Craps. Simple odds game?

[silenus]

“Don’t Pass” means you are betting that the shooter will crap out and everybody who is playing the Pass Line and Points will lose. You are the one guy in a Yankees jersey at Fenway. You are, by definition and acclaim, an asshole.

Don’t be that guy.

[EllisDee]

The darkside is my favorite way to start on a table. Figure $300 buy-in on a $10 table. Put $10 on Don’t Pass, then $10 on the Don’t Come every roll after that. You’re basically putting $10 on the table every roll of the dice. Take no odds.

Keep your initial $300 in one stack, and put your winnings in a separate stack. Keep going until you’ve bet your entire $300.

Math says you should have around $290 after betting all $300, and this technique is about as low variance as you’ll find. However, it’s a ton of betting, so it feels like a lot of action. Fun, exciting, and reasonably safe, it gives you nice starter round to whet your whistle before you begin the business of losing all your money with odds and whatnot.

Doing the lightside instead works about the same mathematically, but it’s way less fun and engaging because the lightside wins most of its money (in this betting scheme) on the come out roll (7 or 11) which is much less satisfying.

EDIT: Note that I continue this even when I’m rolling. Nothing wrong with betting against yourself. Especially when you’re as bad a roller as I am. Feels like all my turns at shooter go “8, 6, 10, 7, next shooter!”

[buddy431]

@Amateur_Barbarian

You are trying to speak reason about an activity more laden with superstitious behavior than Middle Ages pro baseball.

Right. It’s not all that hard to compute the odds for each of the different bets. The best bet are the “odds” bets that are fair odds, but you have to place another bet before you’re allowed to place those. The next best bet is the “don’t pass”/“don’t come bet” (which are really the same bet, but have different names based on when you place them). People think you’re a jerk if you play the best bet (see quote), so instead most people play the “pass”/“come” bet (again, exactly the same bet, just made at different times).

The stupidest bet (in my opinion) is the “Big 6” and “Big 8” bets at the corner of the table. They are literally the same bet as putting money on the 6 or 8, but with a poorer payout.

[Cartoonacy]

An excerpt from Dr. Richard Feynman’s Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman:

One time I was eating lunch with one of the show girls. It was a quiet time in the afternoon; there was not the usual big bustle, and she said, “See
that man over there, walking across the lawn? That’s Nick the Greek. He’s a professional gambler.”

Now I knew damn well what all the odds were in Las Vegas, so I said, “How can he be a professional gambler?”

“I’ll call him over.”

Nick came over and she introduced us." Marilyn tells me that you’re a professional gambler."

“That’s correct.”

“Well, I’d like to know how it’s possible to make your living gambling, because at the table, the odds are .493.”

“You’re right,” he said, “and I’ll explain it to you. I don’t bet on the table, or things like that. I only bet when the odds are in my favor.”

“Huh? When are the odds ever in your favor?” I asked incredulously.

“It’s really quite easy,” he said. “I’m standing around a table, when some guy says, ‘It’s comin’ out nine! It’s gotta be a nine!’ The guy’s excited; he thinks it’s going to be a nine, and he wants to bet. Now I know the odds for all the numbers inside out, so I say to him, ‘I’ll bet you four to three it’s not a nine,’ and I win in the long run. I don’t bet on the table; instead, I bet with people around the table who have prejudices – superstitious ideas about lucky numbers.”

Nick continued: “Now that I’ve got a reputation, it’s even easier, because people will bet with me even when they know the odds aren’t very good, just to have the chance of telling the story, if they win, of how they beat Nick the Greek. So I really do make a living gambling, and it’s wonderful!”

So Nick the Greek was really an educated character. He was a very nice and engaging man. I thanked him for the explanation; now I understood it. I have to understand the world, you see.