Craps Noobie

[Homer]

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Heading to vegas and want to play some craps for fun. I have played craps once and felt like a total donkey as i had no idea what was going on. What do i need to know to play? What are the best bets? What are the odds differences that always get talked about? Thanks in advance

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Go to Casino Royale or another place that offers $1 tables. Place $1 (or whatever the minimum is if it isn't a $1 table) on the pass line. If the shooter doesn't roll a 7 or 11 (you win immediately) or a 2, 3, or 12 (you lose immediately), place more money behind your original bet up to whatever bet size you're comfortable with. Then, root for the shooter to roll his number again before he rolls a 7. If he does, you win. If he doesn't, you lose. Rinse, repeat until you're sufficiently drunk or go broke.

[CORed]

As a pracitcal note, if you make an odds bet, make sure it is a multiple of $5 if the point is 6 or 8, and an even number if it is 5 or 9. The odds bet pays 6:5 for 6 or 8, and it pays 3:2 for 5 or 9. At most tables, they don't have anything smaller than $1 chips, and they will short you the change if you make a bet that can't be paid out in even dollars. The odds bet on 4 or 10 pays 2:1, so change shouldn't be an issue. You want to find a game with the lowest minimum pass line bet and highest allowed odds that you can.

[theghost]

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As a pracitcal note, if you make an odds bet, make sure it is a multiple of $5 if the point is 6 or 8, and an even number if it is 5 or 9. The odds bet pays 6:5 for 6 or 8, and it pays 3:2 for 5 or 9. At most tables, they don't have anything smaller than $1 chips, and they will short you the change if you make a bet that can't be paid out in even dollars. The odds bet on 4 or 10 pays 2:1, so change shouldn't be an issue. You want to find a game with the lowest minimum pass line bet and highest allowed odds that you can.

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And if you place the 6 or 8 (or both), bet in multiples of 6 because they pay 7:6.

Mason's book is a good no nonsense primer. He recommends taking the odds (ie don't put $10 on the pass line, make it five and then take the odds).

[dandy_don]

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As a pracitcal note, if you make an odds bet, make sure it is a multiple of $5 if the point is 6 or 8, and an even number if it is 5 or 9. The odds bet pays 6:5 for 6 or 8, and it pays 3:2 for 5 or 9. At most tables, they don't have anything smaller than $1 chips, and they will short you the change if you make a bet that can't be paid out in even dollars. The odds bet on 4 or 10 pays 2:1, so change shouldn't be an issue. You want to find a game with the lowest minimum pass line bet and highest allowed odds that you can.

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Agreed--Fitzgerald's in Tunica has a sweet $3 minimum bet with a 20x odds. My wife plays quite often and I'll sit back and watch.

Friday night, we watched (just came back from the buffet using our comp from our earlier play) as one person rolled for 56 minutes without busting out (we witnessed the last 15 minutes); he turned his orignal $50 into $4600 and many of the others cashed with similar results. As you can imagine, it was a very excited table--makes for a great game. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[theghost]

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As you can imagine, it was a very excited table--makes for a great game.

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This is why craps > bj