In online casino games like roulette and craps there are a fairly large number of bets on offer and players have to choose from these. In roulette all the bets have the same house edge and hence the choice depends only on the risk return levels acceptable. In online craps the different bets have different house edges. The problem is compounded by the fact that the house edges are not reported within the game by the online casinos. Players can calculate the house edges from the fair odds and the payouts offered. Though this is a simple process it is not a practical thing to do while wagering. It is easier to memorize which are the sucker bets and which are the acceptable bets.
A problem in online craps is that the sucker bets are interesting in some way or apparently favorable. Hence players often take them up without thinking too much. Any Craps is the bet that has given the game its name and is touted as the flagship bet. Any Craps is an outcome of 2, 3 or 12. This bet wins if any craps is rolled. The fair odds for this bet are 8 to 1. Online casinos pay only 7 to 1. The house edge for this bet works out to 11%.
Another popular bet is Any 7. This bet wins if a 7 is rolled. Uninformed players think that this is a good bet because 7 is the most frequently rolled number. There are six ways in which a 7 can be rolled and 30 ways in which any other number can be rolled. The fair odds for this bet are 5 to 1 but online casinos pay only 4 to 1. This leads to a house edge of over 16%, which is worse than that for Any Craps.
The Field Bet is a popular bet among new players. The bet wins if a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12 are rolled and loses if a 5, 6, 7, or 8 are rolled. Since the bet wins on more numbers than it loses new players think that it is a good bet. The fallacy is that though the bet loses on fewer numbers, those numbers are rolled more often. Actually, there are 16 ways in which this bet can be won and 20 in which it can be lost. The fair odds for this bet should be 5 to 4 but online casinos pay only even money. This leads to a house edge of over 5%.
The bets that should be taken up are the Pass Line and Come bets, which are very similar. The bets win immediately on a roll of 7 or 11 and lose immediately on a roll of any craps. If any other number is rolled then that number is established as a point. Then the player must roll the point before 7 in order to win. The house edge for this bet is not that simple to compute but it works out to 1.4%. One can easily appreciate why these bets are much better than the online craps bets described earlier. The reason why many new players tend to avoid these bets is that they are usually played out over a number of rolls.
