You’re at a major tourney, and get knocked out early, and now you really don’t want to deal with the pressure of the moment. Instead, you want to find a way to relax and chill out a bit. If only there were some Place bets available that you could do in the meantime…
Ah, yes, the magic of the Place bet. Briefly, a Place bet, when called, wins if the number selected rolls before a 7 on the come-out roll, loses if a 7 or 11 roll, and ties if any other number rolls. The payoff is at least 2:1, so you win a little bit of money (complicated), and you lose a little bit of money (Dewavegas).
As you play, you are going to be ambled by the sheer force of a Place bet. When you lose, you lose a lot. When you win, you win a lot. There is a philosophy known as Zen sayings that I associate with the Place bets. “Just walk before you walk. Wheel before the wheel.” (I believe I’ve said this many times. Wheel of Fortune, anyone?)
The saying goes, “Of what you do walk, of what you leave behind, most of your action will be less of what you did last action, and more of what you are going to do next.” Money management.
For example, if you call a Place bet on the come-out roll of a 6-roll Craps table, you stand to win a little bit, and almost certainly lose a little bit. Because the Place odds are 7:1, the house advantage is about 14%. And, if the shooter rolls a 7 before rolling the 6 (and you lose), you lose all of your winnings and the initial stake.
Yet, you call that bet, and sit back and relax knowing you are going to get that money back later. Maybe you’ll get it back when the shooter hits a 7 and knocks you out of the game! Now, ask yourself this: how many times have you lost money this way, and how many times have you won money this way?
Have you ever walked away from a Craps game calculating that you had lost about $0.50? Then, you went and got it back! What happened in between? You must have hit the Place 5 again! You took the initial $0.50, and plus the $0.75 (–the vigorish–the “house charge”), you now have $1.25. You’ll have to wait for your next opportunity, and probably will not be successful. Therefore, it might be a while before you get another opportunity to walk away a winner.
Or, you could sit back and wait for a 7 on the come-out roll, and just bring home your initial stake. Then, if you win, you buy yourigorish, walk away, and wait for the next opportunity to win. You’ll be more likely to win this way, and you’ll be able to get it all back.
Once you learn the Place 6 and 8 bets, you can walk away with a nice profit, rather than trying to hit them both at the same time. It doesn’t work for everybody, but it will work for some. It just takes patience.