Discover our hands-on craps strategy guide, where professional player Bill Collins will explain the most effective five betting patterns and how to apply them at the craps table.
So, if you want to learn how to win more at craps and lower the house edge using betting strategies like Three Point Molly, Iron Cross or Six and Eight, then you will love his step-by-step actionable guide.
Recommendation
Are you a complete beginner? We suggest checking out our learn craps online section to find out more about the game.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
With Three Point Molly craps strategy you will be taking advantage of playing against the lowest casino vig, their built-in house advantage.
Start by placing a small bet out in front of you where it says “PASS LINE” on the table at the start of a shooter’s roll.
If he rolls a come-out seven or eleven before rolling a four, five, six, eight, nine or ten to establish his point, your pass line bet wins and pays off at even money.
If he instead rolls a two, three or twelve, you lose your pass line bet and will need to replace it.
After a point is established on four, five, six, eight, nine or ten, put an equal sized bet in the center section of the table labeled “COME” for the shooter’s next roll.
You’ll want to repeat that move until you have two come bets that have successfully traveled to numbers other than your pass line point.
If you make your second come bet twice the size of your first come bet, a losing 7 on any of the first three rolls after the point is established will not cost you any losses. Each come hedges against such losses up until that point.
After getting bets successfully on pass, and two come numbers, you can add single or double odds on each of your three bets.
Your pass odds are placed behind your pass line bet. The dealer puts your come bet odds on your come bets for you.
Highlight
Odds pay better than your even-money-paying pass line and come bets and reduce the casino’s advantage.
Up until now you’ve hedged your bets against seven making them lose money. But, you are now at the danger point where you can lose all your bets and odds, should that seven roll next. You’ll be hoping for your bets to win several times before the 7 finally rolls.
As your bets win, you can replace them by putting out an additional come bet, or pass line bet should yours win by that number rolling again.
If on a come out roll, after a point is made, seven rolls and you have come bets with odds, your come bet odds will be returned to you. You’ll only lose your come bet.
The Three Point Molly can also be played betting dark side, using Don’t Pass and Don’t Come, where you are betting the shooter loses, instead of winning.
Please note
The drawback is that betting odds on dark side bets, you have to bet more to win less.
You can get around betting more to win less by making your don’t pass line and don’t come bets bigger, then don’t add the dark side odds, so you will be paid even money, instead of less money than your odds on each bet win.
Darkside betting gives you the same winning frequency that the casino enjoys every time the seven rolls.
If you are playing on the weekends at a casino, the dark side Don’t Pass/Don’t Come betting will probably work better; simply because the players are probably mostly weekend warriors and not very good craps players. They will tend to lose more points than they win.
If you are playing mid-week, the Pass/Come bets will probably work better; because the players playing mid-week are more seasoned players and have learned a few tricks that might make them win more points.
If you want to shoot you will need at least a minimum bet on the pass line, otherwise, a pass line bet is optional.
After you establish a point, make place bets on just six and eight in multiples of $6, but they will need to be at least table minimum bets.
Insight
Those two numbers, six and eight, roll the most of any of the point numbers.
On come out rolls you can even tell the dealer “my place bets are working”, so that you win if six or eight rolls.
But they lose if the come out roll is a seven and you made them working.
Place bets are normally off for come out rolls.
Place betting pays every time that number rolls; while with Three Point Molly, each number has to roll twice in order to be paid once; but come bets pay on come out 7’s.
And place bets pay more than pass line or come bets.
Place bets can be removed, called off, reduced or increased at any time, but pass line and come bets are contract bets and must be left up until that bet is decided by being won or lost.
You can take all your risk up front by getting two Early hits on your bets, then cut your bets in half.
A fifty percent regression on your bets usually gets your bets paid for before the average eight roll length a shooting turn lasts.
Example:
Place bet $88 inside, $20 on five and nine and $24 on six and eight. Just give $88 to your dealer and say, “Inside”. He will put your bets on the table for you.
Each hit at that bet level pays $28.
Get two inside hits, then regress fifty percent to $44 inside, $10 on five and nine and $12 on six and eight.
You have $56 in winnings at this point, and $44 bets still on the table, so your bets are paid for and you’ve added $12 to your rack with the chance to win more.
Or, just tell the dealer “take my bets down” and you keep the $56 as winnings, then wait on the next shooter and repeat.
If your buy in amount will allow it, you can place bet $64 across ($10-$12 units on four through ten).
Every time a number other than six and eight wins, use the winnings to increase your bet on six and/or eight.
Nine rolls, paying $14, increase your six or eight by $12 and rack the extra $2, or add $6 to each six and eight. Every time six or eight wins, rack those winnings.
Your winnings on four, five, nine and ten, will make your bet size on six and/or eight grow, so that it pays more per every win from then on. And six and eight are the place numbers that roll most often.
Feeding 6 and 8 craps strategy examples
($10 bets on 4, 5, 9, 10 and $12 on 6 and 8)
| Roll | Add bet on 6 | Add bet on 8 | Rack |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 and 9 pay $14 | +$6 | +$6 | $2 |
| +$12 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0 | +$12 | 0 | |
| 4 and 10 pay $18 | +$6 | +$6 | +$6 |
| +$12 | +$6 | 0 | |
| +$6 | +$12 | 0 | |
| +$18 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0 | +$18 | 0 | |
| 6 and 8 pay $14 | 0 | 0 | $14 |
The amount 6 & 8 pays more as those bets grow from hits on the other bets, out of profit and without further risks.
Please note
The danger here is the threat of short rolls that cost your bets on six numbers before getting them paid for.
Increasing the bets on six and eight can cut down on how long it takes to get them paid for and show a profit.
You may place equal unit sized bets on five, six and eight, ($20 five, $24 six and $24 eight), along with a half-sized $10 field bet.
That betting combo lets you win money on every roll that isn’t a seven. Everybody likes that.
The weak point is that every time one of your main place bets hit, those better paying winnings are reduced by the amount you lost on your field bet.
You’ll get your full pay on your place bets, but your $10 field bet gets swept away, reducing your winnings for that roll by $10.
Remember
You’ll have to remember to always replace your losing field bet every time it loses.
The Iron Cross strategy is simple for a newbie to play, just not the most rewarding payoff amounts. You can learn more from the Iron Cross Craps strategy guide.
If you want to shoot the dice, you’ll also need to add a minimum pass line bet. Otherwise, that pass line bet is optional.
If someone has a hot roll started, where they have passed about ten rolls, don’t be afraid to use part of each addition win to increase the size of your bet on a number, or spread out to cover more numbers.
On a hot roll that can be the difference between winning a lot or winning next to nothing.
There is nothing sadder than seeing a person toss forty or more times and see that they have only won about $150.
Once the turn is well started, don’t hesitate to add part of each win amount to one of your numbers.
If the shooter did that, they could have won five to ten times as much. Watching a good roll happen without starting to raise regularly is called the “Newbie Freeze” when it happens.
Don’t let fear freeze you up, just because you are unsure of how to bet a hot roll.
We hope you enjoyed this advanced craps strategy guide.
Now, you can head over to a craps online casino and use this knowledge to improve your winning chance and get more consistent wins at the table.
Tip
Don’t feel too confident in your skills yet? Check out our craps rules guide to find out everything you need to know about the game and how it works.
From our experience, all the strategies outlined by Bill Collins in this guide are effective and you should try them out during your next gambling session to decide which one works best for you.
Using the strategies outlined above will help you get a better advantage over the house. However, the community still has some curiosities that weren´t covered in the article.
After discussing with Bill, he was more than happy to answer all of your questions.
We hope that you will enjoy them and learn something new about playing craps.
