Craps
Numbers 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12
by Frank Scoblete The craps numbers 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
bring with them both
good and bad bets, and also good and bad qualities. The 8 can be made five ways with two dice: 6:2, 2:6, 5:3, 3:5 and 4:4. Only the 7 can be made more ways, six ways to be precise. The odds of the 7 being made before the 8 are six to five. The Placing of the 8 comes with a manageable 1.52 percent house edge. It must be Placed in multiples of $6. A winning wager pays off at $7 for $6. So far so good. However, many craps aficionados love to bet a Hard 8, that is, an 8 made 4:4. Here you are wagering that the 8 made with the other combinations, and also that the 7, will not show before that 4:4 is rolled. The true odds of the bet are ten to one; the casino pays nine to one. The house edge is a whopping nine percent! Eight is considered for the rich and powerful; those who hunger, not for righteousness, but for the right investments. Eight is also the first cube number and, as such, is considered the Guardian for craps. Eight is a perfect fit for craps. You play craps to make money; but the tendency on the part of craps players is never to be satisfied with their small or medium wins – they want to go for the gusto and wind up disappointed. Typical 8! Eight has some positive connotations, however. It is considered “a new beginning.” That means, I take it, that if you lose tonight’s craps game, you can always come back tomorrow. Craps Numbers: 9 or “Nina from If you can’t buy the 9 for the above prices, then Placing it must be done in units of $5. A winning Place bet on the 9 pays $7 to $5. Nine is often Placed in conjunction with the 5 and, when coupled with the 6 and 8, is one of the “inside”; when coupled with the 4 or 10 is considered one of the “outside.” Thus, it’s Janus-faced. In numerology, people who are characterized by the 9 are considered to be possessed of a great gift for religious and social service. As such, 9 is considered the most complete. Craps Numbers, 10 or “Big Ben” can be made three ways: 6:4, 4:6, and 5:5. It is one of the two outside point numbers. It is a two to one underdog to the 7. Placing of the 10 is big mistake because the house edge on such a Place bet is 6.67 percent. Ten is placed in units of $5 and a winning bet pays $9. However, if you buy the 10, you can reduce the house edge substantially, especially in games where the casino takes the commission from winning bets only. Then a buy of the 10 for $25, comes in with a house edge of only about 1.3 percent. Not bad. As with any even number, reckless craps players like to bet Hard 10. This is even worse than betting the Hard 6 or Hard 8, since the house edge is 11 percent on the Hard 10 and only (only?) nine percent on the Hard 6 and 8. The 10 has special properties for numerologists as it can be made by adding up the first four numbers 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. This is important because we have ten digits on our hands. And why is having ten digits such a big deal? Because it represents the basics of all constructs: 1 = a point; 2 = a line; 3 = a triangle; and 4 = a pyramid. And a pyramid is where pharaohs and cats get buried when they’ve exhausted their one or nine lives. Hey, one and nine = 10! No good can come of betting those 2s and 3s, with their high house edges of 13.89 percent and 11.11 percent respectively. Right? Of course! Unfortunately, no good can come from betting that 11 or 12 either. In craps, the best winning bets are generally centrist, middle of the road, and not at the fringes. Craps Numbers: 11, known to everyone and all as the “yo-eleven,” is my favorite at craps because it comes from the department of redundancy and repetition department. The house edge on the yo-eleven is, holy cow! 11.11 percent. Something’s up. The yo-eleven, which literally means 11/11 comes in with an 11.11 percent house edge.. Well, I can clear up one mystery. The reason the dealers refer to the 11 as “yo-eleven” is to distinguish it from the 7 on the come-out roll. Seven and eleven sound very similar, especially in the heat of a craps battle, so by inserting the “yo” before “eleven,” no one can be confused about which has just been rolled by the shooter on his come-out. There can’t be any: “Was that a seven you just called or an eleven?” Once yo, sorry, I mean once you hear that “yo” you know it’s an 11. A bet on the 11, whether alone or in conjunction with others such as the bet “craps-eleven” or C and E, is a waste of money. At craps, you can see 120 rolls an hour. Betting just a single dollar on the 11 on all those rolls will give you an expected loss of $13.33 per hour. Not good. There are only two ways to make the 11 (oh, my, the 11, which is 1 and 1 will equal 2 ways in craps – more mysterious stuff, huh?) out of 36 possible combinations of the dice. It can be made 6:5 or 5:6. A straight up bet on the 11 will pay off at $30 for $1. The true odds are 35 to one. It’s a winner on the come-out roll for the Pass Line bettor and a loser for the Don’t Pass bettor. Except on the come-out roll, the 11 is best ignored. However, one cannot ignore its numerological qualities. The 11 stands for loyalty, steadfastness and a desire to preach to your fellow man. One such revelation which I had was, Don’t bet on the 11 because it has a high house edge. Craps Numbers: 12 is the outermost in craps along with the 2. It can only be made one way: 6:6. It is affectionately known as “boxcars”. On the come-out roll, it loses for the Pass Line bettor but pushes for the Don’t Pass bettor. If the casino allowed the 12 to win for the Don’t Pass bettor, instead of pushing, the house would lose its edge on the Darkside of the game, and nobody wants that to happen, except, perhaps, the players. The 12 is also one of the two field numbers that pays 2 to 1; the other being the 2. Betting the 12 straight up is even dumber than betting the yo-eleven since it has a house edge that is 13.89 percent. Bet this boxcar for 120 rolls and you’ll find that even at a dollar a pop, you can expect to lose $16.67 per hour! That’s awful. That’s also lunch. In numerology, the 12 represents the entire cycle of life, as a year has 12 months and a day has 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness (more or less). The Romans and other ancients looked upon 12 as sacred. There were 12 Olympian gods, 12 tablets of the Roman law, and 12 signs of the Zodiac. Craps numbers, looking at the world and counting the ways, somehow it all ties in. Perhaps the fact that craps is a very primitive game -- a group of (mostly) men hunkered over a large altar-like structure, trying to divine the will of the deities through the dice -- makes it the best possible game for gaining insights into reality. Craps Numbers is followed by the Math of the game OR Return to Learn Craps Program  |