Free online casino craps

Bad Craps Bets and Sucker Bets to Avoid

A Betting Game

Craps, the classic dice game, is a betting game. When you look at a craps table, you will see it is dominated by betting areas. And indeed so is the game. Your chances of winning or losing depend to a large extent on how you bet and what you bet on.

The game of craps is unusual in that the simplest things to do are also the soundest. With most other games, you need to follow some advanced strategy to get ahead. With craps, the simpler you play, the better (generally speaking). If you stick to the basic wagers like pass lie, don't pass line, etc. you are playing the game as one should. Bad craps bets or sucker bets on the other hand, are more exotic and should be avoided.

So which are the bad craps bets?

You can spot them by watching the stickman's behavior. When someone wins and the stickman makes a big show about it, you can be sure it's a bad craps bet. He or she has been trained by the casino to act this way in order to persuade the other players to make these same sucker bets.

Bad Craps Bets

The Proposition bets displayed prominently on the craps table make up the majority of sucker bets. You will see these bets in a box in front of the stickman. Proposition bets are attractive because of their large payoffs. When someone wins a prop bet, the stickman will cheer in an exaggerated manner to get others to make similar bets. But knowledgeable craps players know better.

Of all bad craps bets, the worst of all is the "Any 7" bet. Sadly, it is also the most deceptive. An Any 7 bet seems like a good wager since this number has the most number of possible combinations. But the payoff for this bet is less than the real odds. An Any 7 bet pays at 4 to 1 whereas the real odds are 5 to 1.

Other bad proposition bets are on 2, 3, 11 or 12 are also very bad craps bets.

Big Field wagers are also bad craps bet. You may wonder why since there are more numbers for the field bet than those against it. True, but there are more combinations against the big field bet than for it. 20 combinations can give a 5, 6, 7 or 8 and only 18 combinations can give the rest.

Summary of Bad Craps Bets / Sucker Bets

Wager Payoff House Advantage Any Seven 4 to 1 16.7% Two 30 to 1 13.9% Twelve 30 to 1 13.9% Three 15 to 1 11.1% Eleven 15 to 1 11.1% Any Craps 7 to 1 11.1% Hard Six 9 to 1 9.1% Hard Eight 9 to 1 9.1% Hard Four 7 to 1 11.1% Hard Ten 7 to 1 11.1% Field 1 to 1 5.6% Big 6/8 1 to 1 9.1%