7 Sad Facts About Playing Craps

Every time I go in a casino and hear what sounds like a wild family party I know there’s a busy craps table. Craps players seem to be having the best time in the casino. But does having fun mean craps is the best game to play?

This depends on what your main goal is when you’re gambling. If having fun is more important than winning, craps might be the best game for you. But if winning is more important than fun, this is 1 of the sad facts about craps.

Learn more about this in the 7 sad facts about craps that I cover in this article.

1 – Odds Requirement

The absolute best wager in most casinos is the odds bet at the craps table. It’s the only wager that the casino offer that has a 100% return to player number.

When a wager has a 100% return to player it means that you’re going to break even in the long run. Casinos are in business to make money, so they don’t offer fair odds on any other game or wager. The return to player number never reaches 100% with normal play.

So why does the casino offer a bet at the craps table that’s better than any other wager option? And why doesn’t this make real money craps the best option for casino gamblers?

The answer to these questions comes from the way you have to place an odds wager. The rules of the odds wager are that you have to place a come out wager and a point get set before you can place the odds bet.

Both of the available come out roll wagers have a return to player number less than 100%, so even though the odds wager is at fair odds, you still can’t get close to 100% return overall.

The reason why the odds wager doesn’t make craps the best option for casino gamblers is because the overall return to player number with a come out roll and the odds combined is still worse than some other options in the casino.

Games that can offer a better return to player number include baccarat, blackjack, and video poker. These are games you should investigate if you’re looking for the best return to player numbers.

2 – Limited Strategy

Usually the casino games that let you use the most strategy offer a higher return to layer number than games where strategy doesn’t influence the outcome of the game. Craps does have a limited strategy that you can use, but it’s not very in depth.

The only strategy you can use when you play craps is to make the don’t pass come out roll wager and take odds when a point gets set. The complete strategy is to only use these 2 wager options and ignore everything else.

The long term return to player using this gambling strategy is 98.64%. Any other wager you make lowers the return to player number.

Some craps players believe that you can use dice control to make the return to player number higher. I address this in the final section in this article.

3 – All But Two Wagers Are Terrible

I touched on this in the last section, but all but 2 wagers at the craps table are terrible. The don’t pass line is the best option, but the pass line isn’t too bad. And of course, the odds wager is the best bet.

The return to player for a pass line wager is 98.59%, which is only .05% worse than the don’t pass. Many craps players use the pass line because they believe that a don’t pass wager is working against the other players at the table.

This is a ridiculous belief, because what you bet on has nothing to do with any of the other players. But if you want to play your come out rolls the same way as the rest of the table you can use pass line and it’s not going to hurt you too much.

If you look up the return to player numbers for every other craps wager you can see that none of them are as good as the 2 come out roll wagers. And most of them are considerably worse. This is why the strategy I introduced in the previous section is the only strategy to use.

4 – Boring If You Play Right

Now that you know the best way to play craps you know that you’re going to spend a lot of time waiting for points to be resolved while not making any new wagers. This is the opposite of how most craps players play the game.

Most craps players make wagers on every roll because they like the action. You can’t afford to fall in love with the action if you want to have the best chance to win.

You have to stick with a come out roll and the odds. And then wait for the point to resolve before making another wager. This can quickly get boring, especially when everyone else at the table is placing wagers and having fun.

If you want to make all kinds of wagers when you play craps, don’t play for real money. Mobile or online casinos let you play free craps, and you can make any wagers you want. This doesn’t always give players the same feel that they get when they play for real money, but when you’re playing for real money you have to stick with the right wagers or your bankroll is going to suffer more than it needs to.

5 – Online Play Is Even More Boring

Playing craps the right way is boring. And it gets even more boring when you play online or mobile craps. Part of the reason why many gamblers enjoy craps is for the excitement of playing with other gamblers around the table.

When you play mobile or online craps you simply can’t get the same level of excitement. And this isn’t even the worst thing about playing mobile and online craps.

The worst thing about playing mobile and online craps is that the game plays faster than when you play at a live casino. Instead of waiting for the dice to be collected and rolled, all you have to do is hit a button.

This might seem like a good thing, but the problem is that it means that you make more wagers every hour than when you play craps in a live casino.

More wagers means that you’re risking more money. And when you risk more money playing craps, you end up losing more money over time.

You do have a couple ways to help offset this, but they don’t make online and mobile craps any less boring. The first thing to do is make smaller wagers. The second thing to do is slow down the speed of your play. You control how fast you play mobile and online craps, so take advantage of the opportunity to play slower.

6 – Not for Shy Gamblers

Playing craps in a casino isn’t for shy gamblers. Craps players tend to be loud and outgoing. They cheer for each other and seem to be as interested in the social aspect of the game as the game itself.

This isn’t a great environment for shy gamblers. If you’re not comfortable around a bunch of loud and outgoing people, you’re not going to be comfortable at a craps table.

7 – Dice Control Isn’t Real

If you could learn how to control the dice when you throw them, even a little bit, you could make the return to player number higher. You might even be able to push them past 100%.

This is the promise that people who push the idea of dice control are selling. But the problem is that these people are selling a lie.

Casinos aren’t worried about dice control because it doesn’t work. You can’t throw the dice and hit the back wall and control how the dice land. The only way to do it is to throw the dice in a way that’s against the casino rules.

Conclusion

Craps is a fun game to play, and if you’re more interested in having fun than winning it’s the best place in the casino. But if you want the best chance to win, the 7 sad facts about craps listed in this article explain why it’s not the best game for you.

To play craps the right way it’s easy to get bored. And even when you play the right way you’re still fighting a return to player number less than 100%. All in all, you should probably skip the craps table on your next trip to the casino.