Craps: X is for Exit

by Larry Edell, published on Wednesday, February 2 2005

Before you start playing craps you should have both a win goal and a loss limit. For example, if you establish both limits to be 30% and you buy in with $500, this means that you will quit when you win or lose 30% of $500, or $150. Although this is a good system to follow, it doesn't maximize your profits so you take advantage of the positive steaks that occasionally present themselves. Let's look at an example. You buy in with $500 and start betting red chips, pass line and two come bets. The table is choppy so you stay at your minimum bet. Then, a little old lady comes along with a weird throw and keeps on throwing numbers. Do you stay at your minimum bet? Well, you could increase your flat bet while you are winning and decrease your bet if you are losing. You always want to make more money during a positive steak and bet less during a negative steak. Soon though, you're up $150 (your win goal) but she keeps on going. Should you stop, according to your limit or should you forget about it and keep betting? Just like you increased your bets when you were winning, you can now increase your buy in to preserve your win goal ratios. Let's say that you won $150. If you were to stop now and buy in again you would not have the $500 you started with, but $650 ($500 + $150). Since your win goal is 30% of your buy in, you now can win $195 (30% of $650) instead of $150 (30% of $500). This means that according to your pre-set 30% win goal, you can keep on playing until you win an extra $45. Of course, if you hit your new win goal of $195, you now have $500 plus $195 or $695. 30% of that figure is $209, so if conditions are positive enough you might want to make another bet. If is important to play this way and have an established exit goal every time you play. It is just like having a business plan and you should be treating every craps game you play like running a small business. So, have you ever wondered if there was some way to increase your winnings while preserving your pre-set exit strategy? Well, now you know! And, as always, good luck at the craps tables!