How To Make a Major Move to Become BR*

Throughout Casino Tournament Strategy, being BR* is sitting in a good position.

BR* means any bankroll that advances to the next round of a tournament. To use a sports analogy, it means you make the playoffs; or if already in, you advance to the next round of the playoffs.

Once you have decided to make a major move in a crap tournament, you want to maximize your chance of success. Maximizing your chance of becoming BR* generally means betting as many of your chips as possible, and, unfortunately, usually means taking a chance of busting out. Bet all your chips if you can, and bet them all in a coordinated manner.

When you make a major move, you want to either become BR* or bust out; you do not want any other result. If you lose you want to lose all your chips, not just part of them.

The only time to bet less than all your chips in a major move to catch up is when the maximum is so low that you cannot bet the rest of your chips the way you want to bet them.

Place Bets

When you go all in, a good way to do it is on place bets. Place the 6 and 8 for as much as you can. If you have money left over after placing them for the max, place the 5. If you still have money left over, place the 9. If you still have money left, buy the 4. If you still have money left, buy the 10. If you are required to make a bet on pass or don’t pass, bet on pass. You also can take odds on your pass-line bet. And you can bet the big 6 and big 8.

The most efficient time to make your big place bets is when the shooter already has a point, because then a 7 will wipe you out completely. But if the people you are trying to catch are making big place bets but not on the come-out roll, then have place bets working on the come out roll to get the swing you need.

If you win a big bet and are still short of your target, parlay your winnings and keep betting your whole bankroll until it is the size you need.

4, 9, 10, Field

An alternative, when the person you are trying to catch is complicating your task by placing the 6 and 8 big, is to place or buy the 4, 9, and 10 with large bets, and make a large field bet. If a 4, 9, or 10 rolls, you win more than someone who has merely made the large place bets but no field bet. If a 7 rolls you lose all four of your large bets, but the person ahead of you who has gone up big on all the numbers could lose six large bets and drop behind you.

The way to make these large bets, if the person you are trying to catch is watching you carefully with the intent of matching your bets, is to go up with bets on the 4, 9, and 10 first. Then when your opponent transfers attention to the dealer to make matching place bets on the 4, 9, and 10, you quietly make your field bet.

5, 6, 8, Field

Another strategy, for use when an opponent is trying to match your bets, is to bet approximately a fourth of your bankroll as place bets on each of 5, 6, and 8. Then when your opponent is making bets and paying less attention to you, quietly bet the rest of your money in the field. If your opponent does not see your field bet, you will catch up if the next roll of the dice is a field roll. Of course that opponent will be even farther ahead of you if a 5, 6, or 8 rolls, and you will be wiped out if a 7 rolls. But you do have a 16/36 chance of winning a field bet.

A variation on this is to make big bets on the 6, 8, and field. Put about a third of your bankroll as place bets on 6 and 8. Then when your opponent turns to the dealer to place the 6 and 8, put the rest of your bankroll in the field.

Betting Behind a Number

If the people you are trying to catch have their money up as place bets or come bets on the numbers (“betting right” in crap parlance), then your best chance of getting the swing you need is to buy behind a number. If the maximum is large enough, buy behind one of the numbers with all of your money. It is better to have all of your money riding behind one number rather than split up behind several numbers, so that if you lose you lose it all at once.

Of course if you have so much money that you have to bet behind several numbers, then that is what you do. Sometimes the person you are trying to catch has such a large bet riding on a number that you can get the swing you need with a bet behind just that one number.

For example, suppose that in a tournament with a $300 maximum bet, BR1 has $300 on the pass line, the point is 10, and BR1 takes $600 odds. You can lay $600 to win $300 behind the 10, and if a 7 rolls you win $285 while BR1 loses $900 for a $1185 swing.

If the maximum is too small for you to bet all of your money as a buy bet behind one number, you still may be able to get all of your money in action behind a number by way of the don’t pass or don’t come. If double odds are allowed, bet at least 25% (30% with exact double odds) of your bankroll on the don’t pass (or don’t come) and after the shooter has a point, lay odds with the rest of your money.

If your bankroll is too big for you to get the whole thing in action behind one number via the don’t pass or don’t come, you can combine that bet with buying behind the same number. For example, if your bankroll is more than four times the maximum bet, you may not be able to bet your whole bankroll on the don’t pass or don’t come, even with double odds. But you can bet the maximum on the don’t pass (or don’t come), and as soon as your bet is behind a number, lay as much odds as you can. In addition, buy behind the same number.

For example, suppose the maximum bet is $300 and exact double odds are allowed. If you bet $300 on the don’t pass and the point is 6 or 8, you can lay $720 odds to win $600. And you can buy behind the point for $360 to win $300, giving the casino $15 commission. In total you have risked $1395. If the shooter makes the point, you lose the whole $1395. If the shooter sevens out, you win $1185. If the point is 5 or 9, you can risk as much as $1665 to win $1185. If the point is 4 or 10, you can risk as much as $2115 to win $1185.

If the person you are trying to catch is a skillful tournament player, the best way for you to catch up is to make a large bet on don’t pass or don’t come. After your bet is behind a number, lay as much odds as you can. And then bet the rest of your money behind the same number.

If that number rolls, you are wiped out; if a 7 rolls, you win. Generally when you go up behind a number with all your bankroll, the person you are trying to catch will not correlate with you; whereas if you went up on place bets instead, a good tournament player would make bets to correlate with you.

This article is part of a series, to be continued…

Casino games tournaments are fun, and they can be profitable too. In upcoming articles, we will continue to publish a series of excerpts from Stanford Wong’s book, Casino Tournament Strategy. Excerpted with permission, edited for this format.