Most people begin shooting craps at home. Just in case you’ve never played the game at all or are a beginner we’ll start with the fundamentals of play, and then touch on betting.
You throw a pair of dice, two cubes, bearing dots 1 to 6 inclusive. If the dots total 7 or 11 on the first roll, you win your bet, and the throw is called a “natural.”
Should the dice add to 2, 3 or 12 on the first roll, it’s “craps” and you lose. You keep the dice, however, and throw again.
When you as the shooter win, it is called a “pass.” When you lose, it is called a “missout” or “miss.” This is not always decided on the first roll. Instead of a “natural,” “7, 11″ or a “crap” - 2, 3, 12 - a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 may appear. Then, any such number becomes your “point” and you try to “make the point” by rolling it again before a 7 appears. Here, 7 is no longer lucky. Also, 2, 3, 11 and 12 have no significance when you are trying to “make the point.”
You keep on shooting until you “pass” by bringing up the needed “point” or until you “miss” by rolling a 7. If you “pass,” you win the bet, keep the dice, and proceed to make another bet.
BETTING
The following combinations should be committed to memory even before you pick up a pair of dice:
- There’s just one way to roll a 2: 1-1
- There are two ways to roll a 3: 1-2, 2-1
- There are three ways to roll a 4: 1-3, 2-2, 3-1
- There are four ways to roll a 5: 1-4, 2-3, 3-2, 4-1
- There are five ways to roll a 6: 1-5, 2-4, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1
- There are six ways to roll a 7: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1
- There are five ways to roll a 8: 2-6, 3-5, 4-4, 5-3, 6-2
- There are four ways to roll a 9: 3-6, 4-5, 5-4, 6-3
- There are three ways to roll a 10: 4-6, 5-5, 6-4
- There are two ways to roll an 11: 5-6, 6-5
- There’s just one way to roll a 12: 6-6
Now let’s start the private game. Each player rolls the dice to determine who comes closest to 12 in one roll. The highestand starts the game.
The shooter bets whatever amount he wants - for our purposes here let’s say it’s a dollar - and places that amount in the center of a circle formed by the players.
Now the money or the “center bet” is covered or “faded” by one or more players. That is, one player may put down a dollar and cover all of it, or two or more players may choose to take a portion of the bet. Anyway, the money is faded and the shooter rolls the dice.
To get the game off to a good start, we’ll say the shooter rolled a 7, a “natural,” so he wins. Remembering the probabilities in dice, there are exactly 6 such combinations out of a possible 36. (11 would have been a “natural” too - with only two ways to roll it). Our shooter was pretty lucky here.
With two dollars in the center, he can either “let it ride” - bet that amount on the next roll, or draw a portion of it and bet the remainder on the next roll. Also, he can draw the two dollars and pass the dice to the next player on his left. But that is rare.
Let’s say that the shooter chooses to “let it ride.” He shoots again and this time it’s a 3 - “Craps.” So he loses the money but retains the dice. Out of 36 possible combinations, there are only 2 ways to roll a 3. (Of course, 2 and 12 would have been “Craps” as well - and there’s just one way to roll each of those numbers out of a possible 36 combinations). So our shooter wasn’t too lucky this time.
See how exciting this simple game can be. Have fun!
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Online poker has become so big in the last five years, that there’s a whole breed of very capable poker players who have never played a real-life game away from their computer. These people have no idea just how exciting offline poker can be.
There are two main reasons why online poker is so much more popular than offline poker - convenience and speed. It is obviously more convenient to just switch on your computer and start playing whenever you feel like it, and you can also get through a lot more hands online due to computerised dealers and less thinking time being permitted.
However, there are several reasons why offline poker can be just as exciting as online poker, if not more so.
Firstly, in the real world you can actually socialize with other players. Poker can become a social event, and more of an enjoyable experience than playing on your computer which can be quite a lonely existence. The chat facility just doesn’t compare to actually talking to other players at the table in live games.
Another benefit is that actually being able to see your opponents makes it much easier to identify how strong or weak an opponents hand is, and whether they are bluffing or not. This is because you can get valuable information from subconscious tells that other players make. In the online world, of course, you cannot see who you’re up against and can only look at the betting patterns and frequency of the other players to be able to identify bluffs and make informed decisions.
Also another thing that offline poker has going for it, particularly in poker clubs or casinos, is the atmosphere and the sense of occasion when you are involved in a tournament. This is especially true when you reach the final table of a tournament when the eyes of the casino are on you, and if you can actually win then it’s an amazing feeling winning in front of so many people.
This just doesn’t happen in online poker where if you happen to win a tournament, you get a great feeling winning the prize, but it’s largely an anonymous win as no-one knows who you are, and to them you’re just another random username.
Finally, it’s the little things that you notice when you first start playing live games away from your computer. Things like handling real chips, verbally announcing your decisions, and dramatically announcing ‘I’m all-in’ as you stand up to await your fate, all add to the enjoyment of playing offline poker.
So if you’re one of the many online players who have yet to experience the excitement of live games, I can strongly recommend you leave the comfort of your computer and give offline poker a chance as it can be even more exciting than online poker.
James Woolley is a regular poker player and the author of a poker blog which is a complete guide to internet poker, and contains the very latest holdem poker tips to help you become a better poker player.
It doesn’t matter what field of betting that you may be interested in, Free Bets are available now and are here to stay. Why? Online Sports Betting Bookmakers in particular need a way of encouraging new customers to register with them. Like many other businesses, a free gift, voucher or welcome bonus that carries a money value is a perfectly legitimate and fair way of getting new customers on board and in their database!
In the betting world it’s the same. A bookmaker will offer their free bet to newly registered punters when they create their online account. It’s very similar to the way a bank gives you a 20 pound shopping voucher when you open a savings account with them. The voucher has a real value and is something you can use.
Free Bets carry a real cash value. If you register with a bookmaker and they offer you 25 quid in free bets then you can deposit as much as you wish between 10-25 pounds and receive a match of your deposit from them to a maximum of the free bet value offer.
Therefore, if you’ve deposited 10 pounds, you’ll receive the same to bring your available betting fund to 20. This 10 GBP from the bookmaker is your Free Bet and you can deposit up to the free bets offer value (in this case 25) but if you deposit over this amount, you won’t receive any further match.
There are a few types of free bets, with some bookmakers giving a smaller free bet but over a few weeks, each week you receive a certain free bet value after you’ve placed bets from using the previous weeks free bet. This is useful to punters who may be weekly paid and can’t stump up the full amount they want at the beginning of a month.
Some bookmakers have other provisos that you can receive a certain free bet and use that within a certain time period, then claim another and so on or if you use the free bet and then place a certain number of consecutive bets to qualify for another.
A mistake a lot of people make is to think that free bets are just for sports betting. This is absolutely not true and indeed couldn’t be further from the truth. Outside Sports Betting is what is termed “Events Betting” which embraces almost anything you could think of that isn’t sports!
Examples of these areas are Financials, Weather, Music, Next Prime Minister Betting, next England Football Manager and so on. The list really is endless. Bookmakers offer odds on all these types of events but more importantly offer free bets to new customers who want to bet on them.
Remember this is something that is used to add funds to your account, not to encourage you to bet on anything in particular. If you want to bet on the Eurovision Song Contest, then create your account in the usual way, qualify and receive the welcoming free bet and you are free to bet on anything the bookie offers odds on, in this example - Eurovision.
So get looking around for free bets offers from most of the bookmakers to add to your betting budget. It really is an easy way to double your fund before you’ve done anything. There have been free bets offered as high as 250 pounds.
Did you know you can place Free Bets on practically any event or sporting outcome?
Sports betting, particularly football betting, has become significantly more sophisticated over the past decade with players mining years of research in an effort to gain an edge on Nevada and online sportsbooks. These so-called technical handicappers use trends, or prior team tendencies, to try to predict future results:
THURSDAY, AUG. 30
Miami (OH) at Ball State: The visitor is 6-2 against the spread (ATS) in this series since 1995.
Buffalo at Rutgers: Rutgers is 8-2 ATS at home in its last 10 games versus non-conference opponents.
LSU at Mississippi State: LSU is 9-1 ATS last 10 versus Mississippi State and 7-0 ATS its last seven in Starkville.
Kent State at Iowa State: Iowa State is 7-1-1 ATS versus Mid-America Conference opponents.
UNLV at Utah State: UNLV is just 6-14 ATS in September games since 2001 but Utah State is 10-19 ATS as an underdog the last three seasons.
Utah at Oregon State: Utah is 11-1 ATS as a road underdog off more than three points its last dozen games in that situation. Oregon State is 4-8 ATS in Corvallis openers since 1996.
Tulsa at ULM: Tulsa is 8-21 ATS on grass fields like the one the Golden Hurricane will play on at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
FRIDAY, AUG. 31
Navy at Temple: Temple has covered three of its last four games against Navy but the Midshipmen are 9-3 as road favorites the past four years.
Washington at Syracuse: Washington is 3-14-1 ATS versus non-conference opponents. Syracuse is 18-2-2 ATS its last 22 games at home versus non-conference foes. Statistically, this is the strongest game of the opening week.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 1
Western Michigan at West Virginia: West Virginia is just 6-12-1 ATS as a sports betting home favorite the last four years.
East Carolina at Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech has covered four straight games against East Carolina and is 7-2 ATS in home openers since 1997.
Marshall at Miami (FL): Marshall is 5-10 as a road underdog the past three seasons.
Alabama-Birmingham at Michigan State: Michigan State is 5-13 ATS the last seven seasons as a double-digit home favorite.
Connecticut at Duke: UConn has won its first lined game of the season five consecutive years while Duke is 1-11 ATS at home versus non-conference opponents.
Washington State at Wisconsin: Washington State is 8-2 ATS on the road versus non-conference opponents.
Georgia Tech at Notre Dame: Georgia Tech has covered three straight against Notre Dame and is 10-6 ATS overall as a road underdog the past four seasons.
Missouri at Illinois: Missouri has covered five of its last six games against Illinois.
UCLA at Stanford: The home team is 6-1-1 ATS the last eight games in this series.
Wake Forest at Boston College: Wake Forest has covered four straight games versus Boston College.
Baylor at TCU: TCU is 10-3 ATS in its last 13 home openers.
Central Michigan at Kansas: Central Michigan is 1-7 as a non-conference sports betting road underdog of 24 or fewer points.
Colorado State vs. Colorado (Denver): Colorado State is 12-5 ATS since 1986 and has covered three in a row versus rival Colorado.
Eastern Michigan at Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh is 1-9 ATS as a home favorite of 20 or more points.
Kansas State at Auburn: Kansas State is 1-6 ATS as a non-conference underdog of more than four points.
Bowling Green at Minnesota: Bowling Green is 6-1 ATS as a non-conference road underdog of four or more points.
Tennessee at California: Tennessee is 9-3 ATS in its last 12 openers, including a 35-18 victory over California last year.
New Mexico AT UTEP: New Mexico has covered three of the last four in this series.
San Jose State at Arizona State: Arizona State is 10-2 as a non-conference home favorite.
Idaho at USC: USC is 6-1 as a non-conference favorite of 20 or more points.
Troy at Arkansas: Troy is 9-5 ATS as a road underdog the last three seasons.
Middle Tennessee at Florida Atlantic: Middle Tennessee is 7-1 ATS in its first lined game of the season.
MONDAY, SEPT. 3
Texas Tech at SMU: SMU is 1-4 ATS in season openers the last five seasons.
Florida State at Clemson: Clemson has covered three of the last four overall and six of the last seven at home in this series.
Are the above sportsbook busters guaranteed? Of course not. But historians point out that by studying the past we’re better equipped to predict the future. That may be true for sports betting, too.
Written and copyrighted by Karol Lucan for http://www.thegreek.com - The Greek Sportsbook & Casino is host to one of the top online sportsbooks offering sports betting on NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and all other major sports. The Greek is a must have sports betting and entertainment portal with one of the largest wagering menus available online. Article reproductions must include a link pointing to http://www.thegreek.com
THURSDAY, SEPT. 6
New Orleans at Indianapolis: The Saints have covered four of their last five meetings with the Colts but Indianapolis has been strong out of the gate, notching a 6-1-1 mark against the spread (ATS) in its last eight season openers.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 9
Denver at Buffalo: The Broncos have been a solid road favorite over the past four seasons, notching an 11-7-1 mark ATS. Buffalo is 7-1 ATS at home preceding back-to-back road games. The Bills head to Pittsburgh and New England after hosting Denver.
Pittsburgh at Cleveland: The Steelers have covered seven straight games against the Browns, including four in a row in Cleveland. The Browns are 2-9 as division underdogs of seven points or less. The line opened with Pittsburgh favored by a field goal.
Philadelphia at Green Bay: The Eagles have covered seven of their last eight meetings with the Packers, including three straight in Green Bay. The Packers are 1-7 as a home underdog the last four years, including 0-5 last season, and are 1-7 ATS their last eight home games against non-conference foes.
Kansas City at Houston: Houston is 1-5 ATS at home against a non-division opponent in September but Kansas City is a pathetic 1-10 ATS as a non-conference road favorite. The Chiefs opened as a 1-point underdog but the line could switch so watch this one closely.
Tennessee at Jacksonville: Jacksonville has covered eight consecutive openers. Forget about the money line; the straight up (SU) winner also is 22-2 ATS in the Tennessee-Jacksonville series.
Atlanta at Minnesota: The Falcons are 4-1 ATS their last five games versus the Vikings, including 3-1 their last four trips to Minnesota. Atlanta is 16-10-1 ATS in season openers since 1980.
New England at New York Jets: The Patriots have covered five of their last six encounters with the Jets and have a streak of eight straight pointspread wins against them in New York. New England also is 16-8 ATS versus the division the past four years.
Carolina at St. Louis: The Panthers have covered the spread four games in a row against the Rams. Since 1980, St. Louis is 7-13-1 ATS as an opening game favorite.
Miami at Washington: The Redskins have covered four of their last five meetings with the Dolphins but Miami also is 7-1 ATS on the road versus non-conference foes.
Detroit at Oakland: The Raiders have covered four of their last five meetings with the Lions. Since 1980, Oakland is 7-2 ATS in home openers.
Chicago at San Diego: The Bears have covered four straight games versus the Chargers and own the AFC West with a remarkable 17-2-1 record ATS the last 20 meetings. Chicago is 7-3 ATS as an underdog in season openers the last 27 years.
Tampa Bay at Seattle: The Buccaneers are 1-7 ATS versus non-conference opponents their last eight and are 1-3 ATS versus the Seahawks their last four meetings. Seattle is 17-3 ATS in September versus less than .500 SU competition.
New York Giants at Dallas: The Giants are undefeated (5-0-1 ATS) in their last six games against the Cowboys and are 3-1-1 ATS versus them in Dallas. The Cowboys are 6-7 ATS as a favorite on opening day.
MONDAY, SEPT. 10
Baltimore at Cincinnati: The Bengals have covered four of their last five against the Ravens. The favorite in the Ravens-Bengals series (Cincinnati opened -3) is 6-1 the last seven games. Baltimore is 13-11 ATS on Monday Night Football, including 2-4 as a road underdog. Cincy is 5-10 ATS on MNF, including 1-1 as a home favorite.
Arizona at San Francisco: The Cardinals have covered three of their last four meetings with the Niners. Since 1980, Arizona is 2-6 ATS on Monday Night Football, but has never been a road underdog. With an ATS record of 33-13-1, San Francisco is the champion of MNF. The Niners are a superb 16-5-1 in the role of home favorite.
Are the above Sportsbook busters guaranteed? Of course not. But historians point out that by studying the past we’re better equipped to predict the future. That may be true for sports betting, too.
Written and copyrighted by Luken Karel for http://www.thegreek.com - The Greek Sportsbook & Casino is host to one of the top online sportsbooks offering sports betting on NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and all other major sports. The Greek is a must have sports betting and entertainment portal with one of the largest wagering menus available online. Article reproductions must include a link pointing to http://www.thegreek.com