How the Craps table layout steers you towards bad bets

Patience is rewarded; impatience is punished

It’s important to understand that the Craps layout is designed to tempt you intomaking wagers with a high house advantage for the sake of getting a quick result.ALL proposition bets in the center of the table are structured heavily in favorof The House. The best bets like the Pass Line and Free Odds bets might not be resolvedimmediately — it could take a few rolls or more. But patience pays off. Not onlyis the house edge lower on these bets, but by not betting on every roll of the diceyou’ll have less money in action and so your losses will be less. Being patientis a double-whammy, to your advantage.

If you want to learn quickly what NOT to do then listen to the calls of the Stickman.(S)he is the one who tempts you into placing bets on 7, 11, Ace Deuce, 12, Any Craps,Craps/Eleven (C and E), Horn Bets and the Hardways. All proposition bets in thecenter of the table layout range from 9.09% to 16.67% in favor of the house. Thisis where your money is thrown away. As for the Hardways, the house edge there iseither 9.09% or 11.1% — both worse than most slot machines.

Note also how the table layout design prominently features the Field bet. The houseedge here is 2.77% and is a self service wager that is easily dealt to by the dealersAND there is a result here on every roll which just compounds player losses. (Oddlyenough The Field is a better wager on most tables than Place Bets on the 5 or 9and 4 or 10 and even Buy Bets on the 4 or 10).

The easily accessible Big 6 and 8 also provide a handsome 9.09% advantage to thehouse which make these bets just as unattractive as any proposition bet in the centerof the layout. In fact, the Big 6 and 8 (in the corner) do not exist in AtlanticCity casinos as they are outlawed by New Jersey gaming regulations!

Note also, on the table layout that the house discourages Don’t Bets by placingthe wager box farther away from the players. Don’t bets are very slightly betterfor players than Pass Line Bets but more importantly (to the casino), they’re moredifficult to service by the dealers and tend to slow the game down.

In simple terms, the table layout and the calls of the stickman tempt you into makingwagers that have a high house edge whereas there are better and smarter wagers tobe made, such as the Pass Line and the Free Odds bets. You should not allow yourimpatience to tempt you into making unwise wagers for the sake of getting an immediateresult — especially when that result is usually a LOSS.