people, I just change tables. Life is too short and all that. But most dealers are competent, efficient and friendly if you give them half a chance. A good dealer will remind you to take odds or to make some bet that you normally make. Most dealers are rooting for you to win. A dealer's salary is very low, and dealers depend on tips or tokes to make a decent living. When you are at a table with friendly, helpful dealers, you should plan on toking them. Many players toke dealers by tossing a couple of chips for the boys on the hard way bets. These are long shot bets which pay either 8 for 1 (Hard 4 and 10) or 10 for 1 (Hard 6 and 8). Most dealers appreciate a bet made on their behalf on a wager with a better chance of winning. If you are wagering on the Pass Line, you should make an occasional Pass Line wager "for the boys." When you make a wager for the dealers, tell your dealer that the bet is for the dealers. He will tell the boxman, and if the wager wins, you will have toked the dealers. You will notice that when you make a dealer bet which wins, a dealer will place the winnings in his breast pocket. It is not necessary to tip the dealers if you are losing. They will understand. If you are winning, they appreciate the occasional tip. It is better to tip the dealers while you are playing rather than tipping as you prepare to leave. When the dealers know that you are not a stiff, their normally good service becomes even better. I have had many occasions when I have been overpaid by dealers whom I was regularly tipping. I have also had losing bets ignored and left up. If a dealer overpays you should never call attention to it. I have felt in many occasions that the dealers were repaying me for my tipping, with an unspoken agreement between us. 29

30 B Even if you are not rewarded by overpaid bets, the atmosphere at the craps table will improve once you are perceived to be a tipper, and you will enjoy the game more. What's more, all of the casino personnel will respect you as a class gambler who knows the rules and respects and appreciates the hard work the dealers perform. 30

31 Seven is King All of the possible payoffs in craps are determined by the combinations possible with two six-sided dice. Each die is imprinted with from one to six dots so that the lowest number which can be rolled with two dice is a 2 (1-1) and the highest number, 12 (6-6). Together, a total of thirty-six combinations are possible ranging from 2 to 12. Casino dice are different from the ordinary dice sold with most games. The casino dice measure about 3/4 of an inch in diameter and are precisely made so that each side is the same size as every other side. They are made of clear transparent plastic and usually colored red. Each die has a code number imprinted on it corresponding to a numbering scheme used by the casino where the dice are used. The code numbers of the six to eight dice used at a craps table are noted by the boxman, so that no other dice resembling the official dice may be introduced into the game by dice cheats. 31

32 The combinations of numbers possible with a pair of six-sided dice are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 for eleven numbers. Not all of these combinations are equally likely to appear. The differences in the likelihood of different combinations appearing form the basis for all payoffs and probabilities in craps. The most common number is 7. There are more ways that a 7 can be rolled than any other number. If you examine a die, you will notice that the totals of any two opposite sides always total 7. A 7 can be made no matter what number is on one die, for a 7 can be made with either a 1 or a 6 showing on one die, which no other number can do. For instance, a 6 cannot be rolled if a 6 is showing on one die, and an 8 is not possible with a 1 showing. The key number in dice is 7, and it determines most of the odds of the game because of its unique status determining winners and losers, on both come out rolls and against established points. The following table shows the various ways that dice can be rolled: 32

33 TABLE 2. COMBINATIONS OF DICE Number Combinations Ways Number Can be Made , , 3-1, , 4-1, 2-3, , 5-1, 2-4, 4-2, , 6-1, 2-5, 5-2, 3-4, , 6-2, 3-5, 5-3, , 6-3, 4-5, , 6-4, , Total 36 All point numbers are measured against the possibility of a 7 being rolled in determining the correct odds against rolling a point number before a 7 is rolled. The point numbers are 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10. If any of these numbers are wagered on, either through Pass Line wagers, Come bets, Buy bets or Place bets, the odds are always against that number being rolled before a 7 is rolled. 33

34 The advantage the 7 has over any point number is overwhelming. Table 3 shows the odds against rolling any point or box number before a 7 shows. These odds are determined from Table 2, where the number of ways a number can be made are compared for each number versus the six ways a 7 can be made. TABLE 3. ODDS OF ROLLING A 7 VERSUS POINT NUMBERS Point Number Ways to Roll Point Number Odds Against Point Number In addition to the point numbers, there are other numbers of 2, 3, 7, 11 and 12 on which wagers are made. One-roll bets can be made on any of these numbers. With these bets, the player is wagering that the number will appear on the next roll of the dice. Table 4 shows the correct odds against any of these numbers being rolled on the very next roll. 34

35 TABLE 4. PROBABILITIES OF 2, 3, 7, 11 OR 12 BEING MADE ON NEXT ROLL Number Ways to Roll Odds Against on Next Roll In my approach to craps, you will not make the one roll bets. The casino does not pay these long shot bets at high enough odds to make any of them worthwhile. The wagers we like are the ones where the odds are in our favor to win. Take another look at Table 3. Do you see any numbers which have an advantage of being rolled over a 7 being rolled? The 6 and 8 come close, but even these numbers are 16.67% less likely to be rolled than a 7. An obvious strategy for beating craps would hinge on putting the 7 to work for us. There are wagers available in the game where the casino will pay us 1 to 1 for a win where the odds are overwhelmingly in our favor. 35

36 Look at the probabilities of a 4 or 10 showing before a 7 is rolled. If we wager that a 7 will show before either a 4 or 10, we have a 2 to 1 bet in our favor. And if the casino would pay us even money on our wager, we'd have a stranglehold on it, wouldn't we? The wagers which can put the 7 to work for us are Don't Pass and Don't Come wagers. I will explain these wagers as well as the other major craps bets in the next chapter. Those of you who already know the game will be quick to point out that there is no free lunch in craps. You may agree that a bet against any point number showing before a 7 is rolled is a good bet, but you may point out the difficulties of getting the wager up. In craps, the number 7 cuts two ways. On come out rolls, Right bettors, wagering Pass Line or Come will win if a 7 is rolled, and Wrong bettors, betting Don't Pass or Don't Come will lose if a 7 is rolled. That is the bane of Wrong betting. Once a Don't bet is in place it has a devastating advantage over the house, but it must run the gauntlet of the first roll. 36

37 But what if there was a way to take the sting out of 7s rolled on come outs? Then the Wrong better would have the casino by the throat, wouldn't he? You'll have to wait a chapter before we expand these concepts into a workable system. The next chapter discusses the various wagers available at craps. If you already know the game, you may want to skip this chapter. For novices, I recommend reading it, just so you don't miss any of the good stuff that follows. 37

38 The Bets I am going to briefly review the bets available at Bank Craps. This is not intended to be an in depth discussion of all craps bets. The Super Craps strategy does not employ all craps bets. If you want to learn more about every craps bet, as well as craps betting strategies, I suggest the book, How to Play Craps Like a Pro, available from Silverthorne Publications. Pass Line Bets Pass Line bets, also called front line, or Do bets are the basic bets made by Right bettors, those bettors who are betting that the shooter will make his point. The bets are made by placing chips in the long narrow space on the craps layout marked Pass Line in this country, or Win Line in some games outside the United States. The house pays the wager at even money (1 to 1) and enjoys a percentage advantage of 1.414% over the wager. It is the most common bet at craps. A Pass Line bet is made before a Come-Out roll. Come-Out rolls occur during three different circumstances: 38

39 1. When a new shooter is starting. Out. 2. After a natural (a 7 or 11) or a craps (a 2, 3 or 12) is rolled on a Come- 3. After a shooter has made a point and is rolling the dice to establish another point. A Pass Line wager wins on a Come-Out if a 7 or 11 is rolled, and loses if a craps number of 2, 3 or 12 appears. If any other number is rolled (a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10), that number becomes the shooter's point. If the shooter repeats the point number before a 7 is rolled, the Pass Line wager wins. If a 7 shows before the shooter is able to repeat the point number, the Pass Line wager loses. Don't Pass Bets Don't Pass wagers, also called back line or Don't bets are the basic bets made by Wrong bettors, those bettors who are betting that a 7 will be rolled before the shooter makes his point number. The bets are made by placing chips in the area marked Don't Pass or Don't Win. In a private craps game, the wager gives the player a favorable percentage of 1.414%. In Bank Craps, the casino bars either the two sixes or two aces on the come-out roll. When the barred combination appears on that roll, it is a standoff, 39

40 there is no action for the wrong bettor. With either the 2 or 12 win barred, the Don't Pass wager gives the house an edge of 1.402%. The wager pays even money, that is, 1 to 1 for a win. Don't Pass wagers are much less common that Pass Line bets. At a typical craps table, you will see one or two Wrong bettors, with the remaining players making Pass Line bets. A Don't Pass wager wins on a Come-Out roll if a 2 or 3 is rolled if the 12 is barred or on a 3 or 12 if the 2 is barred. If the casino bars the 3, don't play there, they are taking advantage of you. If a 7 or 11 is rolled on a Come-Out, the bet loses. If any other number is rolled (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10), that number becomes the shooter's point. If the shooter rolls a 7 before repeating the point number, the wager wins. If the shooter repeats the point number before a 7 is rolled, the bet loses. A Don't Pass wager is at its greatest disadvantage on the Come-Out roll. There are 8 ways in which a 7 or 11 can be rolled for a loss, and only 3 ways a 2 or 3 can be rolled for a win. Thus, on a Come-Out roll, the Don't bettor faces 8 chances of losing versus 3 opportunities of winning. Come and Don't Come Bets The difference between a Come bet and a Pass Line wager is only in the timing of the bets. Pass Line wagers are made on a Come-Out roll before a shooter has established a point. Come bets are made after a point has been established. 40

41 Come bets win or lose exactly like Pass Line wagers. If a natural of 7 or 11 shows on the first roll of a Come bet, the bet wins. If a craps number is rolled on the first roll, the bet loses. If any other number appears, that becomes the point number for that Come bet. Likewise, a Don't Come bet differs from a Don't Pass bet only in its timing. Don't Pass wagers are made before a shooter's Come-Out roll, while Don't Come bets are made after a point is established. Come bets and Don't come bets are made by placing chips in the areas of the craps layout marked Come and Don't Come respectively. After a point has been established for that wager, the dealer will move a Come bet inside the front part of the box for the come number. When a point is established for a Don't Come wager, the dealer will move the wager to the back part of the box for the particular number. The bets pay even money for wins. Pass Line and Come bets must be left up once made, as these wagers enjoy a temporary advantage on Come-Out rolls, and the house will not allow you to make these wagers only on Come-Outs. Once you make the bet, you are stuck with waiting to see if the shooter can repeat the number. Don't Pass and Don't Come wagers may be pulled after Come-Out rolls, as the player has the house at an overwhelming disadvantage once the bets are up. Anyone who pulls a Don't Pass or Don't Come wager after it is established, is making the single most foolish move in craps. 41

42 Odds Bets Odds bets are the only wagers in craps where the house has no advantage over the player. But there's a catch. The odds wagers can only be made in conjunction with Pass Line and Come bets for Right bettors or with Don't Pass or Don't Come bets for Wrong bettors. Because the Odds bet must be coupled with another wager, the Odds bet only reduces the house advantage over a particular wager. Remember, there is no free lunch in craps. With Pass Line and Come bets, as well as Don't Pass and Don't Come bets, the odds are taken only after a point is established. The house will define the size of the odds bets which may be taken by allowing single odds, double odds, five times odds or some such multiple. These multiples define how large the odds bets may be in relation to the original wagers. For Pass Line wagers, odds bets are made by placing the chips representing the wager directly behind the Pass Line wager. For Don't Pass wagers, the chips are placed next to the Don't Pass bet in the Don't Pass betting area. With Come and Don't Come bets, where the dealer has placed the wagers in Point Number Boxes, you will have to have the dealer make the wagers by placing the chips to be used for the Odds bet on the table and telling the standing dealer what you want. 42

43 Odds bets may be pulled down at any time, at the player's discretion. If the odds are taken or laid in conjunction with a Come or Don't Come wager, you will have to have the dealer's assistance. Odds bet taken are automatically off on Come- Out rolls unless you instruct the dealer otherwise. Odds laid are always working unless you take them down or tell the dealers that your odds bets are off. Odds bets pay in exactly the same proportion to the point number as the number's chance of being made as compared to a 7 being rolled first. bets: The following are the odds payoffs for odds taken on Pass Line or Come Number Odds Payoff 4 or 10 2 to 1 5 or 9 3 to 2 6 or 8 6 to 5 These payoffs are determined mathematically by comparing the number of ways a number can be made as compared to the number of ways a 7 can be rolled. Since there are only three ways a 4 or 10 can be made, compared to six ways a 7 can be rolled, the odds of rolling a 4 or 10 before a 7 is 6 to 3, which reduces to 2 to 1. With four ways of rolling a 5 or 9, compared to six ways of rolling a 7, the odds are 6 to 4 or 3 to 2. With five ways of making a 6 or 8, the odds of rolling either of these numbers before a 7 are 6 to 5. 43

44 rules: When single odds are taken, the wagers should conform to the following 1. Odds taken on 4 or 10 are always the same or less than the Pass Line wager. If $5 is wagered on the Pass Line, with 10 as the point, the odds wager will be $5 or less. 2. Odds taken on 5 or 9 are always for an even amount. If $5 is wagered on the Pass Line, with 5 as the point, the odds wager should be for $4 or $6, so that the wager, which pays off at 3 to 2 may be paid off correctly. 3. Odds taken on 6 or 8 are always in increments of five units dependent on the betting unit the player is using. A $3 Pass Line wager, with 6 or 8 as the point, may take $5 odds. A $15 Pass Line wager may take $25 for odds ($5 is the basic betting here) when 6 or 8 is the point. A $75 Pass Line wager may have $125 taken as odds with a point of 6 or 8. In general, casinos offering single odds allow players with three unit wagers to round the odds portion of the bet up to the nearest five units, when the point is 6 or 8. For example, assume you make a $5 Pass Line wager and the shooter's point is 5. If you take $6 for odds, you total wager will be for $11, consisting of a $5 Pass Line wager, and $6 in Odds. If the shooter repeats the point number before a 7 is rolled, you will be paid $14 in winnings, consisting of $5 for the even money Pass Line bet, and $9 on the $6 Odds wager. Of course, your original wager of $11 will be returned, so you will receive a total of $25 for the $11 wager. 44

45 With Wrong bets, Odds must be laid rather than taken. Since the 7 is more likely to be rolled than any point number, the player must lay more odds than the payoff for a winning wager. Odds are laid as follows: Number Odds Payoff 4 or 10 1 to 2 5 or 9 2 to 3 6 or 8 5 to 6 Odds should be laid so that the correct payoffs can be made. When single odds are laid, the wagers should follow the following rules: 1. Odds laid against a 4 or 10 can be as much as double the size of the original wager. If $5 is wagered on Don't Pass, odds of $10 or some lesser even amount may be laid. 2. Odds laid against a 5 or 9 should be divisible by three. Here you will lay three units to win two. With a $5 Don't Pass wager, odds of $9, $6 or $3 can be laid. 3. Odds laid against a 6 or 8 should be divisible by six. Here you will lay six units to win five. With a $5 Don't Pass wager, odds of $6 can be laid to win $5. With a $3 Don't Pass wager, the house will still allow you to lay $6 odds. With a $15 Don't wager, you may lay $30 to win $25. 45

46 Place Bets Place bets are some of the most popular bets in Bank Craps. The point numbers can be played by making Pass Line wagers, which give the player the opportunity to bet on one number, Come bets which allow the player to wager on multiple numbers and Place bets which also allow the player to bet on multiple box or point numbers. Place bets are made by placing the chips on the table, usually in the Come betting area, and telling the dealer the numbers you will to "Place." Place bets differ from Come bets in a number of ways. They win or lose in basically the same way: the number on which you have wagered must show before a 7 is made. The differences between Come and Place bets are: 1. For a Come bet to win the number must be repeated. A Come bet which has 6 as a point can only win if the 6 is repeated before a 7. With Place bets, a 6 needs to made only one time for the bet to win. 2. Come bets are always working, even on Come-Out rolls. Place bets are automatically off on Come-Outs unless the player stipulates otherwise. 3. Place bets may be pulled at any time by the player. Come bets must stay in place until they are either won or lost. 46

47 The flexibility of Place bets attracts many players. Place bets may be made and pulled after a couple of wins. With Come bets, once the bet is established, the player must wait for a decision. Many times a hot shooter will make his point and then roll a 7 on a Come-Out roll. The Place bets are safe as they are off on the roll, but the Come bets will all go down with the appearance of a 7. The Come bettor must start all over in establishing his bets, while the Place bettor will have his bets in place with the first roll after the Come-Out. Place bets pay off at less than true odds. Table Five shows the correct odds for payoff on the point numbers, the Place bet payoffs, and the house edge on each wager. TABLE 5. PLACE BET ODDS AND PAYOFFS Correct Odds Casino Payoff Casino Place Number Versus a 7 on Place Bet Advantage 4 or 10 2 to 1 9 to % 5 or 9 3 to 2 7 to % 6 or 8 6 to 5 7 to % Place bets should always be made in multiples of five units for bets on 4, 5, 9 or 10, and six units on wagers made on 6 or 8. In quarter craps, where a twenty five cent chip is the basic chip, the minimum Place bets are $1.25 (five chips) on 4, 5, 9 or 10, and $1.50 (six chips) on 6 or 8. 47

48 Buy Bets Point numbers may also be bought. Buy bets pay off at correct odds, but you must pay the casino an amount equal to five percent of the wager in order to receive true odds. The effect of this commission paid to the casino is to give the house an edge of 4.76% over a Buy bet. Because the house vig is larger than any of the Place bets, except for the 4 and 10, only the 4 and 10 should ever be bought. If your Place bet on 4 or 10 is larger than twenty units on one number, or ten units each, if both the 4 and 10 are place, you should Buy the numbers rather than placing them. With a $20 wager on one or both numbers, the casino will charge you a $1 vig for the privilege of buying the numbers. A $20 Place bet on the 10 will pay off $36, while a Buy bet on the same number will pay off $40, less the $1 commission, for a net $39. So long as your combined wager on the 4 or 10 is at least twenty units (which is five bucks at twenty five cent craps), the Buy bet is a better deal than the Place bet. Lay Bets The Lay Bet is the opposite of a Buy Bet, and is used by Wrong bettors who are wagering that a 7 will show before the number laid against. Lay Bets are paid off at correct odds, but the bettor must pay the house a commission on the projected win to get this payoff. 48

49 Lay bets may be made at any time and normally work on Come-Out rolls unless called off. They are made by placing your chips on the table, along with the required commission and telling the dealer what you want to do. The dealer will place the bet in the back part of the box for that number where the Don't Come bets are placed. Because of the five percent commission paid on possible winnings, it is necessary to lay enough so that the possible win is at least $20. On the 4 or 10, $40 would be the minimum lay bet, as a win, paid at 1 to 2, would pay $20. On a 5 or 9, you would lay $30 to win $20 (paid at 2 to 3), and on a 6 or 8, you will lay $24 to win $20 (paid at 5 to 6). Lay bets may be added to, reduced or removed at any time. Big 6 and 8 Bets Big 6 and Big 8 bets are prominently marked on the craps layout. These bets can be made at any time. Like the Place bets, with these wagers you are betting that the number you bet on, either 6 or 8 or both, will repeat before a 7 shows on the dice. If it doesn't show before a 7, you lose your bet. If a 6 or 8 (whatever you bet on) is rolled before a 7, you win your bet. These wagers usually pay off at even money. With an even money payoff, instead of the correct odds of 6 to 5, the wager gives the house a 9.09% advantage. In Atlantic City casinos, the bet pays off at 7 to 6, the same as Placing the 6 or 8. 49

50 Some players play the Big 6 and Big 8 at $1 or $2 minimum tables and wager less than the $6 required to make a Place bet on 6 or 8. My advice is to never make these bets, except where the wagers are paid off the same as Place bets. If you are short of bankroll and want to bet on the 6 and 8, you should find a twenty five-cent craps table, where the 6 and 8 can be placed for $1.50 each. Field Bets Field Bets are one-roll bets that one of the numbers shown in the field, 2, 3, 4, 9, 11 or 12 will show on the next roll. Seven out of the possible eleven dice numbers are in the field, which makes the wager look like a good one to many players. The Field Bet is paid off slightly differently in downtown Las Vegas and in Northern Nevada. In downtown Las Vegas, the casinos pay off a 2 at 2 to 1 and a 12 at 3 to 1. In Northern Nevada, some casinos pay a 2 at 3 to 1 and a 12 at 2 to 1. In either case, field numbers other than 2 or 12 are paid at even money. With either the 2 or 12 paid at 3 to 1, the house edge is 2.77%. Most casinos pay 2 to 1 on either a 2 or 12, and even money on any other field number. With these payoffs, the house advantage is 5.56%. In either case, the house edge is too high for Field Bets to offer much interest to those who want to win at Craps. 50

51 Proposition Bets We now come to the center of the table, where bets are placed and paid off by the stickman. There are a number of bets available, none of which are worthwhile. In order to complete our review of craps wagers, I'll cover them. Hard way Bets A Hard way Bet is a bet on one of the even numbered point numbers of 4, 6, 8 or 10 that the number will be rolled as a pair, before either a 7 or the number rolled any other way shows. For example, if you bet the Hard 6, you are wagering the a 6 will be rolled as a 3-3 (a pair) before it is rolled as a 1-5, 5-1, 4-2, 2-4, or before a 7 is rolled. Rolling a number as a pair is referred to as the "hard way." If the number is rolled any other way, it is referred to as the "easy way." Hard way bets can be made any time and stay up until they either win or lose. They may be called off on Come-Out rolls. Casinos usually pay 9 to 1 (usually shown as 10 for 1, which is the same payoff) on the Hard 6 or 8, and 7 to 1 (8 for 1) for the Hard 4 or 10. With Hardway wagers on 6 or 8, the house edge is 9.09%. Hardway bets on the 4 or 10 give the house an 11.11% edge. 51

52 Any Seven This is a one roll bet which pays off at 4 to 1 (5 for 1) if a 7 shows on the next roll. Since the correct odds of a 7 being rolled are 5 to 1, this wager gives the house an edge of 16.67%. Any Craps The Any Craps wager is a one roll bet that a craps number of 2, 3 or 12 will show on the next roll. The bet is paid off at 7 to 1 (8 for 1). Since craps numbers can be rolled only four ways out of thirty six, the true odds on rolling a craps number are 8 to 1. The lower payoff gives the casino an advantage of 11.1% Betting the 2, 3, 11 or 12 These are all one roll bets which win or lose depending on the whether the number bet on appears on the next roll of the dice. The 2 or 12 can be rolled only one way, and the odds against rolling either of these numbers on the next roll are 35 to 1. The casinos usually pay these wagers at 29 to 1 (30 for 1), for a house edge of 16.67%. The 3 or 11 can be rolled two ways each, and the correct odds against rolling either number on the next dice roll is 17 to 1. With typical payoffs of 14 to 1 (15 for 1), the house edge is 16.67%. The house loves the action on any of these bets with the sucker like odds in favor of the casino. 52

53 Horn Bets With this wager, the 2, 3, 11 and 12 are covered with one bet. At least four chips must be used for the wager. If any of these numbers show on the next roll, the casino will pay the usual payoff for that number, and keep the three losing chips. Hop Bets Hop bets are not shown on the craps layout. They are bets that a particular number or a particular dice combination will show on the next roll. Numbers with one way of showing, such as a 3-3 or a 5-5, are paid at 30 to 1 (correct odds are 35 to 1). Wagers on numbers which can be made two ways, such as 5-4 or 2-3 are paid at 15 to 1, where the correct odds are 17 to 1. Table 6 shows the correct odds on all craps bets. 53

54 TABLE 6. CRAPS BETS, PAYOFFS AND CASINO ADVANTAGE Bet Casino Payoff Casino Advantage Pass Line 1 to % Come 1 to % Don't Pass 1 to % Don't Come 1 to % Taking Odds Pass or Come 4 or 10 2 to 1 none 5 or 9 3 to 2 none 6 or 8 6 to 5 none Laying Odds Don't Pass or Don't Come 4 or 10 1 to 2 none 5 or 9 2 to 3 none 6 or 8 5 to 6 none Place Bets 4 or 10 9 to % 5 or 9 7 to % 6 or 8 7 to % Buy Bets 4 or 10 2 to % 54

55 Lay Bets 4 or 10 1 to % 5 or 9 2 to % 6 or 8 5 to % Big Six and Big Eight Field With 2 and 12 paying 2 to 1 With 2 or 12 paying to 1 6 to 5 (Atlantic City) 1 to 1 except 2 and 12 1 to 1 except 2 and % 1.52% 5.55% 2.77% Hard ways 4 or % 6 or % Any Craps % 2 or % 11 or % 55

56 Winning with the Seven There is no question that the seven dominates the game of craps. It cuts both ways, that is, causes wins and loses, for both Right and Wrong bettors. Right bettors, who bet with the shooter by wagering Pass Line or Come, enjoy a temporary advantage over Wrong bettors, but only on the Come-Out roll. On Come-Out rolls, there are eight ways a right bet can win, and only four ways it can lose. A 7 or 11, which can show eight ways on a pair of dice, are instant winners on a Come-Out for the Right bettor. The craps numbers of 2, 3 and 12 can only show four ways, giving the Pass Line or Come bet an 8 to 4 or 2 to 1 advantage on Come-Outs. The other twenty four possible combinations out of the thirty six possible dice combinations, represent point numbers. After a point has been established, it is all downhill for the Right bettor. Because of the dominance of 7 in craps, the least disadvantage for a Right bettor is with a point number of 6 or 8. Here the Right bettor is at a disadvantage of 16.67% to the house, the same as some of the lousy proposition bets. With a point of 5 or 9, the player's disadvantage is 33%, and facing a point of 4 or 10, the house holds a 50% advantage over the Right bettor. 56

57 The only things which keep a Right bettor in the game are strings of Come Out wins, which occur occasionally, and the occasional hot roll. Otherwise, the plight of the Right bettor is grim. He faces overwhelming odds against a point number being repeated before a 7 shows. The Wrong bettor has his own set of problems. He has an additional obstacle to overcome on Come-Out rolls. Betting Don't Pass or Don't Come, the player faces eight ways of losing on Come-Outs and only three ways of winning. If a 7 or 11 shows he will lose the bet. These numbers can appear in eight ways. He will win only if a 2 or 3 (in Northern Nevada a 3 or 12) shows. And a 2 or 3 only have three combinations possible out of the thirty six dice combinations. Once the Come-Out has been passed, the odds swing overwhelmingly in favor of the Wrong bettor. But strings of Come-Out loses can beat the Wrong bettor badly as can the occasional hot shooter who continues to make points and roll lots of point numbers in between. 57

58 In either case, the number 7 does its damage on the player. The Right bettor is blessed by the 7 on Come-Outs, but cursed by it after a point is established. The Wrong bettor is cursed up front, but once he survives a Come-Out roll, the 7 is his friend. To further complicate the plight of the craps player, my studies of casino games have shown that craps is choppier than either Roulette or Baccarat. By that I mean that trends are shorter and more likely to be interrupted by counter trends. In general, a good way to approach gambling is to find a table trending in a certain way and then to jump on the trend. With the other table games, trends of moderate length of five to eight decisions are fairly common. In craps, they are fairly rare. An easy way to play Roulette, for example, is to bet that the even- money wager which just showed will repeat. In roulette, you could wager on red or black to repeat. You may face short periods where red and black alternate, thus defeating the system, but on nearly every table I have ever played, black or red will dominate for five to eight decisions after just a few spins of the wheel. Likewise with Baccarat. Either the Player or the Banker side will develop moderate trends of domination, and the simple system of betting the previous winning side to repeat is usually a good way to select bets. Now we come to Craps. This game seems to go out of its way to defeat players betting for a repeat. Pass Line wins are 58

59 followed by Come-Out craps, thus negating the Pass Line player's win. Wins on players sevening out, are followed by Come-Out 7s, killing the Wrong bettors. Switching to betting for the previous winning side to repeat is almost an exercise in frustration for craps players. Most players just choose one side or the other and continue to bet until the casino grinds them down. The reason for the excessive choppiness of Craps is the dual role played by the 7 and the changing ways of winning and losing on Come-Out rolls as compared to other rolls. The same numbers can appear in Craps and have totally different outcomes for Right and Wrong bettors, depending on the order in which the numbers are rolled. With Roulette or Baccarat, order has no meaning. If Black appears four times out of five spins, then the player betting Black will win on four out of five plays. If the Player hand wins in four out of five deals, then the bettor betting Player will win on four out of five hands. Assume the numbers 11, 7, 6, 3 and 6 are rolled in that order. Let's compare the wins and losses of a Pass Line wager versus a Don't Pass wager for these numbers, assuming that we start with Come-Out roll. 59

60 Pass Outcome Line Don't Pass of Roll Outcome Outcome Explanation 11 Win Loss Come-Out roll 7 Win Loss Come-Out roll 6 Point established 3 No effect 6 Win Loss Point made Total 3 Wins 3 Losses Now, let's consider the same numbers being rolled, but with the order changed. Once again, we will start with a Come-Out roll. Outcome Pass Line Don't Pass of Roll Outcome Outcome Explanation 3 Loss Win Come-Out roll 6 Point established 11 No effect 7 Loss Win Seven Out 6 Point established Total 2 Wins 2 Losses 60

61 The order in which the numbers are rolled makes all of the difference. For this reason, the same numbers can be rolled with more or less similar frequencies and produce drastically different results for the players. Of course, 7 is the critical number for all craps players. My studies of the game show that 7s tend appear in short groups, where the 7 will be rolled more frequently than its probability of showing, interspersed by less frequent, but longer periods where the 7 won't appear at all. These longer periods, where 7s appear infrequently, or if they do show, it is on Come-Out rolls, are called "hot rolls." If we average both types of trends, we will find that a 7 will show once every six rolls, just what we would expect. 61

62 The Right bettor is chopped to pieces by the short groups dominated by 7s, and hopes to recoup when the hot roll appears. The Wrong bettor wins fairly steadily during the 7 dominated short groups and is destroyed by the infrequent, but deadly hot rolls. What to do about these situations has plagued craps players and craps experts for decades. The standard solution for the Right bettor is to wait for a qualified shooter, that is, one who proves himself by making a point and then repeating a point number. Only after this qualification will the Right bettor risk money on the shooter. The conventional advice for the Wrong bettor is to limit losses to two bets per shooter. If a shooter causes the loss of two wrong bets, then a wrong bettor will back off and wait for a new shooter. Each of these techniques addresses the problems the two types of players face. The Right bettor is seeking to improve his performance by "choosing" his shooters, with some qualifications set for a shooter. The Wrong bettor hopes to avoid the devastating hot rolls by limiting losses to any one shooter. After many years of play, I am convinced that the heart of any successful winning Craps system is the ability to have the 7 working for you most of the time. I believe that players can buck the 7 for short periods by betting Right, but that the Wrong bettors have the advantage most of the time. 62

63 Let's look again at the advantages a Wrong bet has after a point is established. Table 7 compares the odds in favor of a 7 showing over any point number and the advantage of player's bets against any of the point numbers. TABLE 7. ODDS IN FAVOR OF ESTABLISHED DON'T PASS AND DON'T COME WAGERS Odds in Correct favor of 7 Payoff Payoff Don't Point over Point for Don't reflecting Players' Number Number Bet true odds Edge 4 or 10 2:1 1:1 1:2 50% 5 or 9 3:2 1:1 2:3 33% 6 or 8 6:5 1:1 5:6 17% Column one shows the point numbers for each case. Assume that you have wagered Don't Pass and the shooter establishes a point of 4. Following the row across for points of 4 or 10, we see that the odds in favor of a 7 being rolled before a 4 are 2:1. The next column shows the payoff we will receive if a 7 shows before a 4, 1:1. The correct odds payoff for this wager are 1:2. The final column shows our advantage over the house on the wager, in this case, 50%. It's pretty clear that the Wrong bettor has it over the casino sixteen ways from Sunday once his bet is established. The problem with the Wrong betting is, and always has been, getting 63

64 past the Come-Outs. But you would have to agree that if we could find a way to minimize the impact of Come-Outs, then having bets on the table with advantages from 16.67% (17% rounded) to 50% in favor of the player would be the way to go? I will show you how to minimize the negative impact of both Come-Out 7s and hot rolls in the next chapter. I will show you the strategy I use day in and day out to beat the Craps tables using Wrong bets 64

65 Wrong Betting Strategy Basic strategy In order to maximize our potential with betting Wrong, we will concentrate on two different types of wagers: Don't Pass and Don't Come. As discussed in the previous chapter, little streaks can come up in Craps, which are just long enough to make or break a betting strategy. By choosing to wager on both Don't Pass and Don't Come, we gain a number of advantages over wagering exclusively on either wager singly. We will have only one Wrong bet on the table at a time. Many systems advocate that many wagers be made simultaneously. My experience has shown that many wagers just increase your chance of losing. With Wrong betting, the all important number is 7. Once your wager is up and established, every time a 7 shows you will win. To lose an established Don't Pass or Don't Come wager requires that the shooter roll (repeat) the point number on which the Wrong bet is wagering against before a 7 shows. With 65

66 multiple Wrong bets, a hot shooter can knock down your wagers one at a time, causing multiple losses from one decent roll. With only one bet risked at a time, your risk is more limited. And if the bets are made properly, the potential winnings are high enough to satisfy any player. We will start a session by buying in for the correct bankroll and observing the first shooter. The outcome of the first shooter's roll will determine whether we begin betting on the Don't Pass or Don't Come. Let's say the first shooter sevens out (rolls a 7 before repeating his point number). We will now make our first wager on the Don't Pass side. If the shooter had made his point, our first wager would have been on the Don't Come side. We will tolerate only a maximum of two consecutive losses per side selected, in this case, Don't Pass. If our first Don't Pass wager loses to a Come-Out 7, we will try one more bet on this 66

67 shooter. If this Don't Pass wager also loses, we will wait and observe the roll. If the shooter makes another point, we will begin wagering Don't Come. If the shooter sevens out, we will resume betting Don't Pass. We will add another rule. We will continue to bet on either Don't Pass or Don't Come until we lose two consecutive bets. Assume we have a Don't Come bet up and the shooter rolls a 7. Even though the shooter sevened out, we don't switch to betting Don't Pass. We will stay with Don't Come wagers until we lose two consecutive wagers. There is one more rule we use when betting either Don't Pass or Don't Come. If the shooter rolls our point number, causing the loss of our bet, we will cease betting on this shooter and wait until the shooter sevens out. This rule applies even if we are betting Don't Come. The rules we have covered so far are: 1. We will observe a shooter's roll whenever we first enter a game, or after we have lost two consecutive wagers betting either Don't Pass or Don't Come. This observation roll is called a Setup Roll. The outcome of the shooter's series of rolls will determine our next bet. If the shooter makes his point, we will bet Don't Come. If the shooter sevens out, we will bet Don't Pass. 2. Once we have picked a side by observing a Setup Roll, we will stick with that same side until we have lost two consecutive wagers. After losing two consecutive wagers, we will skip betting until a new Setup roll has been completed, per rule 1 above. 67

68 3. Anytime that a point number is repeated, causing a loss of our Don't Pass or Don't Come wager, we will cease betting on that shooter and not begin betting again until the shooter sevens out. 4. After backing off on a shooter, per rule 3 above, we will resume betting on the same side after the shooter sevens out, so long as we had not previously lost two consecutive wagers. Let's illustrate this technique with a brief example. We walk up to a table, buy in and watch the first shooter. He makes his point. After the Come-Out roll, we place our bet in the Don't Come betting area. The shooter rolls a 5. Our Don't Come wager is moved to the rear of the box for the number five by the dealer. The shooter rolls two other numbers and then repeats the 5. Our Don't Come bet is lost because the shooter repeated the number we were wagering against prior to rolling a 7. Because we had a loss from a number repeating, we cease betting on this shooter and wait till he sevens out. Assume that he rolls a couple of more numbers and then sevens out. After the new shooter establishes a point, we will make a new Don't Come bet. Even though the previous shooter sevened out, we will stick with betting Don't Come for now, because we have only lost one consecutive bet. We make our Don't Come bet and a 9 is rolled. Our bet moves to the box for the number nine. Two rolls later the shooter sevens out. The dealer pays our winning Don't Come and places the chips in the Don't Come betting box. We pick up our chips and wait for the next shooter to establish a point so that we can make a Don't Come wager. 68

69 We will continue betting Don't Come in this manner so long as we don't lose two bets in a row. We will continue our example. Assume that we have now won five Don't Come bets, with only one loss. We make a new Don't Come wager. The shooter rolls an 11. The Don't Come bet goes down. Because this loss did not occur because of a number repeating, we immediately make a new Don't Come wager. The shooter rolls a 4 and two rolls later, repeats the 4, wiping out our Don't Come wager. We have now lost two consecutive bets on this shooter, so we stop betting. The outcome of this shooter's rolls will determine our next wager, as with two consecutive losses, this roll becomes a Setup Roll. The shooter rolls a few more numbers then sevens out. Because the shooter sevened out, we now start betting on the Don't Pass. If the shooter had made his point, we would resume betting on Don't Come. Please notice what may seem like a conflict in rules. We have one rule which says that if a shooter makes a point number, causing the loss of our Don't Pass or Don't Come wager, we will cease making any more bets until the shooter sevens out. We have another rule which requires us to back off betting if we have lost our second consecutive wager betting either Don't Come or Don't Pass. In the previous example, we lost our second bet to a number repeating. If this had been our first loss in the series, we would have waited until the shooter sevened out, and made our second Don't Come wager with a new shooter. Since we had lost our second wager on Don't Come, we were required to observe the remainder of the shooter's roll as a Setup Roll, and since he sevened out, we switched to betting Don't Pass. 69

70 While this "switching" aspect may seem confusing, it is part of the power of this system. Most systems or betting strategies require that the player continue to try the same betting pattern over and over. The Super Craps system anticipates that short term craps patterns can easily destroy the player who insists on making only a set pattern of wagers. Rather than using a mechanical betting pattern, we let the dice determine how we will bet. We may spend a whole game betting nothing but Don't Pass. If so, we are delighted, for it means we have not lost two consecutive wagers, or that if we did, the shooter sevened out in a Setup Roll and we resumed betting on the Don't Pass and eventually won. We may switch back and forth from Don't Pass to Don't Come several times during a game. We can't forecast what might happen. What we do know is that the dice rolls will determine where we should bet. This approach to playing Craps evolved after many years of trying every possible combination of betting. I have bet Pass Line plus the Odds and Come Bets with Odds. If have tried hedge betting systems, such as betting Don't Pass and Placing bets. I have used Lay bets to hedge Don't Pass bets against Come-Out sevens. In short, I have tried just about every possible system you can try at Craps. And you know what? This system works the best. With this Super Craps wager selection strategy, you will always play at an advantage over the house once a bet is 70

71 established. To prevent long runs of Come-Out losses from destroying the system, we limit our losses per shooter. To prevent hot rolls from knocking down our wagers as number after number are rolled, we refuse to lose more than one time to a repeating number from a hot shooter. Nearly every system I have ever seen is purely mechanical and leaves you at the mercy of the Craps rolls. With this system, the flow of the table determines your wagers. A betting series We will use a preset betting series for making our wagers. While where and when we wager will be determined by the dice rolls, we will use a set of rules for determining the size of our wagers. The size of your wager is determined by your bankroll. We will have a whole chapter on this later. Needless to say, you pick a bankroll that you are comfortable with and this bankroll governs the size of the wagers you make. If your bankroll is $20, you won't start out making $5 bets; this size bet is too rich for your bankroll. Likewise, if your bankroll is $500, you won't need to only make $1 bets. I am going to show you the betting series I use for a $500 table stake. By table stake, I mean the amount I buy in for. My bankroll is larger than this; however, I would never risk my entire bankroll in one session. Don't panic if this is larger than the amount you are comfortable with. The principles of what I am 71

72 going to show you apply to different size bankrolls. I am merely going to demonstrate the system using a $500 bankroll, which fits my comfort range. 72

73 With a $500 buy in, I will use a series of bets as follows: $10 $25 $50 $60 $80 $125 $150 My first wager will always be the lowest wager in the series. When I begin playing, I always wager $10 first. If I lose this wager, then my next wager will be for $25. If I win this wager, I will be back to $10 again. After any loss, you will increase the next wager to the next highest bet in the series. If I lose a $25 wager, my next wager will be for $50. Any time I win a wager, my next wager will be the next lowest wager in the series. If I win my $50 bet, my next wager is for $25. If I win two bets in a row, or win two out of three bets, my next wager will be two levels down. Assume I have just lost a $50 bet. My next wager is for $60, which wins. I drop back to $50 and win again. Because I have won two bets in a row ($60 followed by $50), I drop back two bets, and my next wager is for $10. Let's assume that after winning the $60 wager, I lost the $50 wager. I would move my bet up one level and wager $60. Suppose the $60 wager won. I would have won two out of three bets ($60 won, $50 lost, $60 won) and I would drop back two levels and bet $10 for my next bet. This betting series, or a larger or smaller one, depending on your bankroll, will be combined with betting using our strategy for betting Wrong. 73

74 Table 8 shows a typical series of Wrong bets combining the bet selection strategy and the betting series. TABLE 8. TYPICAL SERIES OF WAGERS USING BET SELECTION STRATEGY AND BETTING SERIES Bet Event Outcome Bet Outcome Runnin g Total 1 Setup Roll 7-Out 2 DP 10 7-Out Won bet DP 10 Point made Lost bet Observe roll 7-Out 5 DP 25 Point made Lost bet Setup Roll Made point 7 DC 50 7-Out Won bet DC 25 7-Out Won bet DC 10 Come Out 11 Lost bet DC 25 Point made Lost bet Setup Roll Made point 12 DC 50 Come Out 7 Lost bet DC 60 7-Out Won bet DC 50 7-Out Won bet

75 15 DC 10 7-Out Won bet DC 10 7-Out Won bet DC 10 7-Out Won bet DC 10 7-Out Won bet DC 10 Come Out 7 Lost bet DC 25 7-Out Won bet

76 We will start by observing the shooter as shown in Line 1. Here the shooter sevens out. Because it was a Setup Roll with no wager made, there is no effect on a bet or on our running total of wagers. Having observed that the previous shooter sevened out, we select Don't Pass and make a $10 wager on Don't Pass. The next shooter sevens out and we win our bet, as recapped on line 2. We repeat our $10 Don't Pass wager with the next shooter as shown on line 3. Here the shooter makes a point and we lose our bet. Because we lost a wager by a point repeating, we wait until the shooter sevens out before resuming wagering as shown on line 4. The shooter sevens out and we make a $25 Don't Pass bet, shown on Line 5. We lose the bet. Having lost two consecutive Don't Pass wagers, the next series of rolls between Come-Out rolls is another Setup Roll as shown on line 6. The shooter makes his point, so we switch to betting Don't Come. 76

77 Line 7 shows the results of our first Don't Come wager. We bet $50, which wins when the shooter sevens out. Following our win, we drop back to a $25 Don't Come wager, which also wins as shown on line 8. We wager $10 again on Don't Come and lose when the shooter rolls an 11 on our first Don't Come roll. We immediately make another Don't Come wager for $25 as shown on line 10. The shooter hits our point number, causing another loss. We have now had two consecutive losses on the Don't Come, so we observe another Setup Roll on line 11. The shooter makes his point, so we resume betting Don't Come. We wager $50 Don't Come and lose when the shooter rolls a Come-Out 7. Since our loss was not caused by a number 77

78 repeating, we bet again on the first roll following the new Come-Out roll. We wager $60 and win this wager when the shooter sevens out, as shown on line 13. Since we won a bet, our next wager drops one level and we wager $50 Don't Come as recapped on line 14. This wager also wins when the shooter sevens out. Having won two bets in a row, we drop back to $10 on Don't Come and win again as shown in line 15. We stay at $10 Don't Come bets and win three consecutive wagers as shown on lines 16, 17 and 18. On our next Don't Come bet of $10, the shooter rolls a Come-Out 7 and we lose our bet. We come back with a $25 Don't Come wager after the next Come-Out and win, as depicted on line 20. At this point, we have played for about twenty minutes and we decide to take a break. Our winnings are now $130, and we decide to reward ourselves with a stroll around the casino. Why does this system work so well? We have accomplished several things with it. First, we have reduced the impact of adverse Come-Out rolls by limiting our losses to two per betting side. If we pick Don't Pass and the shooter rolls a 7 followed by an 11 on a Come-Out roll, we will not fight the losing trend. We will back off and wait for the next shooter. Likewise, we limit the ability of a shooter to knock down our Wrong bets one at a time by repeating numbers. Whenever we lose an established Wrong bet because of a repeating number, we wait until the shooter sevens out and then resume betting. 78

79 Finally, the switching aspect of moving our wagers back and forth from Don't Pass to Don't Come helps us avoid short adverse patterns which will destroy the player who only makes a single, fixed pattern of bets. I know that mathematicians can argue that it makes no different how bets are selected or how much is wagered each time. That is the theoretical argument which concludes that no one can ever win at Craps, at least not over the long run. Maybe I just haven't lived long enough yet. I continue to win, on a slow steady basis. How slow? I'll elaborate on this in the pages to come, but suffice it to say, my winnings exceed $1,000 a day every day I play. There is much more to winning at Craps than a winning system. Patience and discipline are two big ingredients. Let's consider patience for a moment. Craps players are notoriously impatient. Most players won't even wait until their chips are placed in front on them when they are buying in. They will tell the dealer, "$10 coming," or "$5 Hard 8," before the chips have even reached their hand. For some reason, most Craps players seem to feel that every shooter is the make or break shooter for them. They rush to get their money out and usually get clobbered. The idea of occasionally missing a roll is an anathema to these players. "What if the next roll is the big one," they ask. I say, "So what." There are hundreds of Craps tables operating 79

80 twenty four hours a day. Missing one roll is not going to hurt anyone and may help you. The Super Craps bet selection approach promotes patience. It forces the player to wait for things to change and then to jump in and start betting. I know this will drive many players loony; they just can't stand to wait. And I pose a question for you who feel this way. Do you really want to win, or just keep throwing a bunch of chips on the layout until you walk away broke? Like it or not, the player who constantly makes Pass Line bets, backed up by Odds and then makes two or more Come bets, also with odds, is going to lose. The players who constantly Place all of the box numbers, and then press up (double) each winning wager are doomed to failure. Yet this is the way that 90% of all players play. And let's not forget our quiet friend down at the corner of the table. This gentlemen only bets Don't Pass. He stands there staring down at his chips, ignoring the screams of the Right bettors when their bets start to win. He plays for hours grinding away at the house and then sees his winnings dissipated with one hot shooter. 80

81 There has got to be a better way. And there is. You just saw it. But I am going to add another feature. I know that standing there observing a shooter is more than most of you can stand. I am going to show you another way of winning while you wait. It is a limited Right betting strategy which can be mixed with the Wrong betting strategy we have just discussed. Stay tuned. The next chapter will fill you in on all the exciting details! 81

82 Right Betting Strategy Basic strategy Our basic strategy for Right betting, or betting with the shooter, entails sneaking in some bets once in a while. We will not bet Pass Line or make Come bets. The only bets we will make are Place bets, and then only on certain point numbers, and under certain prescribed circumstances. Place bets have several advantages for us that make them the only candidates suitable for our Super Craps system. First, Place bets can be made and pulled down at any time. Pass Line and Come bets, once made, must be kept up. You will recall that with Pass Line and Come bets, the bettor has an advantage with the Come-Out roll, and after a Come-Out suffers a major disadvantage as compared to the all important 7. The best Come or Pass Line bets are on the numbers 6 or 8, and even with these numbers, the house holds a 16.67% edge over the wagers. With Place bets, the house disadvantage is not as great once the bet is established. In fact, if we restrict our Place bets to only the 6 and 8, we find that the house's edge over these Place bets is 1.52%. The house edge on 6 or 8 Placed is comparable to the house edge of 1.40% over Don't Pass and Don't Come bets. 82

83 There are some other reasons we will risk money on Placing 6 and 8 and not Pass Line or Come bets. With Pass Line and Come bets, the shooter must roll a number twice before we get paid. Take a Pass Line bet, for instance. If the shooter rolls a 6 on the Come-Out, then he must roll another 6 before our Pass Line wager wins. The shooter must roll two 6s, or any other point number for Pass Line or Come bets to win. With a Place bet, the shooter need roll the number only once for a win. Another reason we like Place bets is that they are automatically off on Come- Out rolls. Many Right bettors will laboriously make Come bets and even a shooter who has made a point will wipe out all of the Come bets on a new Come-Out roll. There is no way to protect these wagers, as the casino will not allow these bets to be called off on Come-Outs. With Place bets, 83

84 there is no such problem. Place bets are always off on Come-Outs, so that we don't have to worry about Come-Out 7s wiping out our wagers. A final reason we like Place bets, and especially the 6 and 8, is that we are paid more than even money when we win. A Place bet on 6 or 8 pays 7 to 6, while a Pass Line or Come bet on the same numbers only pays 1 to 1. I know that you can take Odds with Pass and Come bets. I know that Odds wagers theoretically reduce the house advantage. But underline that word reduce. Let's compare the payoffs of a Place bet and a Pass Line or Come bet with Single Odds on a point of 6 or 8. Place Bet on 6 or 8 Payoff: Bet Payoff Payoff/Bet $6 $ % For every dollar wagered on a 6 or 8, the house will return $ for a win. Now let's look at a Pass Line or Come bet with Single Odds on the same numbers: Pass Line or Come Bet with Single Odds on 6 or 8: Pass or Single Come Odds Total Total Payoff Bet Bet Wagered Payoff /Total Bet $5 $5 $10 $ % 84

85 You might argue that I'm being unfair to Pass Line and Come bets because you always take Double Odds with your wagers. Okay, let's look at how Pass Line and Come bets with Double Odds pay. And to make it interesting, we'll throw in these wagers with ten times odds (some Craps tables now offer ten times odds). As shown below, with Double Odds, a Pass Line or Come bet returns 1.13% of the amount wagered. With ten times odds, we get $1.18 back for each dollar wagered. So you have me here. If you are willing to wager ten times odds, you will receive a slightly better payoff betting Pass Line or Come when the point is 6 or 8. Pass Line or Come Bet with Double Odds and Ten Times Odds on 6 or 8: Pass or Come Odds Total Total Payoff Bet Bet Wagered Payoff /Total Bet Single Odds 10x Odds $5 $10 $15 $ % $5 $50 $55 $ % Before you get too smug, thinking your Pass Line or Come Bets with ten times odds will outperform my Place bets, let my pose a couple of questions? How will you make sure that your 85

86 Pass Line and Come bets only have 6 or 8 for points? And, how will you pull your bets off on Come-Out rolls? All things considered, Place bets are the way to go if you want to only occasionally make wagers on point numbers, if you want to make sure that your wagers are only on the point numbers of 6 or 8, and you want to be paid off at a higher rate. And, of course, only with Place bets can you put your bets up and take them down at will. When to Place the 6 and 8 Now we come to the all important question of when we make our Place bets. I am not about to change my philosophy about Right bettors. Most Right bettors lose fairly steadily throughout the course of a game of Craps and then make what money they make during a hot dice roll. If we could jump in when the dice were hot and by that I mean the shooter is rolling number after number without rolling 7s then we might have a fighting chance of making some money betting Right. Many so called Craps experts advise players "to pick their spots" at the Craps tables. Earlier I touched on the "Qualified Shooter" theory, where a Right bettor waits until a point is made and then bets with the shooter on the rolls following the point being made. Other experts advise to watch the enthusiasm level of the tables. If the players are enthusiastic, then bet Right. 86

87 I haven't found either one of these theories to be very good at helping me decide when to "jump in" a Craps game. The qualified shooter theory works very sporadically and is not a good guide of when to bet Right. The enthusiasm of the table theory is laughable. I have seen tables where the shooter makes number after number and no one says a peep. Other tables will explode if the shooter rolls one Come-Out 7. You can't rely on the emotions of Craps players to judge a table. So what do you use? After investing a lot of time and money, I have found one dependable time to bet Right, and only by Placing the 6 and 8. I will wait until a shooter has rolled four rolls without a 7. That's it. Just four rolls. Sounds like you will making Place bets all of the time, huh? Only four rolls? Yep. You won't be betting that often. Most shooters do not roll the dice four times without a 7 showing. The majority of shooters roll only three or fewer rolls after a Come-Out roll before a 7 shows. Why do you think I like Wrong betting so much? But when a shooter rolls four numbers, the odds increase slightly that he or she will roll a few more numbers before sevening out. How do I know this? Well, there is no mathematical theory to support it. Dice have no memory as they say, and every dice roll is an independent trial. So runs make no difference, right? 87

88 Hogwash. I have developed this theory the hard way, at the dice tables. And I will throw in a little theory for those of you who like to know why you do something. Remember I stated that most shooters won't roll more than three rolls before a 7 shows. Well, a 7 will come up on the average once every six rolls in the long run. How do we get from one 7 every three rolls to a 7 every six rolls? We get some long runs of numbers rolled, with no 7s, interspersed with lots of little rolls where the 7 shows frequently. Mathematicians will not dispute that this is the way that random events are distributed. An average is only that. To understand the average you need to look at how the events are dispersed. 88

89 And after thousands of hours playing this damned game, I will tell you that sevens appear very frequently most of the time, and occasionally there are rolls of many numbers between the appearance of the ominous number seven. And, based on trying just about every system known to identify these long runs, I will tell you that the most reliable way to time making Place bets is to wait for the shooter to roll four consecutive rolls without a 7 showing. So here's how we implement this strategy. We pursue the Super Craps Wrong betting strategy and we keep track of the number of rolls each shooter makes after a point is established. I usually do this by setting aside a dollar chip for each roll. After the shooter has rolled four rolls, we place the 6 and 8. We will leave these bets up a maximum of four rolls. If neither a 6 nor 8 is rolled in four dice rolls, we pull the bets down. After placing the 6 and 8, we will pull the wagers down after each bet wins. Assume that we have counted four consecutive rolls without a 7 being rolled and we place the 6 and 8. The shooter then rolls a 3. The next roll is a 6, giving us a win. We pull both of the bets down. So, after we place the 6 and 8, we will leave our wagers up for the lessor of four rolls, or the number of rolls it takes for either the 6 or 8 to be rolled, giving us a win. In either case, we will then pull both wagers down. After pulling our wagers down, we will resume counting. Whenever the shooter has rolled four consecutive rolls without a 7 showing we will place the 6 and 8. 89

90 During a hot roll, you may find yourself placing the 6 and 8 several times, and pulling the wagers after either a win or four rolls without a win. You may be tempted to modify this strategy, arguing that you are losing money by pulling the bets down while the shooter is rolling numbers. Don't modify the strategy. Any hot roll is only one roll away from ending. And no one knows when the roll will end. Use my approach. It will not only reward you amply during a hot roll, but more importantly, it will limit your losses when the shooter sevens out. When points are made, I will continue my count through the Come-Out roll, so long as a 7 is not rolled on a Come-Out. Let's assume that the shooter has rolled two numbers, for a count of two and then repeats his point number. Our count now stands at three. If he rolls another number on the Come-Out, then I would place the 6 and 8 as soon as a point is established. Under 90

91 no circumstances should you ever have the Placed 6 and 8 working on a Come-Out roll. If the shooter hits the four count during a Come-Out roll, wait till after a point is established to Place the 6 and 8. A Betting Pattern With a $500 table stake, I will begin by placing the 6 and 8 for $6 each. So long as I continue to win, I will continue to Place these numbers for the same amounts of $6 each. If I have a loss, I will increase my wagers following a loss on the next qualified roll. Assume that I have just Placed the 6 and 8 for $6 each and the shooter sevens out, causing me a loss of $12. I will wait until we have four consecutive rolls and then Place the 6 and 8 for $12 each. As soon as I have one hit at this level, my bet goes back down to $6 each on the next qualified roll. Table 9 shows the levels of Place bets to use with a $500 table stake. TABLE 9. PLACE BET OF 6 AND 8 WITH A $500 TABLE BUY IN Level Place Bets on 6 & 8 $6 $6 $12 $12 $24 $24 $48 $48 Total Wagered $12 $24 $48 $96 Value of Win $7 $14 $28 $56 91

92 This table shows the four levels of Place bets I use with a $500 buy in. If I lose my Place bets at the $6 and $6 level, I will wager $12 and $12 on the 6 and 8 following the next qualified roll. If I also lose these wagers, my next Place bets will be for $24 and $24, at the appropriate time. After I have raised my wagers, I will drop them to the next lower level following a win. Assume that I have lost Place bets of $6 and $6 and then raised my wagers to $12 and $12 after a new shooter rolled four no-seven rolls. If I also lose these wagers, meaning that the shooter sevened out before I had any win, I will Place $24 and $24 on the 6 and 8 when the next shooter qualifies. If I win a wager betting $24 and $24, I will lower my bets one level to $12 and $12 with the next qualified shooter. You will always raise and lower your Place bets one level when using this system. A single win is all that is required to lower your Place bets a level the next time your are able to make them. This strategy is conservative. The odds of winning either a 6 or 8 showing before a 7 is rolled are 10 to 6 (the numbers 6 or 8 can be rolled five ways each, or a total of ten ways; a 7 can be rolled six ways). Your chances of winning using this strategy are very good, and if you will wait until a shooter has rolled four consecutive no-seven numbers, your odds are even better. 92

93 The suggested betting series is also conservative. It recoups losses fairly slowly, but also keeps the size of your bets from escalating rapidly during a period of losses. If we have lost bets at the $6 $6, $12 $12, and $24 $24 levels, and then win wagers at the $48 $48 level, followed by wins at $24 $24, and $12 $12, we will be $14 ahead, as shown below: Lose $6 & $6 $ (12) Lose $12 & $12 (24) Lose $24 and $24 (48) Total Loss $ (84) Win at $48 & $48 56 Win at $24 & $24 28 Win at $12 & $12 14 Net Win $ 14 Many times, we will have losses from several shooters sevening out, and then recoup all of our losses during one hot roll. However, the times when we will be called on to wager $48 and $48 will be few and far between, and we will find that this strategy produces reliable wins. 93

94 In the next chapter we will look at putting the Right and Wrong betting strategies together for three exciting days of craps play 94

95 Three Days at the Tables Just how effective is this Super Craps strategy? Most gambling writers are long on theory and short on showing you actual results. I am going to invite you to join me for three days at the Craps tables, playing the Super Craps strategy. The reason most gaming writers do not show you actual results of their systems, is that the systems do not perform well in actual casino conditions. These writers will work out strategies with paper and pencil and then tell you what the theoretical results might be. I am different. Everything I have written down describing the Super Craps system is exactly what I use to battle the casinos. You may be a little overwhelmed at this point. Hang in there. I will continue to describe the strategy and show you more examples of how the system works. If your understanding is a little fuzzy now, just bear with me. I think we can clear things up for you. I am going to share with you actual results of playing with the system for three intense days of Craps play. I have three days for several reasons. First, these days play were typical of how the strategy has worked over hundreds of games. I did not "hand pick" some games just to show the system in the best light. 95

96 Secondly, and this is the main reason I am focusing on these three days, is that for three days of Craps sessions I recorded a large amount of statistical information about my sessions. For example, I kept track of the number of dice rolls in each playing session. This is not something you ever have to do. Quite frankly, I did not enjoy playing this way; it made the game seem too much like work. But I did it for a purpose. My purpose was to collect as much specific information about the system's performance over a three day period of playing Craps as I could. 96

97 My three days of play covered 3,434 total rolls of dice. This represented about thirty five hours of table play. During this period, I kept track of the number of sessions I played, the number of dice rolls per session, the amount won through Wrong betting, broken down into Don't Pass and Don't Come wins and the amount won through Right betting. Throughout these three days of play, I began each session with the same amount of money, $ I would stop each session when I had either won approximately $150 from Wrong betting, or had lost the session. By starting each session with the same amount of money, I was able to develop statistics about the average amount which was won per hour for a $500 table stake as well as much more useful information. I could have won more money if I had increased my table stake after my winnings started accumulating, but for the sake of developing comparative information, I started each session with exactly $500. Over this period of 3,434 rolls, I won a little less than $3,000, $2918 to be exact. This broke down into $2,495 from Wrong betting and $423 from Place betting. To be fair, I made Place bets only during the last fifteen sessions out of the twenty two sessions played. This occurred because I originally set out to test only the Wrong betting strategy and then decided after seven sessions had been completed, to test the Place betting strategy as well. If I had played all twenty two sessions using both the Right and Wrong betting strategies in each game, and if the averages for Right betting had been consistent, then I would have won $3, for the twenty two sessions. 97

98 Using this adjusted amount, my average wins per hour were about $89.00 (3,115.40/35 hours). This was the net amount won, including the sessions where I lost money. The average net amount I won per session was (using adjusted totals) $ For sessions where I used both the Wrong and Right betting strategies and won the session, my average win was $ Losing sessions using both betting strategies averaged $ These numbers might sound a little frightening until you realize how seldom I lost a session. 98

99 Out of twenty-two total sessions, I had three sessions where I lost all of the bets in the Wrong betting strategy, and two sessions where the highest wager in the Place betting strategy lost. Any time that I would lose all of the bets in a betting sequence, e.g., the highest possible bet for either Wrong or Right betting, I would call the session completed. If we compute the percentage of games won for each betting strategy, we find that both Wrong and Right betting strategies won 86% of the sessions played. The amounts won through Don't Pass wagers and Don't Come wagers were: $1,370 from Don't Pass wagers and $1,125 from Don't Come wagers for a total of $2,495 won through Wrong betting. I won a total of $423 for the fifteen games where I made Right bets, for an average win of $28.20 per session. I did not track how many of these wins came from winning Place bets on a 6 versus 8, but the amounts should be about equal. Using the adjusted total of winnings of $3,115.00, my net average winnings were about $89.00 per hour. This works out to a return on the session bankroll used of 17.8% per hour. If we compare this with the way investment returns are usually computed, it is simply astounding. Assume that we decided to play Craps for thirty five hours a week, and used $500 to start each session. At the winning rate of 17.8% per hour, we would win $3, per week or $161,980 per year if we played for fifty- 99

100 two weeks. This would work out to a return times the size of our session bankroll of $ or 32,696% per year. Try comparing this number with typical investment returns of 10% or even 20% per year! For Wrong betting alone, we averaged $71.29 per hour, which, when compared with our session bankroll of $500, works out to 14.25% per hour. Converted into winnings per year, playing thirty five hours per week, we compute winnings of $129,748 per year, for an annual return from Wrong betting of 25,950% per year. With Right betting, making only Place bets on the 6 and 8 in accordance with our timing schematic, we made $17.17 an hour for a return on our session bankroll of 3.55% per hour. With play of thirty five hours a week, this works out to an annual return of 6,746% per year. We may want to consider that computing our returns in this manner severely penalizes the Right betting strategy. Why? Because while Wrong betting requires the entire $ session bankroll in order to make all of the wagers called for the betting series ($ = $500), Right betting, by Placing only the 6 and 8, requires a Session Bankroll of only $180.00, computed by adding up all of the Place bets to be made if we lose every single Place bet ($ = $180.00). If we compute our win rate for Right betting, using $ as the session bankroll required, we compare winnings of $17.17 per hour to $ for a return of 9.53% per hour. This return, 100

101 playing thirty five hours a week, works out to 17,345% per year. This is still less than the annual return of 25,950% earned by betting Wrong, but not by as large a margin. The main reason that the percentage returned from Right betting is lower than Wrong betting is that using the Place betting strategy, we make fewer wagers per hour than with the Wrong betting strategy. In other words, the lower return from Right betting does not show that it is a less effective strategy than betting Wrong; instead it reflects that we do not bet as often betting Right and therefore earn a lower percentage return on our money per hour. On a risk adjusted basis, I would suspect that the two strategies are very comparable. 101

102 Before I totally lose you with all of these numbers, let's consider what these results mean for us, in a general way. First, you should recognize that we have a winning system here. It is very reliable and very consistent. Because of these factors, winnings can be forecast with some accuracy. By this I do not mean that we are always confident about winning any given session at the tables. Every session is a new battle with the casino, and we can never be confident that we are going to win. We know that we are likely to win a session, but we never want to become complacent. Nothing is ever certain in Craps, except that it is damned hard to win consistently. Please don't ever forget that. But what we do know is that over a reasonable trial period, where I kept careful track of the results of the sessions, we won almost $3,000, and won about 86% of our playing sessions. And we know that we started each session with the same bankroll of $500. I mentioned to you earlier that I could have won more money if I had increased the size of my table stake. Normally I would have done this, but I didn't because the main purpose of this play was to test the system and record the results. What I could have done (and normally would do) was to increase the size of my session bankroll as my winnings reached certain predetermined levels. You can do the same thing, and it dramatically improves the winning potential of the Super Craps strategy. But you must plan any increases carefully, and only after you have won enough to protect yourself from losing sessions. The bane of most gamblers is increasing wagers too rapidly after a win. You see this all the time at most tables, where Place bettors constantly tell the dealers to "press my bet," meaning to 102

103 double it and only return any winnings left after the bet is doubled. Many gamblers act as if every minor streak was going to turn into a monster roll and last for thirty minutes. As you and I know, the dominate number in Craps is the number 7, which always shows sooner or later. In deciding to increase the size of our session bankroll, we are going to be very conservative. Many of you will want to double your session stake after winning a session or two. This may or may not turn out alright, you can never predict whether you will win or lose any given session. But the risk to you is very great if you follow this approach. You are emulating the Place bettors who rapidly press their wagers, have numerous wins during a roll, and end up losing money because they left too much money on the table when the shooter sevened out. Our conservative approach to increasing our session bankroll considers the total bankroll we have brought for our play, not just the amount we have won in a session or two. I always bring at least five times the intended session bankroll on any casino excursion. If I am buying in for $ per session, I will have $2, available as my total bankroll. This bankroll is not the amount of money I have in my checking or savings account, it is the amount of cash I have with me, either on my person, or in a casino safe deposit box. The strategy I will use is to wait until I have doubled my total bankroll from $2,500 to $5,000 before I double my initial buy in from $500 to $1,

104 So, one or two winning sessions are not enough for me to increase the size of my session bankroll. I will wait until the total bankroll that I have with me has doubled. And this bankroll will never be less than five times the size of my session bankroll. During my three day marathon Craps session, my winning rate was 17.8% per hour, using a buy in of $500. For purposes of illustration, let's assume that our return was just 15% per hour. With a return of 15% an hour, we would average winning $75 an hour using a session bankroll of $500. It would take about hours for us to win $2,500 and double the size of our Craps bankroll, increasing it from $2,500 to $5,000. Unless we want to play Craps on a marathon basis, like I did for three days, we are not likely to double our bankroll on any single casino excursion. It may take us a couple of trips to accomplish this. The key is to be patient. If you let the Super Craps system work for you and are patient, your gambling bankroll will double. After doubling your gambling bankroll, to $5,000 in this example, you may start buying in for double the original session buy in. With a $1,000 session bankroll, all of the bets in the betting sequences I have suggested will be doubled. Your first Don't wager will be for $20, rather than $10. When you Place the 6 and 8, you will start with $12 on each number, instead of $6 each. With a $1,000 session bankroll, if your winning rate of 15% continues, you will now average winning $150 an hour. Guess what? In another hours of play, you can double your 104

105 gambling bankroll again, moving up from a $5,000 to a $10,000 bankroll. With a $10,000 Craps bankroll, your session bankroll becomes $2,000, and with a win rate of 15% per hour, your theoretical hourly winnings become $300 an hour. Another hours of diligent play will double your gambling bankroll again. Now you will have a total bankroll of $20,000, and your session buy in can be for $4,000. At these levels you will have to start watching table maximums. Your highest Don't wager will be for $1,200, and your largest possible Place bet will be for $384. With a 15% an hour average return, you can expect winnings of $600 an hour with a $4,000 buy in. You may want to go for a $25,000 Craps bankroll, which allows a session bankroll of $5,000. On the average, it will take only an addition 8.33 hours to move from a Craps bankroll of $20,000 up to $25,000. With a $25,000 total bankroll, your buy in will be for $5,000, and with a 15% an hour average return, your average winnings should be about $750 an hour. Table 10 shows the total bankrolls for each level of play, the session bankrolls used, the average wins per hour, using a 15% return, and the number of hours of play required, on the average, to increase your bankroll to the next level. 105

106 I want to emphasize that this table is hypothetical. It does not represent the actual results of my play. I typically have not bought in for more than $1,000, or for $2,000 on occasion. It is not that I do not believe in the system. TABLE 10. HYPOTHETICAL RESULTS OF INCREASING BANKROLLS Hours to Amount Session Bankroll Win per Hour at 15% Total Bankroll Needed Reach Next Bankroll Level Won Before Next Level $500 $ 75 $ 2, hours 1, , hours 2, , hours 4, , hours $ 2,500 5,000 10,000 5,000 5, ,000 NA NA It has worked very well for me. It is simply that I do not feel comfortable buying in for more than $1,000 to $2,000 a session. A $5,000 buy in seems too high for me. I start to exceed my comfort level in playing the game. Quite frankly, I enjoy playing Craps a lot, but the higher buy in inhibits my ability to enjoy the game. 106

107 You will have to examine your own playing style and comfort levels to make these kinds of decisions. I have acquaintances using this system who always buy in for $5,000 or even $10,000 and are reportedly doing well with the system. If you decide to play at this level, the casinos will bend over backwards to accommodate you, for you will be considered a moderate level high roller. If you want to play at this level the choice is yours. But don't feel like you have to play at these levels to benefit from the strategy. I am content with my $1,000 and occasional $2,000 buy ins, as my goal is to make $1,000 a day without playing marathon sessions. If you want to make a lot more, then be my guest. For the sake of considering the possibilities of Super Craps, let's compute what you might win if you played thirty-five hours a week for fifty weeks. We will assume that you begin playing with a $2,500 total bankroll and $500 buy ins. You will increase the size of your buy in as rapidly as possible, using our guidelines of doubling your bankroll before doubling the size of your session stake. As shown below, if you increase your session bankroll to $5,000 per session and then continue to play at this level, your possible earnings are $1,253, per year! 107

108 Calculation of Hypothetical Yearly Earnings Description: Hours of Play: Amount Won: Play to increase bankroll from $2,500 to $25, hours $ 22, Play with $25,000 bankroll 1, hours 1,231, Total 1, hours $1,253, You can play all kinds of games with this data. Your hourly wins will average about $716 per hour. Assuming you put in 250 days, your daily winnings would average a little over $5,000 per day. I am not sure that I could stand to play Craps in this fashion. I know that some of you believe that you could stand almost anything to make over a million bucks in a year. But the reality is that playing Craps nonstop as a business is a very tough way to earn a living. These results must be considered to be theoretical. I have not done this, nor do I know anyone who has. I believe that it is possible, if you have the stamina for it. However, it is possible to win respectable amounts of money with much less than a full time investment in Craps play. Table 11 shows the hypothetical results of different levels of play with different time investments. 108

109 If you are a very casual player and will play no more than thirty-five hours a year, and you would consider winnings of $2,625 per year to be reasonable, then you should play with a $2,500 bankroll and a $500 buy in. If you want to win more for your thirty-five hours at the tables, you should consider using a larger bankroll. With a $5,000 bankroll, your thirty-five hours should be worth $5,250 per year, with a $10,000 bankroll $10,500 per year, $21, 000 a year playing with a $20,000 bankroll and $26,250 a year using a $25,000 bankroll. More hours invested with a higher bankroll equates with a larger win. If you want to win $100,000 or more per year, you will not be able to do it with a $2,500 bankroll unless you want to play more than 500 hours a year. However, if you use a $20,000 bankroll, and play more than 200 hours a year, you should be able to earn over $100,000 a year. 109

110 TABLE 11. HYPOTHETICAL WINNINGS SHOWING PLAYING TIME AND BANKROLL Total Bankroll $2,500 $5,000 $10,000 $20,000 $25,000 Session Buy In $ 500 $1,000 $ 2,000 $ 4,000 $ 5,000 Expected Hourly Win $ 75 $ 150 $ 300 $ 600 $ 750 Hours Played per Year: YEARLY WINNINGS FOR EACH LEVEL OF PLAY 35 hours $ 2,625 $ 5,250 $ 10,500 $ 21,000 $ 26, hours $ 7,500 $15,000 $ 30,000 $ 60,000 $ 75, hours $15,000 $30,000 $ 60,000 $120,000 $150, hours $37,500 $75,000 $150,000 $300,000 $375,000 One thing that should be obvious from this illustration is that the amount of possible winning are directly related to the amount of bankroll and the time spent on the game. Most investors understand these concepts quite well. It is reasonable to expect to earn more on $10,000 invested than on $2,500. Likewise, if $10,000 invested for five years should earn more than the same amount invested for six months. While these truths are obvious to most investors, they are not for many gamblers, and that is why I repeat them. Many gamblers will bring $500 to the casino, hoping to win $5,000. With such high expectations and such a low bankroll, they are almost doomed to lose. 110

111 The Super Craps approach to play forces you to be more patient in your approach to the game. It also emphasizes slow steady winnings. If the win rate seems too slow for you, just review the last two tables in this chapter. Slow doesn't necessarily mean low, it just means that it takes a longer time investment to produce winnings. If you take $2,500 to a casino and play for two hours, don't be surprised if you don't win exactly $150. On my three days of play I started off with a loss. If I had computed my hourly win after two hours, I would have been in the hole. Do not expect to win the exact hourly amounts I have used in the illustrations in this chapter. As you play for longer and longer periods, your average winnings should be close to the averages I have shown you. If they are not, then you are probably not playing the strategy correctly. Also remember that anything can happen for a session or two of Craps. It is possible to lose two sessions back to back, although not likely. If you are in a losing streak, become extra cautious. If never hurts to back off from wagering for a couple of shooters. I am not suggesting that you constantly try to second guess the system. Don't do that. What I am suggesting is that even though the Super Craps approach works very well, you can and will encounter short term losing streaks and you can back off from wagering during one of these periods. I want to show you some variations of betting and strategies for using this system. Before you read further, make sure that you understand the system as presented fairly well. If you can't remember exactly how to use it, I recommend that you review the portions of this book necessary to refresh your memory. 111

112 In the next chapter I will cover betting variations which can make you an even stronger player. 112

113 Variations of Play Matching Betting levels to Your Bankroll You may have gotten the idea that the Super Craps strategy requires a $500 bankroll or higher. Most of my illustrations have been based on using a $500 Session Bankroll because this is my minimum level of play. Once you understand this strategy, I am sure that you will feel the same way. But you may not be comfortable with buying in for $500 to try a system you are learning. Relax. I will show you variations where you can buy in with as little as thirty bucks. The beauty of the Super Craps strategy is that it works for any size bankroll, whether large or small. The Basic Super Craps Strategy entails making Wrong bets, using our bet selection process with the following series of wagers: $10 $25 $50 $60 $80 $125 and $150. During the same session, we will place the 6 and 8 using a series of $6-6, $12-12, $24-24 and $ For this level of wagering we need to buy in for $

114 However, we can use the same approach with as little as $50. Our Wrong betting series becomes: $1 $2 $5 $6 $8 $13 and $15. At this level of betting, we will not be able to make Place bets. They are simply too rich for our bankroll. We can play with $50, $100, $150, $250, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $4,000 and $5,000 buy ins using variations of the size of bets for Wrong and Right betting. But we can't start making Place bets until we have a Session Bankroll of at least $150. And we will need to find a table which uses 25 chips to be able to make Place bets. Only with a bankroll of $500 or higher can we make Place bets at Craps tables with $5 minimum wagers. This is another reason I like to make $500 my minimum buy in. 114

115 However, you are giving up very little if you drop Place betting from the Super Craps strategy. Your hourly winnings will be somewhat smaller, and you will have to endure periods where the shooter is hitting a lot of numbers without participating. But the Wrong Betting side of the strategy is strong enough that you can be very successful using only this part of the strategy. Table 12 shows the bets to be used for different Session Bankrolls. You will notice that no Place bets are made for bankrolls less than $150. With $150 and $250 buy ins, Place bets may be made, but only at tables using 25 chips. Let me explain. TABLE 12. BETS USED FOR DIFFERENT SESSION BANKROLLS Session Bankroll Wrong Betting Series Place Betting Series $ None None , , , ,000 1, , ,250 1,

116 With a buy in of $150 or $250 you may make Place bets. But your minimum bets are $1.50 each on the 6 and 8 with a $150 bankroll, and $3.00 each on the 6 and 8 with a $250 bankroll. These wagers can only be made at tables using 25 chips. There are a number of these tables in downtown Las Vegas and a few on the Las Vegas Strip. If you want to play with a lower buy in and still be able to make Place bets, then you will need to find one of these tables. If you are playing where there are no 25 tables, and you want to play with a lower bankroll, I suggest that you just not worry about making Place bets and not use this part of the strategy until you are able to buy in for $500 or more. You can use Table 12 to compute the Betting Series for additional Session Bankrolls. Say that you want to play with a $750 buy in. You can add the betting series for $500 and $250 buy ins as follows: Buy In Wrong Betting Series $ $ A couple of the bets are a little awkward to use: $38 and $187. You can adjust the new betting series to round these bets off to numbers divisible by five, and therefore capable of being 116

117 made without using dollar chips. To do this we should maintain the integrity of the betting series by adding and subtracting equal amounts to the bets we wish to change, so that the total of all wagers remains the same. Here's how we could do this: Series Betting Series Buy In Computed Series $750 Adjustments +2-2 Adjusted Series $750 Using Table 12, you can construct different betting series geared to different buy ins you may want to use. In addition to constructing the series for $750, like we just did, you may consider betting series for buy ins of $400, $1,250, $1,500, $1,750, $2,500, $3,000 and $3,500. These different levels may be especially helpful if you decide to increase the size of your buy ins in smaller increments than I have suggested. You may start by playing with a $150 buy in and jump to $200 when you have enough winnings to support this level (you need a total bankroll five times the size of your Session Bankroll). From $200 you may want to jump to $250, then $300, then $400 and so on. The possibilities are almost endless, and the only rule you need to remember is to only increase your buy in after you have won enough to support this level of wagering. 117

118 If you use $200 or $300 or other "intermediate" buy in amounts, do not adjust the series used for Place bets. Use the series for the next lowest bankroll level as shown in Table 12. For instance, if you compute the Betting Series for a $300 buy in, you will make Place Bets using the series shown for a $250 buy in. Different Betting Strategies You are not limited to using only a variation of the Betting Series I have shown in the previous discussion. There is another approach to betting which is very effective, and you may like as much or even more than the ones I have shown you. Before we discuss a new Betting Series, you need to understand the concept of a Parlay wager. A Parlay wager is nothing more than a winning wager that we leave up for two consecutive wagers. If we are wagering $10 and win, we will leave our original wager of $10 plus the winnings of $10 up for an additional wager. If we win this wager also, we will have won a total of $30, an amount equal to three times our original wager. Any time a Parlay wager wins, we will have won an amount equal to three times our original wager. The odds of winning two consecutive even-money wagers back to back is approximately 4 to 1, so that we can expect to lose a number of Parlay attempts. In order to utilize the Parlay concept, we will use a Betting Series consisting of eight wagers. Any time we win a wager in the 118

119 series we will attempt to Parlay the original wager plus the winnings. Any time we lose either a wager in the Betting Series or a Parlay wager, we will wager the next higher bet when we make our next wager. If we win a Parlayed wager, we will drop all the way back to the beginning wager in the series for our next wager. So, our betting rules are simple. We will increase our wager one level after losing any wager or parlayed wager. We will start the series over after winning any Parlayed wager. The Betting Series that I like to use is: $10 $10 $12 $25 $25 $50 $50 $100. You will notice that this series has eight wagers in it, compared to our original series of seven wagers. In addition, our highest wager is $100, which is only eight times the size of our first wager of $10. In our original Betting Series, with a first wager of $10 and a last wager of $150, our final wager is fifteen times the size of our first wager. 119

120 But keep in mind that our largest possible wager with this Parlay Betting Series is not $100, but $200. This is the amount we will be called upon to wager if we wager $100 and win and then Parlay the original wager plus the winnings. Table 13 shows each bet in the Parlay Betting Series, the Value of a Parlay Win, the amount we would have lost through losing bets before winning the Parlay bet and the net amount of our winnings after any Parlay win. TABLE 13. WINS WITH A PARLAY BETTING SERIES Betting Series Amount of Parlay Win Cumulative Loss Net Win After Parlay The Parlay Betting Series is very effective and produces a high winning rate per hour. I have found that I seldom have to progress beyond the fourth or fifth level of wager before I win a Parlay. And after any win, I am in a position to either drop back to the lowest wager and start the Betting Series over or count my chips and consider calling the session over. One thing I like about playing the Parlay Betting Series is that it takes only two consecutive wins in order to "win" the series and allow me to reduce my wagers to the lower levels. 120

121 Like the Standard Betting Series, the Parlay Betting Series is used only for Wrong bets and can be adjusted to a number of different bankroll levels. Table 14 shows the Parlay Betting Series to be used for Session Bankrolls ranging from $30 to $3,000. I would not use the Parlay Betting Series with a buy in larger than $3,000 as the largest wager called for at this level of $2,000 (a parlayed wager of $1,000) is at the table limit in most casinos. TABLE 14. PARLAY BETTING SERIES Session Bankroll Parlay Betting Series $ 30* , ,000 * Only use at 25 tables. The lowest level Session Bankroll possible using a Parlay Betting Series is $30. This may be used only at a 25 Craps table as it calls for wagers using 25 chips. On tables where the minimum wager is one dollar and the dollar chip is the minimum value chip used, you may use a Session Bankroll of as low as $

122 Like the Standard Betting Series, you can combine different levels of betting series to compute the bets to be used for different bankroll levels. If you are playing at a $2 minimum table, and want to wager using a $70 buy in, you can compute the Betting Series by doubling the wagers used with a $35 buy in. To compute the wagers for a $450 buy in, add the bets for the $150 and $300 levels. I have not shown the Place bets which may be used with any series of Parlay bets. Here I am going to allow you more flexibility. You can Place bets at any level you want, so long as you add an additional amount to your Session Bankroll to allow for these wagers. The sensible way to add Place Bets, using the Super Craps strategy of only wagering on the 6 and 8 in limited circumstances, is to add an amount somewhat less than the amount allowed for Wrong bets to your Session Bankroll. For example, if the amount required to bet the series of Parlay wagers you have chosen is $300, and if you want to risk a total of $90 on Place bets, then you can buy in for $390, or $400 rounded. Table 15 shows the amounts of additional bankroll you need to add to the Session Bankrolls for the Parlay Betting Series so that you may bet both Wrong (using the Parlay bets) and Right (using the Place Betting series. 122

123 TABLE 15. AMOUNTS NEEDED FOR PLACE BETS Session Bankroll Levels of Place Bets on 6 and 8 $45* * , , * Only use at 25 tables. Assume that you have a total bankroll of $5,000. Dividing it into five parts, you decide to play with a Session Bankroll of $1,000. You have also decided to use the Parlay Betting Series for Wrong betting and the Super Craps Place Betting strategy. You decide that you would like to use the Parlay series with an initial bet of $20 for Wrong betting. Looking at Table 14 you see that this series requires a Session Bankroll of $600. You next decide to use the largest Place Betting series which your $1,000 Session Bankroll can accommodate. Looking at Table 15, you select the series requiring a $360 Session Bankroll. You can now buy in for $1,000 a session and use a maximum of $600 of your buy in for Wrong betting, using a Parlay Betting series, and a maximum of $360 for Right betting, using our Place Betting strategy. The $40 extra buy in is just that extra money because you did not want to buy in for the odd ball amount of $

124 You can mix and match different levels of Wrong and Right betting using Tables 14 and 15. My only caution is to keep the amount of bankroll required for Place betting somewhat less than the amount used for Wrong betting. I caution this, not because the Place betting strategy is more risky, but because it wins more slowly than the Wrong betting strategy. I believe that you will enjoy higher wins for your time investment when you load the betting in favor of the Wrong bets. Playing With a Partner The thought of playing craps with a partner may not have ever occurred to you, but it is an excellent way to increase your chances of winning. With a partner, even if you have a loss, your partner can win the session, increasing your chances of winning overall. The Parlay Betting Series works well for two partners. However, we do not want to have both partners betting in the exact same manner. This would negate most of the benefits of 124

125 partnership play. Instead we will modify the way in which we select our wagers. If you can't remember the original rules for selecting wrong bets, they are summarized on pages 49 to 51. Partner A will always start out making a Don't Pass bet. However, if the shooter rolls a Come-Out 7, he will switch to betting Don't Come for his next wager. He will limit his losses to two losses per shooter. Assume that Partner A chooses the $300 Parlay Betting Series, with the wagers of $ His first wager of $10 will be Don't Pass, which must be made before a Come-Out roll. Let's say this first wager loses to a Come-Out 7. He does not bet on the next Come-Out roll, but waits until the shooter has established a point, then bets the second wager in the betting series of $10 on Don't Come. Assume that the shooter sevens out in a couple rolls, causing a win for the Don't Come wager. Partner A is now ready to Parlay his winning wager, making a bet of $20. But he will stay with a Don't Come bet for his Parlay attempt. We add another rule that a Parlay wager will always be made on the same pattern which resulted in the original wager winning. If we win a Don't Pass wager, we will Parlay it betting Don't Pass. If we win a Don't Come wager, we will Parlay it on Don't Come. So after the shooter establishes a point, Partner A wagers $20 on Don't Come. The shooter rolls three more times and a 7 shows. Partner A wins his Parlay wager! 125

126 Having won a Parlay wager, he will begin his betting series at the lowest level wager with the next shooter. Even though he just won betting Don't Come, he wagers $10 on Don't Pass, because he always begins wagering Don't Pass and sticks with this pattern of betting until a shooter rolls a Come-Out 7. Suppose that the next shooter rolls a 5 as a point and a couple of rolls later repeats the number. The Don't Pass bet loses. Because the loss did not occur due to a Come-Out 7, Partner A makes another Don't Pass wager. However, having lost one wager to this shooter, he is now wary. This is the last wager he will risk on this shooter. Our wagering rules limit our losses to a maximum of two regular wagers per shooter. A loss of a Parlay bet is not counted as a loss, so we will only stop betting on a shooter after losing two regular bets. Here are the rules which Partner A will use for betting Wrong: 1. Unless he is parlaying a Don't Come win, his first bet will always be on Don't Pass. 2. The maximum number of losses per shooter are two regular wagers. If he loses two wagers on one shooter, he will stop wagering until the shooter sevens out. 3. To reduce the impact of Come-Out sevens on his Don't Pass wagers, any time he loses his first Don't Pass wager against a shooter to a Come-Out 7, his second wager against this shooter will be on Don't Come. 126

127 4. A winning pattern is not to be broken. Parlay wagers are always made on the same side as the original winning wager. A winning Don't Come bet is parlayed on the Don't Come side. Partner B will play with similar rules with the major difference being that Partner B will always make Don't Come wagers. Here are the betting rules which Partner B will use: 1. He will always wager Don't Come. 2. The maximum number of losses per shooter are two regular wagers. If he loses two wagers on one shooter he will stop wagering until the shooter sevens out. I have played with a partner on a number of occasions. The system I have described is very effective. When you are playing with a partner, one of the partners inevitably hits a winning streak where almost every bet wins. After one of these streaks ends is an excellent time to call a session over. With partnership play, good wins can be generated even if one of the partner's results is mediocre. 127

128 Playing with a partner is a powerful way to play and something you should consider. Instead of your spouse or other companion spending time at slot machines or some other pursuit, you can enlist them and become a craps team. In addition to increasing your prospects of winning you will gain a major ally in your quest to beat the casinos and possibly enjoy the game even more! 128

129 What it Takes to Win To win takes guts, knowledge, bankroll, discipline and patience. Notice that I didn't mention timing or luck in this list. You don't have to be in the right place at the right time to win. You don't have to catch that once-in-a-lifetime "hot roll." You don't have to be smart to win. You don't need a formal education. You don't even need much money to start winning. If you have the guts, the knowledge, the bankroll (even a small one), the discipline and the patience to do it, you can start winning tomorrow. Guts I doesn't take much guts to walk into a casino. Casinos are filled with dorks and losers. That's how they make their money. What takes guts is knowing when to walk out of a casino. The average player plays until one of two events happens. He or she either runs out of money or out of time. 129

130 The out of money part is easy to understand, although it shouldn't be a part of your approach to gambling. Your pattern of play is to continue doing or not doing whatever it is that you are trying to do until the casino takes all of your money. Then it's pretty easy to make the decision to quit. It's a no brainer. You let the casino make the decision for you. The other prevalent approach is to play on a time schedule. "I have two hours for craps, and by God I am going to play craps for two hours." This "schedule" approach to playing is frequently interrupted by the "I am out of money" event, which, of course, overrides the arbitrary time schedule. There are many variations of these two themes. You can play until not only have you lost all of the money you brought, but have exhausted loans from friends, credit card advances and have hocked your jewelry and your automobile. I would call this plan the "lose all of your money at once" plan. Or you may stretch the time schedule approach, by missing your plane flight, and as a side benefit, putting your marriage in jeopardy. With either of these approaches or of the many variations out of control gamblers invent every day, something or someone other than yourself is calling the shots. You might as well face the facts. If you play like this, you are a gutless gambler and you will never win consistently. Not with my system. Not with the next system you decide to try. Not ever. 130

131 And, if you fall into one or both of these playing styles, and you lose, which I know you will, you will blame everyone in the world but yourself. But you know who to blame don't you. It's you. Super Craps is a very good strategy for winning. In case I haven't mentioned it, I use it all the time and win very consistently. But I can't just put the system on "automatic pilot" and expect to win. The system will help me win, but only if I supply the other ingredients necessary to win. The first ingredient you need to add to your understanding of the Super Craps strategy is the guts to walk out of the casino on your terms. I mentioned that I like to play for a target win of $1,000 a day. Do you think that this just happens? The casino is sure not 131

132 going to tell me, "Sam, you better leave now, you just hit your $1,000 win." If anything, the casino is going to make it easier for me to stay. Because they know the secret of winning. Make sure no one is peeking over your shoulder. I am going to tell you the casino's secret weapon that makes 95% of all gamblers losers. It's not the house edge or vig. In a game like craps, where there are bets giving the casino a little over a one percent edge, the vig doesn't ever come into play until the long run. It's not the speed of the game, or the fact that the house has a lot of bucks and can wait out your temporary forays into its bankroll. And it's not because the casino cheats you. It doesn't have to. The casino wins because most players don't know when to walk. They don't have the guts to walk out of the casino when they are ahead. And they don't have the guts or the discipline to walk out when they are losing. Remember when I told you that I won 86% of my sessions in my three day marathon of playing Super Craps? You may have thought, "Wow, that's great, he wins nearly all the time." And you would have been partially right. I do win nearly all the time. But the losses are tough. They are discouraging. They make me mad at myself for having a loss. They sometimes make my blood boil. I want to get that money back as soon as possible. But I don't try. I will walk away from the table after I hit a predetermined loss amount during a session. 132

133 And what about wins? I like to win. One of the reasons I use the Super Craps strategy is that the wins come so regularly. But once I have a win, I recognize that it can be a fleeting thing. As long as I am at the tables, my money is in jeopardy. So, I set a predetermined win amount before I begin playing. And when I hit this amount, I walk away from the table. With the Super Craps strategy, the amount of your Session Bankroll determines your loss limit, so long as you adhere to the buy in guidelines I have shown you. If you lose your Session Bankroll, you walk. You don't reach in your pocket and pull out another Session Bankroll. You don't even pull out another hundred bucks just so you can keep playing. You walk. I like to use a Target Win equal to one-third of my Session Bankroll. If I buy in for $100, I will leave when I am $30 to $35 ahead. If my buy in is for $2,000, I will be looking to take a break when my winnings are between $600 and $700 dollars. While there is no question that the loss of a Session Bankroll is a clear signal to take a break, sometimes the Target Win is not as clear. What if you are well over one-third of your buy in ahead and the wins are still coming? What you do is continue playing until you lose a bet or two. Then you pull off. Another tougher call is the game where you have been gaining, but slowly and with lots of ups and downs. Here I will not wait until I have hit my Target Profit. Quit after you have just won a larger wager. 133

134 The essential rule for pulling off the table is to leave after a loss or after your target win has been hit. The rule is simple. But it takes guts to pull it off. Knowledge I have seen people walk up to the craps table and start making wagers and then casually ask the dealer "How does this bet work?" If you don't understand the game, don't play. I have reviewed the craps game in this manual. If you have played the game before, you probably found this review simplistic. If you have never played the game, you undoubtedly found the game confusing. Before you risk real money, you have got to understand the game. And you will never learn the game if you confine your studies to reading about it. You have got to learn how to play the game by actually playing it. There are several ways to go about this. If you want a simulated experience, you can buy one of the little craps layouts sold in the gift shops where gaming occurs. If you are computer literate, you can practice on one of the casino software packages where craps is included. But if you really want to learn the game, you have got to invest some time playing it. But your play doesn't have to be haphazard or cost you money. 134

135 I have shown you versions of Super Craps where as little as $30 can be used to play a session. This is the level where you should start your play. Learn about the bets, the rhythm, the feel of the craps game. Watch the other players. Even the ones who sign markers for five hundred bucks a whack don't know as much as you do. They just have a feel for the game. Watch how often these folks sign for new markers. Their money goes fast, doesn't it. Enjoy the cadence of a good stickman. Watch the boxman settle a dispute with a player. Watch the chips get raked in by the dealers when the shooter sevens out. Learn the payoffs on the bets you will make. Don't Pass and Don't Come pay even money, so this isn't much of a challenge. But the six and eight placed pay off at 7 to 6. If your 135