Betting the Small, Tall, All Feature Bets at Craps

[Alan Mendelson]

In another thread, FABismonte asked about my betting strategy with the Small, Tall, All bets. I like these feature bets because they give the player a chance to win a lot of money with a small amount of money.

Generally in craps you have to bet big in order to win big because in traditional craps the biggest payout is 30 to 1 for a one-roll bet on the 2 or 12. The most common bets are either even money bets (you bet $5 to win $5) or they offer small percentage wins (you bet $6 to win $7).

Feature or bonus bets such as the Fire Bet offer a 1,000 to 1 payout, and the Small and Tall bets offer 35 to 1, while the All offers 175 to 1.

These feature or bonus bets give craps players the chance of hitting a jackpot the way a slot player might hit triple-7s or a video poker player might hit quad aces or a royal flush.

FAB asked this question after my late night trip to Bellagio where I hit the ALL but that big win came after some losing hands with the dice:

Do you always bet $25 on all three nowadays? Looks like your entire win was caused by the features bet.

FAB

I now bet $25 on myself -- after Jason yelled at me for getting the ALL three times when betting only $5 on the three bets. Twice I was playing with him and he was betting $10 on each while I was betting $5. I guess he has more faith in pops than I have.

Mostly with other players I bet $5 on each but I have bet $25 a few times. It depends how my session is going. It's long shot.

Yes, FAB, the ALL win was responsible for my profit. Craps is a tough game to win at because for "right way" players you win only one bet at a time but you lose them all if a 7 shows.

While I hit the ALL once on Saturday night, I also hit the small once in another turn with the dice, also with $25 on it. (Yes I was shooting.) But I also had turns with the dice when I rolled and set a point of 6, bet $130 across plus $125 as full odds on my $25 passline bet, had $25 on each of the Small, Tall, All bets and then threw a 7-out. In that case I lost with one roll of the dice $355. That was a big ouch.

So, because you can lose so much money with one roll of the dice, and you can win only one bet at a time with most craps bets, you really need to hit a bonus or feature bet to come out ahead.

[RS__]

So, because you can lose so much money with one roll of the dice, and you can win only one bet at a time with most craps bets, you really need to hit a bonus or feature bet to come out ahead.

Solid reasoning.