"Sucker Bets" to avoid at the Craps table

The bets that you can make when playing craps are truly intriguing. Some of them are the best that you can find, while others are the worst that you can find. In order to avoid those bad bets you must first know which ones they are. In this section you will find out exactly which are the bad craps bets, the ones that you should avoid.

As a rule of thumb the largest betting areas offer the worst bets. The casinos try to draw your attention to these betting areas with big, red letters. The stick man will also try to convince you to make such a bet. You are advised to avoid such "sucker bets". Your chances of winning such long shot bets are minimal.

Proposition bets

You will find almost all of the bad craps bets in the Proposition betting area. The casinos do their best to advertise these bets and determine players to make such bets. The payouts on these bets indeed look tempting, but remember that the house does not play fair. The payout is nowhere near the true odds, and you are not paid true odds.

Sometimes a player will win a Proposition bet and get a decent payout. It is inevitable, someone will eventually win a bet with the lowest chance of occurring. You will notice how much the stick man will try to draw your attention to this event and try to make you place a Proposition bet.

Proposition bets offer various payout ratios. These vary from 4-to-1 to 30-to-1. The house advantage is also high on this type of bets. It starts at 9.1% and increases to 16.7%. Not even slot machines have such a high house advantage.

Out of all the Proposition bets, the Any 7 bet is the most alluring. Players are tempted to place such a bet because it sounds very plausible. You are actually betting that a 7 will come up on the next roll. There are 6 different dice combinations that add up to a 7. No other number can be made up of so many dice combinations.

What you do not know is that the house advantage on an Any 7 bet is 16.7%. The house advantage is so high because we must also take into consideration all the other dice combinations that can roll out. The payout ratio on an Any seven bet is 4-to-1. What you also do not know is that the true odds are 5-to-1. You should be paid at a ratio of 5-to-1, not 4-to-1. As we have said before, the house does not pay true odds.

Avoid betting on 2 or 12 and on 3 or 11. The house advantage when betting on 2 or 12 is 13.9%. You will receive a payout ratio of 30-to-1 if you manage to win a bet on a 2 or 12. But the true odds are 35-to-1. Most players are glad to receive a payout of $150 for a bet of $5. What they do not realize is that they lost $25 because the house does not pay true odds. You will receive a payout ratio of 15-to-1 if you manage to win a bet on a 3 or 11. The house advantage in this case is 11.1%, and the true odds are 17-to-1.

The Any craps bet is in no way any better. When making an Any craps bet you are betting that the shooter will roll out a 2, 3 or 12 on his come out roll. You are making an "against the dice bet", you are betting the shooter will lose. None the less, the house advantage is a high 11.11%. Apparently even if you bet in favor of the house you still have good chances of losing your bet.

Sometimes a player will bet with the dice and against the dice. For example he will place a $15 Pass the line bet and a $2 any craps bets. If the Pass the line bet loses, the Any craps bet wins. Since Any craps pays 7-to-1 he will have lost just $1. At a first glance this seems like a good idea. In fact the house edge remains the same, but you are using a larger part of your bankroll to cover these bets. The more you use, the faster you will spend your bankroll.

Another alluring Proposition bet is the Hardway bet. You can place a Hardway bet after the point has been established. A Hardway bet means that you are betting a hard total will come up. A hard 6 for example is made up of two 3's. A hard 8 is made up of two 4's. Any dice total that is made up of a pair of numbers is a hard total. If you decide to bet on a hard 6 or 8, the payout ratio is 9-to-1 but the house advantage is 9.1%. The payout ratio for a hard 4 or 10 is 7-to1 and the house advantage is 11.11%. Ironically enough making a Hardway bet is indeed a pretty hard way to win at craps.

Big Field Bets

Field bets seem to be very popular amongst beginner players. These players either lack the experience to realize that these bets are bad or they have been mislead into thinking they are making a good bet. There are several books out there that encourage beginner players to make Field bets.

You will find the Field betting area easily. It takes up a big part of the table layout, on both ends of the craps table. If you make a field bet you are wagering that on the next roll a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12 will be rolled out. The only way for you to lose this bet is if a 5, 6, 7, or 8 will be rolled out instead. Winning Field bets pay even money.

At a first glance the Field bet seems like a good idea. You are betting on so many numbers that one of them is sure to come up. But did you know that for all those 7 numbers in a Field bet there are only16 dice combinations that add up to those totals? But for the 4 numbers that will cause a Field bet to lose there are 20 possible dice combinations. In this case the house advantage is 5.56%. Tempting as it may seem, on closer inspection we have discovered that this is also a bad bet.

The Big 6 or 8 Betting area is very well advertised. The writing is large and red, meant to draw your attention to it. 6's and 8's have a good chance of coming up, so players are tricked into making this bet. But remember that you are betting a 6 or an 8 will be rolled out before a 7.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a Big 6 or 8 bet is the same as making a Place bet on 6 or 8. A wining Place bet on a 6 or 8 pays at a ratio of 7-to-6. A winning Big 6 or 8 bet pays even money. As you can see the payouts vary considerably.

The house advantage on a Big 6 or 8 bet is 9.09%. This means you will lose $1 for every $11 that you spend playing craps. But when making a Place bet on 6 or 8 the house advantage decreases by 1.5%. This will make a big difference as you will lose $1 for every $66 you spend playing craps.

You will not find this information displayed anywhere on the table layout. Most craps players themselves are not aware of these things. Only a select, well informed few have knowledge of this and can use this knowledge to their benefit. By knowing which bets to avoid you will stick to making only the good bets, bets that offer good odds for you to win.

Below we have listed the bets that you should avoid and the payout ratios and house advantage for each of them:

• Any Seven bets offer a 4-to-1 and have a house advantage of 16.7%.
• Two bets offer a 30-to-1 and have a house advantage of 13.9%.
• Twelve bets offer a 30-to-1 and have a house advantage of 13.9%.
• Three bets offer a 15-to-1 and have a house advantage of 11.1%.
• Eleven bets offer a 15-to-1 and have a house advantage of 11.1%.
• Any Craps bets offer a 7-to-1 and have a house advantage of 11.1%.
• Hard Six bets offer a 9-to-1 and have a house advantage of 9.1%.
• Hard Eight bets offer a 9-to-1 and have a house advantage of 9.1%.
• Hard Four bets offer a 7-to-1 and have a house advantage of 11.1%.
• Hard Ten bets offer a 7-to-1 and have a house advantage of 11.1%.
• Field bets offer a 1-to-1 and have a house advantage of 5.6%.
• Big Six or Eight bets offer a 1-to-1 and have a house advantage of 9.1%.