For many years I’ve recommended my Heat Seeking Craps Strategy as a savvy way for players with limited bankrolls to approach the game. The strategy has a number of advantages that work well for players on a budget – most notably that is positions the player to win with very little downside risk. When played properly you’ll never have more than three units at risk per hand – and in fairly short order you can lock up a profit and play from a position of power.
As originally designed, this was a strategy developed to give you a way to bet on the random rollers with very little downside risk. As such, it incorporates certain “qualifiers.” Many of these are superstition based, but that’s fine. If they delay your entry into the game by one roll then that’s one less roll where your bets are exposed to the house edge.
For this play we’re going to assume the guy doing the betting is a high roller who buys in for $3000. He likes to keep 10% of his bankroll on the table, so he’ll be looking to get $300 out there in fairly short order. He takes that $300 and places it in the front rack, then sets his remaining $2700 in the back rail. As our player wins he will place the winning chips in the front rack along side his action chips. When the dollar value of the chips in the front rack exceeds $350 he has the choice of stepping up his play to the next level.
Let’s say our player watches a new shooter come out, then toss a couple of box numbers, including one repeater. That’s his queue to get some action on the table, so he drops $120 on the layout and tells the dealer Place the six and eight for $60 each. Then he bets $50 in the Come. At this point, due to the hedge effect of the Come bet, the shooter has a net $70 at risk to win $70 on the six or eight. There are ten ways to win on the combined six and eight bet, versus six ways to lose on the seven. In essence, the shooter is booking the house instead of the other way around.
On the next toss of the dice one of four things happens. The shooter makes his pass, he throws a box number, he throws a craps or eleven, or he sevens out. If he sevens out, the series ends with a net $70 loss. If he throws a craps number and you lose your Come bet you must stop betting until you note another positive indicator. If he makes his Pass or throws any box number your Come bet will travel to that number.
Let’s assume the next number to roll is the nine and continue with our play. The come bet travels to the nine. The player now has three units at risk, $60 each on the six and eight plus a $50 flat bet on the nine. The dealer asks him if he wants odds. The answer is no. Instead the player drops another $50 on the Come, taking advantage of the hedge effect of the Come bet to reduce his exposure to two $60 units. That leaves him $80 in action chips in the rack and puts a total of $220 in action.
The shooter tosses the dice and rolls the six. A couple of things happen at this point. First of all, the $50 Come Bet travels to the six. Next the dealer will pay our player $70 for the $60 six place bet and bring the bet down. Our player will put his $70 winnings plus $10 of the original bet back in the rack, bringing his action chip total back up to $160. Then he will drop the remaining $50 in the Come to hedge his two flat bets and the Place action on the eight.
By this time the stickman will have tried valiantly to get our player to take odds on his Come bets. The box man may even have piggybacked on those recommendations. But the player is steadfast. “I’m playing a little system I like,” he says. And that’s that.
This time the shooter rolls a four. The $50 Come bet travels to the four. The player now has four bets on the layout – three contract Come bets that consist of $50 each on the four, six, and nine, plus a $60 Place bet on the eight. This is the highest point of risk in this strategy. The player has two options. First, to risk all Four units with no further Come action until one of his bets repeats and is paid, or to come down off the place bet on the eight and continue to Come bet.
Let’s assume our player does the former and assume the eight rolls next. Our player collects an additional $70 for the place bet and adds it to his action rack – bringing the total up to $250. But since the bet on the eight does not come down he makes no additional wagers.
Now let’s say the six repeats on the next roll. Since the six is a Come bet our shooter is paid $50 and the $50 Come bet comes down. At this point the shooter locks up $40 with in his action rack, bringing his front rack total to $290, then hands $60 to the dealer and re-places the six. Why? Because in the Heat Seeker we always want the six and eight working UNLESS there are four or more working bets on the layout. If the player finds himself with more than four bets working he must come down off the six or eight, or both.
Suppose the shooter makes his pass and throws the five on the next toss. Our shooter wants to do a quick tally so he notes he has $50 flat bets working on the four and nine, plus $60 each in Place Action on the six and eight. If he were to bring down the $120 action on the six and eight and drop it in his action rack he would find himself with a $110 win guarantee for the series. And since our shooter made his Pass, under the Heat Seeking Craps strategy the player can now make a Pass Line wager.
Our player makes a $50 Pass Line bet. This provides a partial hedge for his established Come bets and leaves him with just $50 at risk. The shooter gets the dice again and establishes a four as the point. The dealer pays the player’s $50 Come bet and hands off $100. The player takes $20 from his action chips, adds it to the $100 and Places the six and eight for $60 each. Then we start the entire process again. When those long, hot hands come along and there’s a profit in the rack the player has the option of adding odds on subsequent hits -always watching those action chips and focusing on keeping more than $300 in the rack.
Once again, the entire Heat Seeking Craps Strategy can be found at the link included above. The bottom line is this simple place/come betting strategy allows the player to see plenty of action while minimizing risk. It forces the bets to pay for themselves first while taking advantage of the lowest vig bets on the layout. Will it win 100% of the time? Of course not. But long, hot hands are what most players are looking for in the game. The Heat Seeking Craps Strategy will help you survive until the hot shooter comes along. Then – it’s money in your pocket.
