How to Play Craps Using Optimal Strategy

Learning how to play Craps can be a challenging task for a novice gambler, but it is well worth taking the time to learn the rules and strategies of Craps. When played with an optimal strategy, Craps is one the best bets you can make at a casino. Of course, learning optimal strategy is contingent on having a good understanding of the rules - in this article we will teach you how to play Craps.

Casino Craps is a dice game where you play against the house. Bets are placed hoping to predict the outcome of the dice, and depending on the odds of the number chosen, you can receive up to a 30:1 payout. The basic rules of the game can be explained as follows:

The person throwing the dice (known as the shooter) needs to throw a 7 or 11 to win, or a 2,3 or 12 to lose. If any other number is thrown, that becomes the point. The shooter continues to roll the dice until they either throw a 7, or the point, after which a new betting round commences. At both stages of the betting round there are a number of bets you can make on the outcome of the dice roll, although it is important to familiarize yourself which bets are good and which are bad. Craps bets carry a house edge between 0% and 16%, so knowing which bets to eliminate and which to focus your play style on makes a huge difference.

Playing with optimal Craps Strategy is actually quite simple once you are familiar with the different types of bets, as you should only be playing with two different kinds of bets. Betting either the Pass Line or Don't Pass Line bet, in conjunction with the Odds on Pass Line or Odds on Don't Pass Line bet reduces the house edge and give you the best chance of coming out with a profit. When at a casino you will often see veteran players making all sorts of bets, but this is not the optimal way to play. Many veteran Craps play end up playing with intuition and luck, but chances are they are losing more than they are winning in the big picture.

Pass Line and Don't Pass Line bets carry a house edge of 1.36% and 1.41% respectively, while Odds Bets carry no house edge. These bets give a 50/50 chance to win - there are very few bets in casinos that carry these kinds of odds, so these are bets you need to take advantage of. To start with, you should always start the betting round with a Pass Line Bet. If a point is set (by rolling anything other than a 2, 3, 7, 11, or 12), you can then make an odds bet that the shooter will make the point before throwing a seven. In most casinos you can bet 2x odds, which means you can place a wager up to twice your initial Pass Line bet - to play with optimal Craps strategy you also play with the max allowed odds, or max odds.