How You Can Win a Craps
Tournament!
If you are a regular
crapshooter, you might want to enter a craps tournament soon. Some
of these20contests are free to enter, some cost a few hundred
dollars, and a few cost quite a bit more, depending on the prize
money. Several casinos also have weekly craps tournaments with no
entry fee and a low $50 buy-in, just to bring people in the door.
In a tournament you would make
different bets than you would in a normal craps game. You are no
longer playing against the house, but against all of your fellow
contestants. Your goal is to have the most money at the end of a
certain number of rolls (usually 100). This means you need to keep
an eagle eye on the chips in the racks of your fellow players, and
be aware of their bets.
If, for example, you have $300
and your closest competitor has $200, and he bets $90 on the six and
eight, what will happen if a six or eight rolls? He’ll jump ahead by
$5 (enough to win) so you might want to match his bets to stay even.
Or what if you’re in second
place with $200 and the number one player has $300? You’ve placed
the six and eight for $90 each, and he matched you. Maybe you might
bet hard ways, or place the five and nine. You must do something
different in ord er to overtake the front-runner.
Some people who are close to
last place resort to bets not normally made - like betting a large
amount on the two or twelve. In the last few rolls of the game, they
realize it’s the only way they can win.
When you begin play, you’ll see
that there are conservative players, playing pass or come with maximum
odds, and aggressive players who bet hard ways and proposition bets. If
these aggressive players continue, they’ll usually (but not always) lose
their money before the final round. If you’re in the group playing
pass/come, you need some way of breaking out of the pack - like waiting
for two consecutive points to be made and then jumping to the don’t. You
have to start doing something the other players are not doing in order
to win.
Let’s say the leader has $100 on
the pass line and the point is 4. He takes $200 odds. You could=2 0then
lay the 4 for $200. If a seven rolls, you’ve suddenly managed to put
yourself $400 ahead, as he would have lost $300 and you won $100. You’ve
got to try things, be inventive, and make bets that the other players
wouldn’t even think of making.
In the last few rolls of the game,
you must become super aggressive. Sometimes this means betting all of
your bankroll on one number. Say eight is the point and the leader is
$300 ahead and has $100 on the pass line with double odds. You’re in
third place, and all you have left is $300. You might place the whole
$300 on the six, take it down after it hits once, and then pray that a
seven rolls before the eight does!
Tournaments are not for everyone,
but they’re fun to play, especially the inexpensive or free ones. Give
them a try - you’re sure to learn a lot and maybe even make some friends
- and some money as well!