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Fifteen Tips for Playing Craps for Real Money
Craps is one of the most exciting games around, with a colourful history and language all of its own. It can also give you a very low house edge – or a very high one, depending on which bets you make. And there are so many different bets at your disposal. If you’re trying to figure out how to win in Craps, it’s all about making smart decisions at the betting table. Here are a collection of tips to help you navigate your way around the table the next time you play Craps for real money at Bodog Casino.
Size Your Bets Appropriately
Before you get into the different types of bets to make, apply some smart bankroll management by dividing your roll into units, maybe 100, maybe 200 – it all depends how long you want to play and how much action you’re looking for. Bet smaller if you want to take a chance on the wagers that carry the higher house edges.
Bet the Don’t Pass/Don’t Come
Of all the basic bets you can make at the Craps table, the Don’t Pass/Don’t Come bets have the lowest house edge at 1.36%. Not as many players choose this wager since you’re betting on the shooter to “lose” the roll, but you don’t have to worry about confronting superstitious players when you play Craps online.
The Don’t Pass bar can be found along the left-hand side of the betting layout. This bet wins when the come-out roll is a 2 or 3, loses when it’s a 7 or 11, and ties when it’s a 12. Any other number becomes a Point, which starts a series of rolls that continues until you re-roll the Point number and lose your bet, or roll a 7 and win.
The Don’t Come bet has the same rules as the Don’t Pass bet (wins on 2 and 3, loses on 7 or 11, ties on 12), but you can only place the Don’t Come once a Point has been established. When you place a Don’t Come bet, it acts as though the following roll is another come-out roll, prompting a mini round.
Bet the Pass/Come
At 1.41%, the house edge for these bets is only slightly larger than the Don’t Pass, so if you still don’t feel right betting against the shooter (which is you when you play online Craps for real money at Bodog), or you just want to keep things fresh and make some different plays, these standard bets are the way to go. We’ll explain how each one works.
In order to bet on the Pass Line, locate the “Pass Line” bar that runs along the bottom of the table, and bet anywhere between $1 and $100. This bet wins when the come-out roll is a 7 or 11. It loses when the come-out roll is a 2, 3 or 12. Anything else establishes a Point number, which requires you to keep rolling the dice until you either re-roll the Point number, which is a win, or roll a 7, which is a loss. The payout is even-money.
The come bet initiates a second round within the primary round. Once you bet on it, the following dice roll is a second come-out roll, and the rules for the Come are identical to those of the Pass bet (i.e. you win when the come-out roll is a 7 or 11, and lose if it’s a 2, 3 or 12). Any other number establishes a Point, which initiates a series of rolls that continue until you reroll the Point and win, or roll a 7 and lose. This bet pays even-money.
Take and Lay Odds
These “side bets” have zero house edge attached, but first, you have to place one of the bets already mentioned. You can take (or “buy”) Odds after placing a Pass Line bet, and you can lay Odds after placing a Don’t Pass bet. In either case, the side bet can be up to three times the size of your original wager, so take that into account when you’re managing your bankroll.
Playing the field is one way to capture bigger payouts than what you’d get by sticking to the primary bets. These one-time bets can be placed at any time and win when the next roll is a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12. A roll of 5, 6, 7 or 8 is a loss. These bets should be sprinkled in with your Don’t Pass/Odds bets when the casino offers one of the two following payout structures:
Payout Structure No. 1
1:1 payout on a 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11
2:1 payout on a 2
3:1 payout on 12
Payout Structure No. 2
1:1 payout on a 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11
2:1 payout on a 12
3:1 payout on 2
As long as there is both a 2:1 and 3:1 payout offered, such as what you’d find at Bodog Casino, the house edge for these bets is 2.78%, which is pretty much the same as European Roulette. A version that doesn’t offer that 3:1 payout, instead paying 2:1 for both 12 and 2, collects a house edge of 5.56% on the field.
You’ll run into some pretty steep house edges with some of the other bets on the Craps layout, but if you stick with the Place 6 and Place 8 wagers, the edge is only 1.52%. With Place 6, you’re betting that a 6 will be rolled before a 7; same goes for the Place 8 bet. Both pay 7:6. These bets are made during the come-out roll, and will continue to “work” until you take them off of the table or the round ends.
Don’t mix up the Place 6 and 8 with the Big 6 and 8. The latter is also a bet that either the 6 or 8 (whichever one you bet on) will be rolled before a 7 (so the odds are the same), but the payout is different. The Big 6 and 8 pay 1:1, which makes for a house edge of 9.09%.
Rolling a number the “hard way” means rolling it with identical numbers on both dice. Almost everyone is familiar with the nickname for rolling 2 the hard way (snake eyes); when you roll matching 2’s, you get a ballerina, 3’s are referred to as a Brooklyn forest, 4’s are a square pair, and 5’s are puppy paws. Hardway bets pay when you roll the number selected with matching numbers on both dice and lose if you roll the number the “easy way,” or roll a 7. Keep rolling until you resolve the bet in one of those three ways.
At Bodog Casino, Hardway bets award the following payouts:
Hard 4- 7:1
Hard 6- 9:1
Hard 8- 9:1
Hard 10-7:1
In Craps, non-proposition bets require you to keep rolling the dice until you hit specified numbers, whereas a proposition bet is resolved with one roll. Field bets are a popular proposition bet, but there are plenty more, including Any 7, Any Craps, Craps-2, Craps-3, Craps-12, Any 11, Craps (C), and Eleven (E).
To make the best decisions at the Craps table, you need to know which bets have the best odds and payouts. We’ve compiled this information for our most popular bets into the following chart.
| Bet | Odds of Winning | Payout |
| Pass/Come | 49.29% |
1:1 |
| Taking Odds 6&8 | 13.89% | 6:5 |
| Taking Odds 5&9 | 11.11% | 3:2 |
| Taking Odds 4&10 | 8.33% | 2:1 |
| Don't Pass/ Don't Come | 47.93% | 1:1 |
| Laying Odds 6&8 | 16.67% | 5:6 |
| Laying Odds 5&9 | 16.67% | 2:3 |
| Laying Odds 4&10 | 16.67% | 1:2 |
| Place to Win 6&8 | 13.89% | 7:6 |
| Place to Win 5&9 | 11.11% | 7:5 |
| Place to Win 4&10 | 8.33% | 9:5 |
| Place to Lose 6&8 | 16.67% | 4:5 |
| Place to Lose 5&9 | 16.67% | 5:8 |
| Place to Lose 4&10 | 16.67% | 5:11 |
| Buy 6&8 | 13.89% | 144:125 |
| Buy 5&9 | 11.11% | 36:25 |
| Buy 4&10 | 8.33% | 48:25 |
| Lay 6&8 | 16.67% | 12:15 |
| Lay 5&9 | 16.67% | 16:25 |
| Lay 4&10 | 16.67% | 12:25 |
| Big 6 | 27.8% | 1:1 |
| Big 8 | 27.8% | 1:1 |
Out of all the bets mentioned in this guide, the best bet in Craps is the Don’t Pass Line combined with the Odds. You can’t find a better deal than the zero-house edge Odds bet, so it makes sense to target your focus on this bet. In order to access the Odds, you need to bet on the Pass or Don’t Pass Line, and since the Don’t Pass Line has a lower house edge than the Pass Line, the best betting combination is Don’t Pass plus Odds. Try them for free using the Practice Play mode, and when you’re ready for the real thing, switch gears and play Craps for real money. You’ll be rolling the bones like a pro in no time.
