Want to know how to win at craps more often? In this guide, pro craps player Bill Collins will teach you his secret strategies to get consistent results at the table.
While there aren’t any guaranteed ways to win, there are a few craps strategies that could potentially lower the house advantage and help you get the most out of your gambling session.
Here’s what you’ll learn from this guide:
Let’s get started!
Probably the best you can hope for at craps is to win a lot more trips than you lose, and that isn’t easy. If anybody won at craps every time, they would probably soon not be welcome.
Even with the odds stacked against the random player, you might be able to really get ahead by becoming the total package as a craps player.
That would include:
- learning to properly size your bets to your buy-in to give yourself a decent chance of winning;
- walking away when your loss limit is reached;
- keeping your losses small and infrequent;
- betting on few other shooters.
Smart players seem to use the odds to their advantage by tracking and betting only on the numbers they toss the most. No bet is a good bet if you can’t roll the winning number often enough.
The more numbers you bet, the more hits it takes, before a 7 rolls, to keep from losing money. You lose them all at once, but usually only win bets one at a time.
Avoid making bad center-of-the-table prop bets that have huge house advantages.
They’ll usually consume your buy-in, especially those single-roll bets.
Six and eight roll more than any other point number in craps.
If making a small buy-in, pick just the six or eight and make a small bet just on it.
One hit on that number and your bet is paid for, so that you can’t lose for the rest of that turn shooting, as long as you don’t bet with the other chips in your rack.
On your second hit on that number, you can place the other most-rolled point number and have it paid for, too.
From there you can use a portion of the profit from each hit on either number to raise the number that rolled or spread out to the five or nine.
The trick is to keep as many of your buy-in chips in your rack untouched for as long as possible; making further bets and raises by just betting out of your winnings.
That’s not a terribly exciting way to play, but exciting ways to play often lead to big losses, too.
Key takeaway
This strategy allows you to keep most of the chips out of danger, in your rack, while giving you a decent chance to catch a good roll to build upon.
Once really ahead quite a bit, you can risk more out of those additional winnings.
Some players swear by the 3-point molly and iron cross.
They may be alright for betting on random shooters, but both have their weaknesses.
Your main risk on the 3-point molly, (pass line, then two come bets, then odds added to each), is the exposure of three bets, plus all those odds, without any wins yet, when you just get the bets set up.
It can load up a lot of money onto the table without yet having taken in any wins to help cover those bets. It does help protect most of your bets from early 7-outs, though.
The Iron Cross strategy, where you make place bets on 5, 6 and 8, plus a half-sized or smaller bet on field, pays off on every number but 7; but the field bet being lost every time the most-commonly rolled 5, 6 or 8 rolls, dilutes those better-paying winnings.
The field bet just pays even money, while the place bets pay better. So, you are diluting the better paying and more frequently rolled 5, 6 & 8 wins, just to collect even-money payoffs on the rest of the less-frequently rolled numbers.
The fewer numbers you bet on, with the equal-sized total bet being made, the bigger the payoff will be; but they will be won less often because of the winning target being smaller.
I also don’t like to hedge bet, as I feel that every bet I make has to be able to stand on it’s own for what my current toss is doing. Hedging, to me, is just people trying not to lose.
I’d rather give my bets their best chance to win, on their own.
I’ve seen a player use “Ladder Betting” to take bets with a strong built-in house advantage and turn them around to where he always wins big on his videos.
He starts with whopping buy-in to do this, though, maybe $5,000 or more per session.
Keep in mind
Ladder Betting is different from the highly dangerous Martingale betting strategy, where you double your lost bet every time until you win.
Table limits greatly minimize the effectiveness of Martingale betting.
For example
Betting $25 on each, 5, 6, 8 and 9, along with laying the 4 and 10 for $200 each. If he loses by tossing 4 or 10, he goes up the ladder, increasing his bets $25 on 5, 6, 8 and 9, along with upping his lay 4 and 10 by another $100.
He goes up the ladder each time he loses on 4 or 10. He drops back down the ladder a betting level on any three wins in a row at the higher bet amounts.
He’s betting so that 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 wins, against 4’s and 10’s losses.
Does this really work?
Hedge betting with lay bets usually means you have to risk more to protect your bets from losing, by shifting the risk of losing away from the 7 to a less frequently roll number.
However, when you split that risk between both the 4 and the 10, you are risking the same amount as your inside bets on each the 4 and 10; but, they both can’t be lost on the same rolls.
That tends to take some of the risk out of each roll.
The better shooter you are, in hitting your numbers and avoiding 4 and 10, the better this strategy will work for you. It’s not for the timid or underfinanced.
For a good shooter, adding the ladder betting strategy is what seems to really make this strategy pay the most for them, with a huge buy-in.
Here are 6 pro craps tips and tricks that will help you win more often:
1. Staying focused and avoiding distractions
Learn to block out everything except your dice grip, your toss and your dices’ targeted landing spot during your tosses. It’s like being a trained athlete being their “zone”.
2. Practice in Real-Life Settings
Having your own casino-sized craps table and regulation dice helps during practice. Try to create distractions while you practice that you need to block out, maybe by playing casino audio of live craps games.
3. Understanding and following table etiquette
Never try to buy-in mid-point at a craps table, see if another player will sell you a few of their chips so you can join the action mid-turn, then buy in when the puck is off. Wait until it is your turn to make your bet before trying to make it. Keep your hands out of the playing area while the shooter has the dice.
Don’t do anything to distract the shooter.
4. Maintaining a positive attitude and avoiding tilt
If things go badly, quit after the third quick loss in a row and come back to fight another day.
5. Seeking out the best craps tables with favorable odds
Not all casino’s payoffs are the same. Learn which are best craps odds available and play them.
How many other shooters should I limit myself to betting on?
If your toss has a proven player’s advantage on certain bets, try to save almost all of your buy-in money to bet those bets when you are shooting.
If not, limit how many shooters you bet on as the dice go around the table to make your buy-in last longer.
6. Don’t go to the casino when you don’t expect to win.
If your home in-practice shows that your toss is not currently giving you any player’s advantage, stay home and practice until it does.
I started out about 9 years ago with a dedicated one-time $400 buy in, promising myself and my wife, that if I ever lost that $400, I’d hang up the dice.
I played for years mainly betting to protect that bankroll as it grew and grew. That’s hard to do that, by the way, but I did.
Now, with a very sizeable bankroll from the casinos backing me up, I can finally afford to think about playing to win, rather than just trying not lose.
There is a big difference there, when you can afford a $2k buy-in each session.
The quicker you can win your session goal (mine is $500 per session) the better chance you have of winning, because the casino’s built-in vig has fewer bets with which to try to eat away at your buy-in.
I’m happy to just string a lot of $500 winning session back to back, rather than going for that monster win. I’ll even quit and color up mid-turn when I reach that goal, passing the dice to the next shooter.
Can others do it, too?
It takes becoming the “total package” as a player, with a ton of dedication, practice, determination, learning and experience to get there.
Few average players ever stick with it long enough make it, partially because they play at the casino to try to learn what they need to know with their money at risk on the casino’s table, instead of learning at home on their own craps table for free.
But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. You might be the exception the rule.
Conclusion
You have to use all your wits and knowledge to stand your best chance of coming away a constant winner at the craps table.
Just hoping for a win usually doesn’t get the job done. Quite the opposite.
For more actionable insights, check out my guides in the Academy. They cover all the ins and outs of the craps game, so you will definitely find something that could help you win more often.
Good luck!
Level 0 
0 Coins 
Bonuses 
Casinos 
Games 
Academy 
News 
Shop 
NEW Q&A 
Sweepstakes 
10 min
Thank you for voting.
Level 8 
