Casino Craps Online Gambling

Field Bets

Casino Most of the women Casino Craps players whom I have observed playing Bank Craps are suckers for field bets. The Craps stickman, at the sight of a woman player, begins to sell the field bets by chanting constantly during the game, "Place your bet on the field." "Nine, that's a field number." "Ten, another field number." When she hesitates he adds obligingly that the field has seven winning numbers and only four losing numbers. After this pitch, she usually begins betting the field. The field usually bears the numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12. When the player puts her bet on the space of the layout marked "Field," she is betting that one of the group of seven numbers listed there will be thrown on the next roll. The bank pays even money. Since the field shows seven numbers, and there are only four (5, 6, 7 and 8) which can make her lose, the non-thinker figures that her chances are excellent. She may even believe that she has the best of it or, at the very least, an even chance. But appearances are nearly always deceptive, especially in casino games like Backgammon.

Bank's Advantage

If we add together all the ways in which the winning and losing numbers can be thrown, we find that the field numbers can be made in only 16 ways as against 20 ways for the losing numbers. The bank, consequently, has an advantage of 4 rolls out of 36, which in percentage is 4/36 of 100 or 111/9%-about 56¢ on a $5 bet. When the bank pays double on the 2 and 12, as many of them do, the bank's advantage is reduced to 5 5/19%. And here one of the strangest percentage problems in Bank Craps pops up. Some smart casino operators will tell you that the bank's advantage is 5 5/19%, and others that the player's disadvantage is 5 5/9%. Some of them argue for hours over their differences of opinion, but the curious thing is that the argument is unnecessary because both of them are right. The discrepancy is explained by the fact that they are arguing, not about the same problem, but about two slightly different problems, with two different answers. This fact-which, to my knowledge, no dealer or operator ever realized prior to its first publication in 1945 in Scarne on Dice-and the analysis of both problems given below, should clear up the matter and settle the arguments at last. Suppose that the player and bank each cover the 36 possible field combinations with dollar bets. The player's wagers will total $36 but the bank's wagers, because it puts an extra dollar on the 2 and 12 that are circled for a double payoff, will total $38.

Craps Bet

If the dice fall exactly according to probabilities, all 36 different combinations being thrown in 36 successive rolls, the bank wins 20 bets for a total of $40 and makes a profit of $2. The Online Casino player wins 16 bets, 14 of which have $2 riding and the 2 and 12 pay $3 each. The player therefore takes down $34 and is short $2. Since the bank wagered $38 and made a profit of $2, its favorable percentage is 2 divided by 38 or 5 5/19%. The player, on the other hand, wagered $36 and lost $2. His percentage of loss, or his disadvantage, is 2 divided by 36 or 5 5/9%. We have two problems rather than one because the bank and player wager different amounts.