Dear Reader; All of your questions have not only been interesting but challenging for me to answer as well. For this month we are going to keep the cover over the crap table and do a question and answer session.

One reader asks: What are the two or three best bets to make betting at craps, and why?

What I tell people at the game is that the best bet on the table is the one that wins for you! I would be hard pressed to convince you, especially if you have won even money, that you made a bad bet. However based on the house percentages against you, the pass line and/or come bet with the odds is the best you're gonna do. This breaks out to less than one percent against you. What we're talking about here is those don't pass and don't come bets also come in at less than one percent against ya. But you're not going to play the pass and don't pass at the same time. In a close second to go with that pass line bet is the place bet on the 6 or 8, or both. This bet pays 7 to6, meaning you get 7 chips for the 6 chips you bet on the 6 or the 8. The percentage against you is just over one percent. Based on true odds, part of which we discussed last month, the 6 should pay 7.20. So the .20 units you don't get on the 13 units (6+7) you do get, makes this a pretty good bet. Good luck and enjoy your game.

Another reader made an interesting response to one of my answers that dealt with rolling three consecutive sixes: I think, he said, that you forgot to take into account the fact that there are 5 ways to make a six, therefore the actual probability of rolling one six is in fact 5/36. So, to find the probability of rolling three consecutive sixes all one needs to do is to multiply this fraction by itself three times or 5/36 cubed. When you do this you get 125/466656. If you reduce this fraction, the chance of rolling three consecutive sixes is 1/373 and not one in 46656 as you stated in your answer.

Dear reader, all I can say to you is, its not how you drive but how you arrive. At the end of your statement was your fraction 1/373, which I think you to mean that the event will occur once every 373 tries. If you refer to the answer I you before, my drive to arrive came out to the same as yours. 36 combinations divided by 5 combinations of 6 = 7.2. Now the second 6 chances of showing is 7.2x7.2=51.84 and the 3rd six 7.2 x 7.2 x 7.2 = 373.25.

One of my readers is heading for Las Vegas for her birthday, which is at the end of June. She says she plans to get a little bit more serious (a bank of $2000-$3000 instead of the usual $300) with her betting than she had in the past. Her strategies are typically along the lines of looking for the hottest table and concentrating on pass line bets only. She is only a two-time visitor to Vegas and she came out a winner both times, "despite heavy drinking and always playing from wakeup till dawn with some breaks." She went on to say, "I know what a come bet is and I know that they are popular, but could you explain why they might be good? To me, it seems akin to just playing the pass line on multiple tables. A quicker way to burn through money, I think. I suspect that somebody will tell me that it has something to do with the cumulative effects of the odds. If you could explain that to me, in a way that's a little more thorough than saying, 'you're hedging your bets,' I'd appreciate it. I want to maximize my winning streaks and ramp up my bets when the table is hot. Should I make come bets a consistent part of my strategy or just for variety?

Well, birthday girl, you me with a good one. Your analogy of playing the pass line, on multiple tables, is right on target, but burn your money, hardly. You're confusing dice with poker. In poker you have no choice but to match the money others bet or you lose, period. That's burning your chips. On the dice table, you are the only one who controls what you bet and when. But if you want to put lots of bets in lots of places, well now you're burning your money. Think about those times you spent on the craps table. To me, you showed patience, which is the main ingredient in a successful time at dice. To only play the pass line, with the odds, of course, is very prudent. With your kind of patience and a minimum bet you can wait out the cold time. When I say minimum I mean your minimum. Remember what I said before, "You should increase when you win and decrease when you lose." As far as the Come bet being so popular, it is, and it should be. Isn't the Pass Line just as popular? The Come bet is a game within a game, and that game starts with the roll yet to come up. So if you have a pass line bet and a come bet at the same time, at the same table, it is still two different bets. You're not "hedging" or "burning" or fighting any "cumulative effect". If your out there, at the dice table, a long time you'll notice when those tables get hot or cold. So when they turn cold, make your regular bet. When they start to warm up spread out to a come bet or two, and if your still winning, then three. The biggest key here is being patient.

Speaking of "hot and cold tables, burning, fighting and cumulative effects", one of my readers stated: "Yeah, I suppose my confusion on this whole game seems to center on whether or not betting the Come, during a hot roll might in fact be counterproductive. It seems like a hot roll happens when the dice conform to the pattern of the pass line. I wouldn't think a hot roll would benefit a Come bet since a hot roller isn't sevening out you're relying on the roller to hit the Come bet's point and the odds are then working against you. Does it have something to do with a player's propensity to hit a particular point quite often? If so, then does that mean I should avoid placing come bets when a hot shooter is hitting points all across the board and then lay those bets on when another hot shooter seems to be repeatedly hitting the same point over and over?

Wow! That sounds like a lot of work!! The best advice I can give you, dear reader, is that you should "Go with the flow". If it's a hot shooter you're going to concentrate on, then try considering "place bets" on the number that seems to be repeatedly coming up for you. If its going to be just the pass line that's hitting often with a lot of naturals, then bet 'em up there for a while, 'cause those 7's won't do any come bets any good anyway. So, again I say, "Go with the flow." Good luck.

TRIVIA:
The craps table is a great leveler; it creates all men equal.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
Ha3ry will uncover his craps table again next month. Send your questions to "Ask Ha3ry" Contact him on site; http://www.4pointspress.com or direct your email to the Editor.