Nine Reasons To Start Playing Craps Today
It’s an iconic standard of casinos, shown on film and on TV time and again. Exciting, with loud crowds, ways for you to gamble and win big – there’s a good reason why craps is as popular as it is. In every gambling outlet no matter where it is in the world, you’ll always see a craps table, even if it’s just for a moment, tucked away some secluded. James Bond plays it with a devil-may-care attitude and a debonair smile and that is certainly a good reason for that.
However, because of its arguably once high position in the general hierarchy of casino games, new gamblers may find it intimidating and stressful instead of fun. Everyone has their own opinion and the games that fit well into their routine, so there is no obligation to play or even like craps. Plus, due to the rise of other games, craps has been nudged slightly down the casino game pecking order.
That said, beginners should know that craps are actually a pretty easy game. You just need a little practice and basic knowledge. With that, you can head to the table and enjoy it, no matter if it’s the first casino game you’ve ever played or the five thousandths. If you’re wanting to make money on your big night out at the casino, then you’re going to want to take a good hard look at craps, as it has the power to pay out the big bucks.
You may be wondering why people like it so much and what all the fuss with craps is about. Here are 9 great reasons that you should pick up the dice at a craps table next time you visit a online casino.
Reason No. 1 – Some Craps Bets Have Insanely Good Odds
The craps table is easy to spot as soon as you step inside the casino. This is because there’s usually a crowd and they’re usually loud and excited. Many people get their first look at the game just because they want to see what’s getting everyone so wound up and why everyone seems to be having so much fun.
That being said, craps at first glance can scare new players away when they see how complex the game seems to be. Though the game is easy enough to pick up, the average new gambler won’t be able to follow it particularly well without learning at least a little about the rules. It’s likely that a new gambler will walk away from craps in favor of a game that’s easier to pick up and play, or at least has a slower pace.
Casinos would like more players to do that. New gamblers often don’t know that avoiding craps can be a mistake – the best wagers and chances to win are always at the craps table in any casino. However, casinos also want beginners to try craps without knowing how to play. For every good bet, there’s a bad bet, and the complexity of craps can mean that some bets have high house edges, up to 10%. Compared to blackjack’s 0.5% and video poker’s 0% (in certain cases, of course), that’s a pretty big jump.
It should be noted, though, that there are bets in craps that are simply unbelievable, with house edges lower than 2%. An even smaller number of bets have absolutely no edge at all. Craps is a game where you take the good with the bad, and do your best to make the right decisions. But make no mistake about it, there are some impressive bets to be made here that could lead you to your next big casino payday.
Though I am going to save the nitty-gritty information about the bets for a different article, the bets are certainly something you should file away for later use. If you don’t want to put in the amount of work needed to learn how to count cards for blackjack, then craps is the game that you want to play.
Best Craps Online Casinos
Reason No. 2 – Craps is a Super-Fun Casino Game to Play
Despite the media depictions of casinos and their patrons, most gamblers – including us – aren’t actually there to get rich quick. Casinos should be fun and entertaining, not just work. Of course, people are happy when they do make some money – as they should be. But it shouldn’t be a big deal if you lose some too. Even professional gamblers will tell you that starting out with your eye on enjoyment rather than the big fancy prize will get you much further. Craps is a great starting point simply because it’s so exciting and enjoyable.
Don’t misunderstand – casinos are full of exciting and fun games to play. However, not all of them are social. Craps’ excitability comes from combining all the best aspects of other games, including roulette’s suspense, blackjack’s speed, and poker’s community. All of these are combined together to create craps.
Playing together with others at a craps table involves a level of social interaction that people love. You’re all betting on the same toss of the dice, which means that you’re all in it together no matter win or loss. Sure, there are bets that you can place against other people, but for the most part, craps players enjoy the camaraderie that comes with being a regular at the table.
Other games are social too – poker, for one. Craps is a different level from poker, though, because poker players are always competing against one another. Blackjack is played against the live casino dealer with others at the table, but the hands are all treated as separate games from each other. If you want our opinion, when it comes to outright fun, craps just has these classic card games beat.
Craps brings everyone together in a fast-paced, exciting game that can be won or lost together. Everyone holds their breath when the dice roll, a level of suspense found from games like roulette. This is why many say that if you’re looking for the height of fun in a casino, craps is always the way to go.
Reason No. 3 – You Can Benefit from Other Player’s Performances
Though this part is true for other games in addition to craps. Poker is one that comes to mind, but not to the same extent. Poker players compete against each other, they don’t play together. Even if you’re benefiting from a really good player for a while, they’re probably going to end up kicking your butt eventually too.
With craps, everyone is on the same team (for the most part anyway). Some do like to go against the grain in terms of betting, but most of the time, great players are going to benefit everyone. You can watch them and learn from what they’re doing, figure out when they bet, and wager yours alongside theirs.
There just seem to be some people out there who can roll the dice and win far more than they ever lose. If you spot one of these seemingly magical gamblers, make sure to follow their lead and rake in some winnings of your own. It might be piggybacking, but what does that matter when you’re reeling in a big win after a big win.
In addition, some people just know their way around the betting strategies involved in craps. You can see plenty of people who know the strategy in blackjack, but so much of it is “behind the scenes,” in their own heads. You can’t learn from what they’re doing because you don’t know what they’re doing, and you can’t see their cards.
With the single pair of dice that decides everyone’s fate at the same time, you can watch players with strategies and learn how to improve your own, while simultaneously betting with the veterans and riding that to some extra money in your own pocket. Honestly, sharing a big win with the dice roller provides a thrill that’s very unique and well worth experiencing.
Reason No. 4 – Casinos Cherish Craps Players
Craps is an important game for casinos, a standard that appears in every single casino worldwide in one capacity or another. Often, casinos like to show their appreciation for craps players, and any veteran will tell you that if you want the best in terms of comps, go no further than the craps table. For anyone that doesn’t know, comps are freebies at a casino that a designed to improve the casino experience and (hopefully) keep you playing.
Our personal thinking is that casinos are perfectly aware of how new players are drawn to the excitement of the table. Lured in by the promise of big prizes and unaware of just how cloudy the approach to betting can be, new players can make casinos a huge amount of money very quickly. Craps tables are exciting and social, and getting caught up in that adrenaline rush can make people want to keep playing, throwing away money as they go.
Professional and experienced players, however, know that if you establish yourself as a regular at the craps tables, and if you’re willing to make some large (but not too large) bets, then you can look forward to the casino offering you some pretty great comps within a short period of time.
Comps in casinos have a lot of variables. They change per game and even change per pit boss. Some common ones include being picked up by a limo at the airport, vouchers for the casino, free nights in suites at the hotel, and table matches for the bets you make in craps. It won’t take long at all, as long as you’re making some big-ish bets, for the pit boss to see you and start offering.
Craps comps can be huge, and you’ll get them a lot faster than, say, spending serious money in blackjack instead. Comps, comps, and more comps, if you’re a craps player that likes to flash the cash, you can expect plenty of these to fall in your direction.
Reason No. 5 – Craps Strategy is Just so Simple
Like I mentioned before, we’re not going to be picking apart craps strategies today and helping you figure those out – it’s just too much information to add to this article. We’ll save such an extensive topic for another day and another article.
The good news is that craps strategy rivals roulette in simplicity. There’s not actually a lot to take in, other than learning how the different bets work and when to use them. After that, you can pretty much ignore anything else that comes up in the game, instead just focusing on what you know and – more importantly – understand.
Craps is a game that seems complex, complicated, and overwhelming, but it’s really not. The wager strategies are easy to learn, easy to understand, and easy to execute. If you keep in mind the fact that craps only has a few wagers that are worth your time and money, you can ignore the others. Memorize that, do it again and again, and you can leave happy with cash in your pocket.
Let’s look at poker in comparison. In poker, there are a lot of strategies that can be employed, and all of them are mental. You have to study facial expressions, learning reactions that allow you to read their tells so that you can react to what they might have with your own bets. Blackjack is another one that seems like it would have a simple strategy, but instead, you have to study the cards and their combinations. Then you have to memorize them so that you can learn and use the hundreds of moves that are required for a variety of situations. It can be hard to find the right move for all of them.
Ultimately, poker and blackjack – both very popular games in casinos – are much more complex in terms of strategy than craps. After all, learning hundreds of combinations sounds much harder than just learning the handful of wagers in craps that can get you somewhere.
Reason No. 6 – It’s a Super Social Game
As we’ve mentioned in various sections above, craps is a game that relies on people playing together. Unlike other table games, craps tables encourage you to talk to the other gamblers, the observers, and even the dealers. You can ask how the table is going, how they’re doing, and make a friend while also making money.
Many Hollywood movies and TV shows have used the craps table as a location and for good reason. There is something about the buzz of the table that is hard to explain, with this actually bringing us on to our next point…
Reason No. 7 – Feel Like a Casino Superstar
When you stroll around the casino floor, you are going to see countless games that promise a good time, but realistically, how many of them can truly make you feel like a casino superstar? Honestly, not many can live up to the hype and deliver that experience. When you’re at the slots and video poker machines, you’re alone and isolated, and when you play the cards, you can expect other players to see you as the enemy. When you step up to the craps table to roll, you can expect to be the player in the spotlight, with all other players cheering you on.
Other players actually want you to win (yes, that is not a lie!) when you roll the dice. Expect big crowds to form when you’re on a hot streak and encouraging words to flow when things aren’t going your way. Rolling the dice at the casino craps table puts the focus on you and there is something to be said for soaking up the spotlight and feeling like a true casino superstar.
Reason No. 8 – It’s Time to Try Something Different
Let’s be honest, the casino games that receive the most focus at a casino all involve cards or reels. Poker, blackjack, slots, and others are all heavily promoted, to a point where you wouldn’t even know that other games are available. While craps might not be in the shop window as it were, there is no denying the excitement it serves up. Plus, no matter where you are in the world, if you’re in a casino, you’ll find a craps table, and that certainly stands for something.
Stepping away from the usual casino games can work wonders for your performance too, as a game that is luck-based like craps and can take the weight off your shoulders. There are tons of reason to give craps a try, even more than we’ve probably listed today, but the truth is that the ability to play something a little bit different (and maybe even something a bit more old school) is something that no player can afford to pass up.
Reason No. 9 – Crap is the Best All-Round Casino Game
We get that craps are a game that misses some elements that make other casino games very appealing. For starters, the thrill of direct player-to-player or player-to-dealer competition isn’t there, so you don’t quite feel that you’re best the house like you would if you busted the dealer in blackjack for example. But this shouldn’t be something you hold against craps, because as we’ve discussed above, this game does plenty else of offset drawbacks like these. In fact, it swings the scales more than enough in the other direction with a raft of reasons as to why this game is an underrated casino gem.
If you’re still wondering why you should give craps a try? Go back and read this in-depth article all over again to remind yourself, as this game brings enough elements together that it should be considered a must-play. This game is fun, exciting, offers great odds, and has a social aspect unlike any other casino game in the word – if that’s not enough reason for you to give this game a try, we don’t know what it’ll take.
Why Play Craps? The Answer Should Be Obvious!
There are a lot of reasons to find yourself drawn to the craps tables. Maybe it’s the social aspect, the crowds that seem to be having the time of their lives. Maybe it’s the low house edge that draws you in, or even how easy it is to learn strategy, obtain comps from the pit boss, and even land on some occasional great winning streaks. There are plenty at the table to cheer you on, you can learn from the other players, and you can make a profit while having a blast. Notice that last statement, “make a profit while having a blast”, this explains what craps is all about and should certainly sell you this all-fun casino game.
Why play craps? Why not? Any and every casino player should give craps a shot if you ask us. No matter if you’re brand new to gambling or an old hat at the casino scene, you’ll have a great time and be glad you gave it a try. If you have any other reasons why you love craps, let us know and we might just do a follow up list in the very near future!
