I don't know why I play craps -- it's a game for losers. Those of you who appreciate the math of gambling will appreciate this fact: craps is a negative expectation game, and the longer you play and the more you bet the more you will lose.

Unless you happen to be darn lucky.

This past weekend, like too many other weekends, I was not darn lucky. The lucky guys and gals were at Table #6 in the craps pit at Caesars this past Friday night when, I was told on Saturday, that the Fire Bet for all six numbers hit twice in about an hour at the same table.

The Fire Bet is a bet that at least four of the points will pass and if all six points pass the maximum payoff is 1,000 to one. Caesars allows a maximum $10 bet or a maximum payoff of $10,000 per player.

Twice in an hour all six points passed -- and both times at the same table.

Those were lucky, lucky players -- if everyone bet the Fire Bet. But many don't.

I do and usually someone will make four or five "numbers." But on this trip the only Fire Bet payoff I got was when I threw four different passes and my $10 bet paid $250. And no doubt I spent more than that making the Fire Bet during my stay.

I also lost during the regular action -- on conservative bets, too.

So I have a new strategy for craps which I might try. Here it is:

Bet the passline without "odds" and make the fire bet on each shooter. That will limit my losses in a negative expectation game and just in case lightning strikes (about one in 6,100 times) I will be there.

One other observation: one of the hardest bets to win is the hardway bet. This is when you are betting that the dice will show 2+2 or 3+3 or 4+4 or 5+5 before a 7-out or before a "soft" 4 (3+1) or another "easy way" number is rolled.

It is not a good bet. Some players like to "turn off" their hardway bets on the come out roll. I guess this is because on a come out roll many players are hoping for "winner 7" which would make them lose on the hard way bet. But curiously enough most of the hard ways that I saw rolled when I was playing were in fact on the come out roll. So my feeling is if I'm going to bet a "hard way number" I'm going to let my bet "work" (that means be "on") even during the come out. What do you do?