Craps Part 3 - Dark Side Playing
Michael Shackleford: Okay, so it's a new Come Out roll, and let's use this opportunity to talk about a new bet. Let's talk about the Don't Pass bet. In Craps, this is basically the opposite of the Pass Line bet. Everything that causes the Pass Line to win, causes the Don't Pass to lose and vice versa.
What's bad for this is good for this, what's good for this is bad for that. With one exception. A 12 would cause a Pass Line bet to lose but it doesn't cause the Don't Pass to win. It only causes a push, and that's why it has a picture of the two sixes here to show you that the twelve is barred, meaning that it's a push on the Come Out roll.
I know that's confusing but I explained all of this on my website. Let's make a Don't Pass bet this time.
Dan Lubin: Six easy. Mark to six.
Question 1
Michael: Much like the Pass Line in the Come, you're allowed to make an Odds bet after a Don't Pass bet and in this case, you're going to want to bet $30 and you're going to put it right next to it, right?
Dan: Right, but when you set up the lay odds on a Don't Pass bet, the lay odds go between the main bet, the flag bet, and the base dealer. So, if she was playing next to the stick, she would have her odds here and not here, and over here on her Don't Pass bet, she would put the odds here instead of here. So, you're betting 30 to win 25 on the lay odds.
Michael: Yes, again, this works the opposite way as the odds on the Pass. This is going to win if you roll the seven, and this $30 bet will pay 25 because it's more likely to roll a seven than a six. So, I know we said before that most of the table usually bets on the Pass line which is true so you're being a contrarian, you're being that minority that wants everyone else to lose because it's going to cause you to win.
Angela Wyman: The most popular person at the table.
Dan: They are despised by the right shooters. Five, [unintelligible 00:02:12] five.
Michael: Nothing happens there. And at this time, you would be allowed to make a Don't Come bet if you want but I won't confuse the issue but that works much like a Come bet but the opposite. Just keep rolling till you get a six or a seven. You want a seven.
Dan: Nine, center-field. Six, a line.
Michael: That's a winner for the Pass line players but not us. We lose. You're previously betting on the Pass line hoping for points but then we turn to what's called the Dark Side betting against everybody else.
Angela: So, the lesson is don't bet against everybody else.
Michael: I like to get the odds as much in my favor as I possibly can at the casino. And the house advantage on the Pass line bet is 1.41% and on the Don't Pass, it's 1.36% so it's a 0.05% better on the Don't Pass. Now am I going to bet the Don't Pass for that extra 0.05%? I see Dan shaking his head but most of the time, I will. It's just what I do. I will work hard to get the odds as much in my favor as I can, and if I have to be the evil guy at the table betting against the table, I don't care. Bring it on.
So, this time I'm going to show you the way I personally play the table which is making Don't Pass bets, Don't Come bets, and always backing up with the maximum odds. There is no better way to play Craps in terms of minimizing your house advantage in that.
So, let's see what happens. Let's start with the Don't Pass bet.
Dan: Eight easy, mark the eight.
Michael: So, you're going to make a lay bet off $30 here which is laying the odds after your Don't Pass bet, and by the way, if the table pays three, four, five times odds, the lay bets are always six times your Don't Pass bet. That's an easy memory device. So now let's make a Don't Come bet as well.
So, this is like a new Don't Pass bet but it's made when it's not a Come Out roll.
Dan: Four easy.
Michael: So, let's back up your last Don't Come bet with a $30 lay bet.
Question 2
Angela: Do I need to say anything to you right here?
Dan: Lay odds.
Angela: Lay odds.
Dan: And you put it in the DC, very good.
Michael: And I can do Don't Come bet. We want to roll a seven but I would not say that out loud in a real casino because the other players think, number one, they already don't like me because I'm betting the Don't Pass. Number two, they're very superstitious and they think it's bad luck to say seven especially when it's not a Come Out roll, so I would really make people mad by saying that.
Dan: 11.
Michael: The Don't Come loses, so let's make a new Don't Come bet.
Dan: Eight easy.
Michael: We lost this bet here. And let's make a new Don't Pass bet. All of these other bets, by the way, are still working.
Dan: Now she can weigh the odds on the [unintelligible 00:05:58]
Michael: Yes, let's do that. Let's make a $30 odds bet on top of the eight, and let's get [unintelligible 00:06:08]
Dan: Six easy.
Michael: Okay, so let's back up this with $30 in odds. And let's make a new Don't Come bet. Seven.
Dan: Eight.
Michael: We lost on that eight, let's back up the new eight bet with $30 in odds. And a new Don't Come bet. Again, with the Don't Pass bets, every time you roll one of these numbers that you already have a bet on, you lose but when you get a seven, you win everything, so you're ecstatic to see a seven.
Dan: Eleven. Take the DC. So, this is taken up.
Michael: So that seven caused all our bets to win except for the last Don't Come bet. So Dan, explain to Angela how much we just won.
Dan: Okay. She lost $5 on her last DC bet, she laid $30 in odds, she wins 25 on the odds, okay. And she wins 5 on the flag bet, her original Don't Pass bet for a total of $30. On the seven act, she gets paid behind the eight and the four. On $30, she gets paid $15 because it's going to two.
And she gets even money on the flag bet. On the lay eight odds, 30 pays 25, and I have to take out more money she gains so much, and she gets paid even money on her flag bet and this gets brought out to her through the DC, and she cleans out her winning Don't Pass bet.
And [unintelligible 00:08:25] and actually a new shooter actually gets to shoot. Now, the thing is this. A Dark Side better, a Don't better, technically wins on the seven out but they lose the dice.
Michael: Unless anyone misunderstand, the shooter is allowed to bet on the Don't Pass. I think some people misunderstand that.
We've already talked about all the bets that's on the table, the Pass, the Come, the Don't Pass, the Don't Come, always backed up with the odds. So, these are all the best bets on the table. All you really need to know about Craps is with those bets right there. If you just bet that, you'll be in great shape. However, there's still lots of other bets at the table which are not as good.
Some of them are called Place bets. So, let's talk about those next.