Craps For The Clueless: A Beginner's Guide to Playing and Winning (The Clueless Guides)

Explains the rules of craps, describes the odds for each combination, and offers advice on betting strategy

from Chapter 1: Introduction: The Game of Craps You ever play craps? You ever go to a casino, pick up them bones and toss them across the table, thereby igniting a mixed reaction from the players who gather around the table and live and die with every roll? Well, craps is both an easy game to play and is exciting in its assortment of possible wagers.

Craps for the Clueless

Craps for the Clueless is trying to go way, way, way back to the very essence of what craps is all about. It is aimed at the gambling neophyte who needs to have the game laid out in terms that even a four-year-old could understand.

Don't think for one second that I am saying that the millions of craps players now standing at the tables know everything about the game, because they don't. Sure, they know the object of craps, but they lack the skills of money management and discipline that separate the real players from the dorks.

I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll get to money management and discipline in later chapters. Right now, let's give you an idea of what you'll find on the following pages:

A Complete, basic approach to craps Skills to handle your bankroll All the knowledge you need to understand the good and bad plays A fabulous (if I do say so myself) money management approach An awareness of the all-important aspect of discipline

The Big Four

Before we get into the meat of the game, you need to understand what it takes to win consistently. It was already touched on in the previous chapter, but because it is absolutely essential you learn this, we'll go over it again.

There are four things you need in any form of gambling to help you have a shot at winning. I call them the Big Four. These are fundamentally important in increasing your chances of winning. Listed in order they are:

1. Bankroll: This is the amount of money you bring to battle. Every single betting decision spins off of your starting bankroll.

2. Knowledge of the Game: You must be perfect in understanding everything about the game you are playing, in this case, craps. This knowledge will help you avoid bad bets and increase your chance of winning by holding down losses.

3. Money Management: You'll find oodles of chapters on this subject because it is so crucial to your game. Money management can be summed up by asking yourself the following question: What do I bet after a win and what do I bet after a loss?

4. Discipline: This will determine whether you are in a position to gamble sensibly. It takes brains and guts to use discipline at the tables. Let's see if you can qualify on both counts.

This entire book will be broken down into sections, each going over the Big Four. The other two sections will deal with the things you need to help you learn the game of craps, but it all starts with the Big Four.

The Little Three

Right in the back of the back of the Big Four is the Little Three. These contain three additional necessities that help in your awareness of the pitfalls of gambling. They are:

1. Theory 2. Logic 3. Trends

Each of these categories gets their own section, so you get to see how they back up the Big Four.

For those of you squirming in your seats, waiting to learn about craps, hold on to your britches. In the chapter, "Knowledge of the Game," you'll get a bellyful of charts and explanations of the entire craps table. Believe it or not, this section is more important than the "Knowledge" chapter because it shows you how to lay out your day, rather than learning about the craps layout.

Sections on the Little Three will follow, but here are the other issues and terms you'll become familiar with:

Lost limits Win goals Sessions Reality Series Charting

Each of these will be addressed in their own sections, so look for them.