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Craps.

I played craps this week for the first time in probably 20 years. I left Reno in late 1997 to work for a tribal casino, then another casino, in the Pacific Northwest. Once I was working for the tribes, I felt like it was improper for me to gamble at those facilities, even the ones I wasn't working at. Not all of them offered craps anyways, so I just didn't play.

So earlier this week, I found myself in the Cal Neva Casino in downtown Reno, with an extra hundred bucks in my pocket and an empty craps table staring me in the face. It worked out pretty good too, with me playing for about half an hour and walking away dead even.

Having been bitten by the bug, I returned to the Cal Neva a couple days later and this time left about a hundred fifty ahead. So, let me tell you how I play craps.

Rule number one: stay away from the goddamn proposition bets, including the field bet. Rule number two: reread rule number one. Hard ways, horn bets, C & E, they all have terrible payoffs in relation to their actual chances of being hit. Even the field bet is a loser in the long run. Be smart, don't waste your money.

I always make a bet on the pass line at the table minimum. Then I take the maximum amount of odds you can once the point is established. (If you don't know, ask the dealer and he'll tell you.) The pass line bet gets paid at even money when you win, but the odds bets are paid off at what are called "true odds". On the 6 and 8 you get paid true odds of 6 to 5. On the 5 and 9 its 3 to 2 and on the 4 and 10 its 2 to 1. The great thing about odds bets is that there is no house advantage. You're actually getting paid the true odds on hitting that number versus rolling 7.

Next I make place bets on the 6 and the 8. You have to bet them in multiples of 6, since they pay off $7 for every $6 that you've bet. If the point is 6 or 8, then I don't put a place bet on that number.

So, after the point is established and the 6 & 8 placed, I usually just make just one more bet, a come bet, which works just like a line bet.  The bet gets paid off at even money, but you get to take odds on it, which, just like a line bet, get paid off at the true odds for that number.

That's basically it.  Stay away from the props, and pray that the shooter doesn't seven out within one or two rolls of setting his point, and you'll be making profits in no time.

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