So you want to play craps? Excellent choice! It is common knowledge in the casino world that craps is one of the most popular and exciting games to play at the casinos. OK, I get that, but learning to play craps is also a little intimidating for most that are new to the game.
Here’s the good news… learning how to play craps is not as difficult or confusing as it looks. After reading this article, you will understand the secrets that cause confusion, but more importantly, you will walk away with the confidence needed to play craps successfully.
First things first… let’s remove the big mystery about the game of craps right now. Yes, there are many slang terms, odds and betting options available when you play craps. Always remember this — the majority of slang, odds and betting options are a complete waste of time. Why? They are all designed to add mystery, confusion and excitement to a game that would otherwise be… well, boring.
Listen, you are not going to be penalized for not speaking the lingo, knowing all the odds and making every possible bet…
Well… you will be penalized for trying to make every possible bet… you’ll lose all of your money! Think of it this way… when you go to your favorite restaurant, do you order every item on the menu, or just those items that you like?
So, when you play craps, you should only make the bets that offer you the best chance of winning, not the best chance of losing. Make sense? Great!
As for the lingo, look, if you can say the following words – change, give me odds, pass line, don’t pass, color me up – you have the important vocabulary you need. Yes, it really is that simple. Don’t fall for the other stuff; it is just a trap to free you from your cash.
Now for the fun part… here are the basics on how to play craps:
1. Play the lowest odds bets – pass line with odds or don’t pass line with odds. These are the safest bets that give the casino less advantage. You can make either bet whether you roll the dice or not.
2. When playing the pass line, if the shooter’s first roll (come out roll) is a 7 or 11, you will win. If the shooter continues to roll 7 or 11, you will continue to win. If the shooter rolls 2, 3, or 12, you will lose.
3. When playing the don’t pass line, if the shooter’s first roll (come out roll) is a 2 or 3, you will win. If the first roll is a 12, that will be a tie, you don’t win and you don’t lose. If the shooter continues to roll 2, 3 or 12 you will continue to win or tie. If the shooter’s first roll is a 7 or 11, you will lose.
4. Once the shooter establishes a point number (the shooter’s come out roll is either a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10), and you are betting on the pass line, you will win if the shooter rolls that point number again, before rolling a 7 and lose if the shooter rolls a 7 before rolling the point number again. If you are betting on the don’t pass line, you will win if the shooter rolls a 7 before rolling the point number a second time, and lose if the shooter rolls the point number again, before rolling a 7.
5. As for the odds bet on either pass or don’t pass, you can make this bet after a point number is established. If you are betting the pass line, and the table seems hot (the shooter is rolling a lot of numbers) make an odds bet with your pass line bet. If you are betting the don’t pass line, and the table seems cold (the shooters keep rolling 7 before repeating their point number), you can make an odds bet with your don’t pass bet.
risky form of leisure for people of all ages. Once you get started with gambling, it would be hard for you to stop. Once you engage in this game, there is a 50-50 chance of you winning a very large amount. However, if you do win, you would win big for sure. The Russian roulette, blackjack, poker, casino hold’em and baccarat are just some of the several forms of gambling. With the technological innovations of the present times, it is easy to gamble with the help of online casinos and the new online sports betting.
People, especially the Americans, have been known to be very much into sports, thus the invention of sports betting. Sports betting, from the name itself, is the art of betting on a certain sports team in any kind of sport and rooting for it to win. When the team of your choice wins, you gain instant profits. These profits are dependent on your initial bet on the team. Some people bet a moderate amount of money to try their luck. There are also some who are willing to bet thousands of dollars for their team because they are confident that the team they chose would win. Some are betting money on a team just for the thrill of it. Some, mostly the sports enthusiasts, are betting on their favorite team to show loyalty to it, not caring whether the odds are stacked against them. And of course, some are betting just because they want to profit out of it.
One of the famous sports where betting happens is baseball, considered to be “America’s sport.” The leading baseball league in the country of America and other parts of the world is the Major League Baseball. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are the all-time favorites in this league. Usually, people put their money on these two teams. When you enter sports betting, you place your money on a team. If that team wins, you win money.
If the team loses, then you lose money as well. It is that simple. What makes it devastating is that if you put real big money in a team and that team loses. You lose too. Luckily, there are different sports betting guides which are useful in winning bets. With these guides, you are sure to be successful in sports betting. One particular tip or guide for a triumphant sports bet is to root for a team which has a good reputation and is very capable of winning. Chances are this team would win again, making you victorious in the end as well. Also, divide your bet into portions and bet only the number of money you can bear to lose. If you would spread your money equally on much smaller bets, you have a larger percentage of winning. These are just the basic guides in sports betting that could be beneficial to you and help you earn winnings. Other sport betting guides are available online.
If you really want to pursue sports betting and be successful on your wagers on baseball or other sports, you should really invest time and money on a handicapper that uses experience, systems, angles and trends that could give you a winning streak, making you rich and profitable.
According to IRS section 61, “Except as otherwise provided in this subtitle, gross income means all income from whatever source derived…” This includes gambling sources of income. There are many assumptions about when to claim the winnings received from casinos. While most understand that the winnings are taxable, many assume that they are reportable only if the casino presents them with a tax form to be filed with their returns. The correct assumption by the taxpayer should be that ANY and ALL winnings should be included in their returns, regardless of the documentation given to them by the casino. In fact, in the event of an IRS audit, a taxpayer having only those tax documents given to them by the casino risks losing all of their claimed gambling loss deductions and potentially paying tax on more than the winnings reported on their provided W-2G.
IRS Publication 529 cautions casual gambling taxpayers to be diligent with maintaining proper documentation of all gambling activities. Yes, this means another log book to keep up with. The information suggested by the publication to be documented includes, the date and type of specific wagering activity, the name and address of the gambling establishment, the names of other people present with you at the establishment, and the amounts of your winnings and losses. Maybe, the most important information to have recorded is the winnings and losses…listed separately. That’s right, no netting the totals at the end of the year and throwing that figure in your tax return, especially if you are among those reporting only losses. So, how are we to delineate our winnings and losses and at what point in time?
The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) does not offer specific guidelines on how to determine when winnings and losses occur, but does state that end-of-the-year netting is not allowed. Thankfully, Federal tax law gives guidance in George D. and Lillian M. Shollenberger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, T.C. Memo. 2009-306, and Szkircsak v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1980-129.Gambling activity should be accounted for by “sessions.” According to the courts, the beginning and ending of each session, or transaction, as it is described in the Shollenberger v. IRS case, is critical in determining the net win or loss to record. With no specific rules defining a session in the IRC, we can infer from the courts that it would be too cumbersome to expect a gambler to log each pull of the lever at a slot machine or each hand played at the poker table as an individual session, but rather the net outcome of a series of lever pulls or hands played in a single session. The net total from that session is then recorded as the win or loss. These session wins are logged separately from session losses and are then recorded on the individual’s tax return, with total winnings reported on line 21 on Form 1040 and total losses reported on Schedule A of the 1040. Remember, deductions for losses greater than winnings are not allowed.
Complying with the reporting rules of the IRS can be somewhat burdensome, but with the increased number of gambling establishments in recent years, it is inevitable that more and more audits are going to be directed at those tax returns with reported gambling income. Keeping documentation for gambling income and deductions follows the logic used in requiring documentation for other types of income and documentation such as standard W-2s and Form 1099s, receipts for purchases, and mileage reimbursement logs.
It is wise to seek further advice from a tax professional to plan your tax strategy before you decide to take a chance with the casinos.
How significant is it, for a player to find an online casino game with the very best odds possible? Take time to consider the question in hand. It may seem like a dim-witted question, but the reality is that it’s more complicated than one would think.
Your immediate response is probably that – you are only interested in playing online casino games with attractive odds. Yet, as in so many other areas of life, much of our online gaming behavior is based upon a multitude of other factors that diminish your sense of logic.
Putting a Price on entertainment
The vast majority of players who log onto the Internet to specifically play casino games are doing so purely for their own enjoyment. Although every player would love to log off wealthier than when they had logged in, studies have shown that the average online casino player will consistently choose games with lesser odds if the game is more stimulating. Therefore, the question which should have been asked is, “Where does the balance between entertainment and odds become a conflicting issue?” a good way to resolve this matter is to look at games that offer differentiating odds.
Even when players have this information at their disposal, still many choose to play the more entertaining game over the one that offers better odds. With this info available at least players will be making the decision from an educated vantage point, rather than make an decision based on impulse.
The Die Are Your Friends
Many gamblers already know that craps is one of the only games that offer players favourable odds. Because craps is a skilled based game, it’s one that rewards players that have taken time to perfect there skills. Along with poker, blackjack and other games that rely on intelligence and understanding more than luck, craps allows players to lower the house edge and improve their own odds.
Even with a game as favourable as craps it is still possible to end up in a position where your odds are stacked heavily against you. On no account should players ever make a proposition bet. These bets are attractive to risk-takers who love the thrill of huge financial bets that can be lost or won at the roll of a dice. However, intelligent gamblers understand the game of craps and the odds involved with proposition bets, which is why they leave them to adrenaline junkies and rookies.
Which Wheel Should You Spin?
If you consider yourself a true fan of the roulette table and can honestly say you enjoy the thrill it is still possible to maintain passable odds. The roulette variant you choose to play will have a significant impact on your overall odds as the European form of roulette offers greater odds in comparison to its American counterpart as they don’t have a double zero. As a logical result of this fact, online casinos tend to have an American wheel over the European equivalent. To get the best odds possible when playing roulette it’s advised that you spend a bit of time finding an online casino that does use a European wheel as this greatly increases your chances of winning.