Avoid Craps Bets with High House Edges

Published: January 10, 2012

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Online casino players choose games for wagering on the basis of house edge as one of the criteria. In this connection craps poses two difficulties to new players. It has different types of bets with different house edges. Therefore a player cannot take a call on the entire game of craps as such, but can decide on which bets to play and which to avoid. Unfortunately online casinos do not report the house edges on each craps bet. It is for the player to work out the fair odds and determine the house edge from the payout offered.

The process of calculating the house edge is illustrated using a bet known as Craps. This is the bet that has given the game its name and therefore is popular with new and uninformed players. The bet wins if a 2, 3 or 12 are rolled. The total number of combinations of numbers possible when two six-faced dice are rolled is 36. Of this a 2 and a 12 can be rolled only in one way each and a 3 can be rolled in two ways. Therefore there are four ways in which the Craps bet can be won and 32 ways in which it can be lost. The fair odds for this bet are 8 to 1. Online casinos pay 7 to 1 for Craps. The house edge for this bet is calculated as follows:

House edge = [(32/36)*1 – (4/36)*7]*100 = 11.11%

Another sucker bet is Any 7. This bet wins if a 7 is rolled. The popularity of the bet arises from the fact that 7 is the most frequently rolled number. There are six ways in which this bet can be won and 30 ways in which it can be lost. The fair odds for this bet are 5 to 1 but online casinos pay only 4 to 1. This leads to a house edge of over 16%.

The Field Bet is another popular bet among newbie players. The bet wins if a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12 are rolled. The fallacy that new players fall into is that because seven numbers win and four numbers lose the bet must be favorable. The reality is that the losing numbers are rolled more often. There are 16 ways in which this bet can be won and 20 in which it can be lost. The fair odds for this bet should be 5 to 4 but online casinos pay even money. This leads to a house edge of over 5%.

The discussion will not be complete unless these house edges are compared with the house edges in other games. Blackjack variants offer house edges of less than 1%. But the payouts are even money (and 3 to 2 on blackjack). Many players are willing to settle for higher house edges for higher payouts. European Roulette offers a house edge of 2.7% with payouts as high as 35 to 1. Online slots have a house edge of about 5% but offer fantastic payouts. Therefore it makes no sense to wager on these craps sucker bets. Unfortunately the craps bets with low house edges run over many rolls and are more complex in structure. Therefore the uninformed newbie players unfortunately migrate to these sucker bets.

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