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Bet Progressions

S. Stoynova (editor) |

How to Win at Craps with Betting Progressions

Once you have become well-accustomed to the game of craps and the betting options it provides, you are ready to start playing for fun. If you are looking for a profitable gambling, however, you still need to learn about bet progressions. This way you will know the right way to act when making stakes and you will be able to make the most of your casino experience.

Betting progressions help players manage their bankroll and enjoy a good outcome before they exhaust all of their funds. While there are different progression systems, some of them have definitely proven to be less efficient than others. You have probably heard of negative progressions which encourage players to increase their bets whenever they are on a losing streak. This strategy, however, has rarely proven to be effective.

If you are looking for systems which are more budget-friendly, you should opt for progressions which require raising your stakes only when you are winning. This can result in pretty generous payouts and can save you big damages to your bankroll.

We will examine several betting systems and see how they can improve your betting experience. Craps players will get familiar with some fixed rules of how to adjust the size of their wagers based on the preceding outcome.

The Purpose of Using Bet Progressions

Every gambler strives to lower the casino’s advantage as much as possible. This will simply give players better winning chances and will benefit them in the long run. While you cannot completely tilt the scales in your favor, you can definitely maintain the house advantage to manageable levels if you use the right betting progression.

While there are two types of progression – positive and negative – most craps experts will advise you not to fall into the deceiving nature of increasing your bets when you lose. While this may seem like a good strategy, it almost always ends up exhausting players’ bankrolls in no time.

If you really want to make the most of your gambling experience while using a progression, we recommend to raise your stakes whenever you are winning. This will definitely give you an opportunity to play longer and improve your chances of racking up great payouts.

If you are fairly new to craps, you are advised to start with a level bet size. Practicing progressions at home and getting comfortable while playing are key factors to making your craps experience fruitful and enjoyable. Once you are used to using a progression that works best for you and your budget, you can start your gambling by utilizing it.

While players who maintain a level bet size make the same wager whether they lose or win, when a progression is used, you can see the bets increasing their sizes after every win. While you can raise your bets whenever you are on a winning streak, you should keep your stakes at the minimum level whenever you lose. This way you will notice that your losses will be much more bearable when you are using positive progression. On the other hand, whenever you win and make bigger bets, you have the chance to enjoy better payouts in the long run.

Of course, it should be taken into account that even if you are enjoying a long winning streak, you are bound to eventually lose your bet which will be definitely increased if you have been using a positive progression. If you have used the system of increasing your bets after every win, you will definitely experience a bigger loss at the end of a winning streak compared to using a level betting system. This being said, after a third point is won, players who use a betting progression enjoy better results than those who do not.

Positive Bet Progression

Whenever you are playing craps, or any casino game for that matter, you will often encounter both negative and positive betting progression systems. While the first one is very popular among players, it has proven to be quite ineffective and systems like the Martingale one have caused many players to go broke in no time. Despite that, there are many followers to the negative progression who believe that increasing bets when losing will eventually turn the events in their favor and will help them enjoy massive wins.

If you are new to progressions, however, do not be fooled by the negative progression. Whenever you want to maximize your winnings and spare yourself the horror of running out of money in just a few games, you should start applying a positive progression. The basic intention of players who use this type of betting progression is to maintain a low level of losses and optimize their winnings. This is achieved by increasing the bet size whenever players are on a winning streak and keeping their stakes at the minimum whenever they lose.

There are different variations to the positive progression and players can determine for themselves which one will work the best for them. The one thing they all have in common, however, is helping players enjoy better payouts by applying the strategy of steadily raising the amount they are betting in the hopes of gathering bigger winnings.

When You Should Increase Your Bets

While using a positive progression may sound like an easy tactic, you should get familiar with the different progressions which will guide you through the game and will suggest you when the best moment for a bet increase is.

If you are experiencing an inconsistent flow of winnings and losses, even when you are using a positive progression of increasing your winning bets, your bankroll will still be decreasing. If we take for example a start with a $10 bet and you win, your next wager should be increased with 100% and you should stake $20. Another win will require an increase with 50% to a bet of $30. If the winning streak continues, you will constantly raise your bet with $10 which is still considered a positive progression, however, you are increasing the size of your bets with a lesser amount on every win.

Even though you are raising your stakes with the same fixed amount, you are still doubling your bet the first time with 100%. If you are betting double Odds on the Pass Line, for instance, this is quite the leap in the size of your wagers. In this case, your Line bet of $10 will be followed by a $20 bet on Double Odds which will result in a total of $30 which is quite the high risk.

If you want to slow down the increasing tempo of your bets, you can opt for raising your first bet with less than 100%. Your positive progression might look something along the lines of $10 – $15 – $20 – $25. This is still a system which will lead to great results if you are enjoying a winning streak.

It really does not matter what is the size of your initial bet or the amount you will choose for the raise of your following stakes. What matters, and has proven to be effective, is to continue increasing your winning bets but do it at a decreasing rate. This will ensure good winnings but will still manage to keep your losses at a reasonable level.

Another useful strategy is to consider every bet you put on the Pass Line or on Come as a separate wager. If your bet wins, you simply increase the following-up wager. If it wins again, you should raise your next stake as well. However, the rest of the bets should remain the same and would require an increase only when and if they are won.

Players can also opt for what is known as the Paroli Betting System. It is a type of positive progression which allows players to make the most of their craps gambling by making use of winning streaks. If you opt for this betting system, you simply need to determine a stopping point. Whenever you have reached the number of wins you have decided to play with a positive progression, you go back to the minimum bet you first started with.

For example, if you have decided to play with the Paroli betting system only for three consecutive wins. You can start by placing $5, then raising your stake after the first win to $10, follow the second win with a bet of $20 and after you win the third bet, you stop the positive progression and go back to the original bet of $5. While you are free to choose to use the betting system for more than three wins, you will have a difficult time completing a series of so many consecutive wins.

Alternatively, players can also opt for using a One Half Up betting system which will increase the risk much slower and will help players decrease their losses. If you are interested in using this strategy, you should start the positive progression, only after a certain number of wins. For example, you can opt for increasing your bets only after there have been two wins. If you start with a bet of $10 and you win, your next stake should also be $10. If you win for the second time, you should increase your wager to $15 and follow up the win by a stake increased to $20. However, if you lose the $15 bet, you should go back to the minimum of $10. This loss, however, will not cost you your entire profit as you will increase your bets slower and will go back to the minimum bet whenever you lose.

Leveling Off You Bets

When we are talking about betting progressions, it is very important to mention streaks and how they can easily be used in the wrong way. If you are still not convinced that the well-known Martingale system is not an appropriate way to win big on craps, then you should definitely take a better look at the progression this method utilizes.

If you are following the Martingale pattern of betting, you should stick to a minimum bet size while you are riding a winning streak. However, when you lose your bet, you should double your wager. If you lose yet again, you double your stake as well. This so-called negative progression continues until players eventually win. This, however, would mean that one long losing streak can cost players their entire bankroll and would definitely prove itself as a system which cannot bring a very fruitful outcome. What is more, using the Martingale system requires a huge bankroll and the sizes of bets can quickly skyrocket within just a few losses.

Let us take a look at the opposite approach of “riding the streak”, where players might actually enjoy pretty generous results. Whenever players make a winning bet, they can bet all of their winnings in the next round. If they enjoy a long winning streak, their payouts will quickly make their craps experience very fruitful. However, this betting strategy is also not the best way to enjoy your gambling since, just like the losing streaks, the winnings also come to an end at a certain point. This would mean that players who press their bets by including their previous bet and their winnings will eventually lose everything.

As seen in both of the aforementioned examples, it is important for players to quit playing with progressions at a certain point. This way they can avoid losing their profit or will at least cut down their losses. If you opt for leveling off your bets, you can easily enjoy a fruitful game and still use a betting progression. You can do this by simply setting a limit for the number of winnings you will play by increasing your stakes. You can also level off your bets by raising them at a decreasing rate as it was explained earlier. This way you will be able to manage your bankroll and enjoy a craps game with a moderately risky flow.

Depending on your preferences and the risk you are willing to make, you can opt for a steady positive progression which may look something along the lines of $10 – $20 – $30 – $40. If you, however, do not enjoy playing with a high risk, you can start increasing your stakes after the second win or stop raising your stakes after the third win.

Bet Progression on Don’t Pass and Don’t Come

Just as it is with the positive progression on other bets, you want to keep your stakes at the minimum while you are experiencing a losing streak. However, when you are making bets on Don’t Pass or Don’t Come, you will have to set your right-side betting in reverse.

The first thing you should do is to determine the betting pattern you will utilize while making wagers on the Don’t side. Let us assume that you have chosen to make a bet on Don’t Pass as well as on two Don’t Come numbers.

The goal of the gambler who has put his/her money on the wrong side (Don’t side) is to establish all of the 3 points, i.e. the one on the Don’t Pass and the two Don’t come numbers. The next step is to bet Double Odds on all 3 stakes and hopefully win when the shooter throws a 7.

In order to have a fruitful betting on the Don’t side, you will have to revert from the strategy used on the right side. If all 3 bets are won, you should increase your stakes in the come out roll. However, if you win only on 2 of the numbers, you will have to opt for a lower increase of the bets. This also applies to cases when you win all 3 numbers after the last point has been reestablished. When you are putting your money on the wrong side, you are advised to increase your bets at a decreasing rate.

If we take for example a starting betting point of $20, all of the 3 numbers are established and you have made bet on Double Odds, when the shooter throws a 7, you will win and would increase your stake to $30. If there are another 3 numbers established and you win all of your 3 bets yet again, you should raise your stake to $40. If you win this bet yet again, you should continue with the same stake of $40 until all of your bets are cleared.

If, however, you lose one of the three numbers before the shooter throws 7, you will increase your bets only to $25 instead of raising them to $30. If you lose 2 numbers, then you should not increase your bets. This way you will keep your losses as low as possible.

If you enjoy betting on the Don’t side, you can easily make your gambling more profitable by utilizing a positive progression. You can practice the increasing of bets under different circumstances and you will be able to enjoy your game of craps, no matter on which side you enjoy making bets.

Even if you wish to play more aggressively and increase your stakes faster, remember to keep them at the minimum size when you are experiencing losing streaks. This way you can minimize your losses and enjoy a fruitful gambling in the long run.

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