What is Crapless Craps?
Crapless craps games work like this – if the point has not yet been established (the button is “off”) and a two, three or 12 are rolled, these numbers are then established as points (just as four, five, six, eight, nine and 10 do on a standard game and unlike the regular craps where a pass line bettor would automatically lose if those numbers were rolled). Seem too good to be true? Well it definitely is!
Crapless craps is also known as ‘ruse craps’ and no, you won’t find crapless craps being played along this here Craps Street. In addition to the ‘cute-looking’ rules outlined above, in crapless craps, you also don’t win if the shooter throws a natural eleven. It too would become the point. With these ‘tweaks’ to the rules, the end result is that the house holds a 5.4 per cent edge on your pass line bet, versus the 1.4 per cent edge it may have in a typical craps game. No wonder shareholders of casinos that have Crapless Craps just LOVE IT! The pot is heavily leaned in the house’s favour, so our advice is to stay as far away from crapless craps as you possibly can.
Strangely, there are quite a few craps players that like this game. However, after being on the market for over thirty years, it still is difficult to find. From the Stratosphere in Vegas to some backwater boat in Mississippi, if you really do want to find it however, you can. Why is it so hard to find? Aside from the fact that its house edge is so high, it is also a proprietary game, which means casinos must pay a licensing fee to use the layout. Obviously there is and will continue to be a certain amount of player (and casino believe it or not) reluctance to accept the game. A big part of this comes out of a desire to avoid confusing payout schedules (more numbers that players and dealers have to learn).