Plenty of gamblers claim that they’re winning craps players, but are they telling the truth? If you play craps like most gamblers, the math says that you can’t win in the long run. But there are some things that you might be able to do to help.

Here’s a list of six ways you can play craps that can help you win. Part of this article deals with things you need to know and art of it deals with things that you need to do when you play craps.

Even if you don’t figure out how to win, there’s little doubt that you’re going to learn how to improve your results when playing craps for real money.

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Know the Craps Numbers of Importance

You only need to know two numbers when you play craps to make the best betting decisions. These two numbers are called the return to player and the
casino house edge.

The craps return to player number is the percentage of a wager that you win back, on average, when you make the wager. The edge is the percentage that you lose, on average, on each wager.

The best craps bet options have the highest return percentage and the lowest edge, and the worst craps wagers are the ones that have the lowest return numbers and highest edge. As it turns out, you only need to know about a few wager options because most of them are terrible.

Here are the numbers for the best wagers at the craps table:

BetReturnEdge
Don’t Pass98.64%1.36%
Pass98.59%1.41%
Odds100%0%
Place 6 or 898.48%1.52%

Understand How Every Craps Result Is Derived

Before you make a bet at the craps table you need to understand how each possible result is derived. Craps results come from the total of two dice. Knowing that each die has 6 possible results, you can use this information to determine the likelihood of any result from 2 to 12.

The reason why rolling a 2 or 12 is hard is because there’s only one combination of the dice that produces either result. You have to roll a 1 on each die to roll a 2 or a 6 on each die to roll a 12. While there’s only one way to roll a 10 with a 5 on each die, you can also roll a 10 with a 4 on the first die and a 6 on the second or a 6 on the first and 4 on the second. This means there are three combinations to roll a 10, so a 10 is 3 times more likely than a 2 or a 12.

Here are the numbers for combinations that produce each total in craps:

  • 1 combination produces either a 2 or a 12
  • 2 combinations produce either a 3 or an 11
  • 3 combinations produce either a 4 or a 10
  • 4 combinations produce either a 5 or a 9
  • 5 combinations produce either a 6 or an 8
  • 6 combinations produce a 7

Gambling Odds Verses the Odds

Using the information in the last section you can determine the odds of particular totals coming up or particular combinations of the dice coming up. In total, there are 36 possible outcomes of rolling 2 dice.

The odds of a particular roll, like a 1 on each die, are 1 out of 36. The odds of rolling a 7 are 6 out of 36, or 1 out of 6.

You need to consider the odds when you decide which bets to make when you play craps.

For example, if you make a place bet on the 8, you win if an 8 is rolled before a 7, and lose when a 7 is rolled before an 8. The odds on this bet are 6 to 5, because there are 6 chances of rolling a 7 and 5 chances of rolling an 8.

This is only one type of odds. The other type, and it’s just as important if not more important, is the bet called the odds. You learned why the odds wager is so important in the first section. It has a 100% return and no edge for the casino.

The odds wager is an important tool that every smart craps gambler uses. Any bet you can make with a 100% return is a bet that you should make at every opportunity.

Do Bonuses and Casino Comps Help Craps Players?

Craps players can use bonuses in mobile and online casinos and earn casino comps for their play in live casinos. Both of these things look and sound good, but does either of them really help?

Comps are firmly on the side of being beneficial. As long as you don’t alter the way you play carps or play longer than normal because of the comps, there’s never a good reason not to get them. While it’s not quite the same as free money, it is the same as receiving free benefits and/or things.

Craps bonus offers aren’t as clear cut. The question isn’t whether a craps bonus gives you a bigger bankroll to play with. This isn’t in question, because it does give you a bigger bankroll.

The question is if a craps bonus does anything that helps you win? A craps bonus doesn’t help you win because it doesn’t change the return or edge. You can use craps bonus offers for bankroll purposes, but don’t expect them to change your long term results at the craps table.

Does Doubling Up Work in Craps?

A gambling trick or system that’s been around for years is to double the size of your bet after a loss. These wagers are traditionally made on bets that pay even money or 1 to 1.

For example, you make a $20 bet on the pass line and when you win you get your $20 back and a $20 win. If you lose, your next bet is $40. You keep doubling your bet after a loss, and when you win you go back to making a $20 wager.

When you win you always have an overall profit of $20 in this example. This is true even if you had to double several times. You start at $20 and lose and bet $40 and lose and bet $80 and win. Your bets total $140, but you get back $160 when you win the $80 bet, for a $20 win overall.

This sounds like the perfect craps system, and that’s why some gamblers try it. This usually gives you some profits in the short term, but it always ends in disaster. You always run into a string of losses that destroys your bankroll, and even if you don’t, the table has a maximum bet amount that stops you from making huge wagers.

You simply can’t make a profit playing craps using the double up strategy.

See if Dice Control Is Real or Not

I’m going to be 100% up front with you before I talk about dice control. I don’t believe that it works. I believe that if you could make it work it can change the return of craps. But I’ve never found proven evidence that it works, just a lot of yelling and claims that aren’t backed by facts.

The basics of dice control are simple. You set the dice the same way every time, hold them using a particular grip, and throw them exactly the same on every roll. By doing this you can supposedly control the results of your rolls.

If you can control the results of your rolls you can make a lot of money playing craps. Even if you can only control the outcomes of a small percentage of your craps rolls you can erase the casino edge.

This is why I recommend finding out if dice control is real or not. Do your own research and try the techniques out. I’m happy to be proven wrong, but I’m not holding my breath.

Win More Playing Casino Craps

You only need to know two important numbers when you think about craps strategy. When you know the edge and return for every bet option you know exactly what you need to do and what you need to avoid.

It’s also important to understand how craps results are derived. Most people don’t really understand how dice works and how the odds work. Speaking of odds, there are 2 different types of odds in craps and you need to know the difference.

Bonuses and comps can help, but they don’t do much. Doubling up can help in the short term, but is deadly over the long run.

Easiest way to lose at craps is by shaking the dice and throwing it down the craps table

You've seen this in movies/tv a million times.
The guy asks the pretty girl next to him to kiss the dice.
Then for some reason he shakes the dice real good - making sure the dice are purely random.
Then with a loud holler, wails the dice across the craps table - going all over the place.
If ever there was a way to just donate money to the casino - this is it.

Why is randomly shaking dice so bad? Why will you never win at craps in the long term?

To put it simply? You're ensuring that the natural probability of the dice will occur.
(Huh? That's 'simply'?)

Let me explain... Craps strategies that work

Casinos have paid lots of money to genius mathematicians to assure casinos always win

No matter how you play craps, the 7 is always beneficial to the casino and detrimental to the player.
Why?

How To Win In Craps


Because the number 7 will come up more than any other number when the dice are rolled randomly.
So, if you play the Pass Line, then 7 only helps you during the Come Out Roll.
After the point is made - the 7 has more chances to come up than the point (or any other number).
And if you play the Don't Pass (DP/Darkside), then the 7 has more chances to kill your bet during the Come Out.
(Check out the Dice Rolling Probability chart on this website for a more in-depth explanation.
Add to this the fact that the casinos take a chunk of your winnings - and you have no hope of winning at craps
by shaking the dice as if you were playing Maracas, or something.
Yes, they take a chunk - it's how they make sure they always win.
For example, you're supposed to win $10 when you bet $5 on a 4 or 10.
But if you're Placing the number, you only get paid $9. They keep the $1.
You're probably thinking '$1? Who cares?'. Well the more you play, the more the casino eats away at your money.
When you lose, the casino takes the whole thing. When they win, they keep a portion. No way to beat that, right?

The only way to beat craps is to know the 'Loop Hole' - enter Dice Control

Well, you can't exactly control the dice. I like how the Dice Coach refers to it - Dice Influence.
The 'Loop Hole' is the fact that the casino makes money from craps as long as the dice are perfectly random.
This is how their mathematicians made their calculations.
But what they didn't take into consideration is the possibility that if even one face of the dice never comes up -
the game of craps can be beat.
And how is this accomplished? The magical word is consistency.

Dice Consistency 101 - a few tips for beginners

That's the term I use with my students.
I believe it more accurately describes the goal than either Dice Control or Dice Influence
Here's a few tips you can use to start seeing a little difference in your dice rolling:
  • Learn Dice Setting and choose one set to start with
    A good beginner set is the Hard Ways. This is a good set for visual feedback
  • Keep the dice square on the table, parallel to, and facing the backwall
  • Before tossing the dice, visually choose a spot a few inches from the backwall to land your dice on.
    From now on, you'll do everything you can to hit that spot as often as you can
  • Gently toss the dice, as if trying to 'swish' a basketball through a hoop.
    • When you're hand is 3/4 through the toss, spring open your hand - letting go of the dice
    • Make sure the dice are level in the air - not twisting around in weird directions
    • Spinning backward or forward is fine. Try to keep the dice looking as if they were glued together in the air
  • Observe how the dice land, react to the backwall, and how much they keep rolling after touching the backwall.
    I say touching the backwall, because you don't want to slam the dice into those pyramids.
  • Take a mental note of what the dice show when they come to a stop.
    If you're noticing that the dice are now rolling a certain combination more often - you're on your way
Keep in mind that if you roll a 6 twice in a row - it means little if one combination was 4+2 and the second one was 5+1. Just keep adjusting your throw to make sure the dice land softly on target, lightly touch the backwall,
and comes to a complete stop as quickly as possible (no bouncing around all over the craps table).

A quick check to see if you're still random

An easy way to tell if you're still random is if you're throwing all kinds of 7's.

How To Win In Craps Every Time

For example, if you keep shooting a 6+1, but no 5+2's - this is good.

How To Win In Craps Every Time


You may have limited the 5+2 from showing up together.
When you set your hardway set, move the 6 to either the 5 or 2 spot.

Win Every Time At Craps

Keep setting your dice this way, and see if it helps.
If not, then readjust.
Repeat this process till you limit the kinds of 7's you see.

How To Win In Craps At The Casino

If you can accomplish this - you're on your way to a few longer rolls, which equates to more possible wins!