Swing the odds in your favor

Craps betting strategies and craps systems, two different things and on many sites the writers seem to don't understand that. A craps system is a methodical routine that tells you exactly how to play, while craps betting strategies are suggestions for styles of play or good bankroll management.

Both, strategy and system want to help you win more and lose less. The ones who try to tell you that with his exact method of playing and only with it you will swing the odds into your favor and let you win in the long run they simply try to trick you. You should understand that such a craps system simply does not exist because craps is a negative expectation game, which means it is mathematically unbeatable in the long run.

Besides, think at another thing. If their system is so great and it really worked for them why do they sell it and risk his chance that the casino might catch on and alter the rules? They would also be breaking the laws of mathematics, so more power to them if they manage that feat. There is no magic formula, business is business and they benefit from the naivety and the lack of experience of many players.

There certainly is a craps system or two out there that will let you win 6 times out of 7, it's just that the 7th time you end up losing more than your cumulative wins over the first six. Here I have a perfect example that will help you understand better what I�m talking about.

Take $22. Place the six and 8 for $6 each, then place the 5 for $5. Put another $5 down on the field, leaving the only number not covered as 7. This means that on the next roll you have 30 ways to win and only 6 ways to lose.

That certainly sounds like the player has the advantage, but do they really? Lets look at the expected outcome for this bet. Adding up all of the potential wins and losses, multiplied by the corresponding odds on making the specific bets, it works out that this craps system has a house edge of 1.136%.

Now don't get me wrong, that's a very respectable house edge for any game, but remember that you could put $11 down on the pass line and back it up with $11 of odds for a house edge of only 0.85%. In fact there are a number of simple ways to get a house edge under 1%. Looking the 'system' straight in the face you realize you're betting $22 with the potential to make $15. You can do better than that.

These systems only try to give to the player the impression that he has the advantage, but in fact the best they can do is come up with something that lowers the house edge a little more than playing randomly.