You’ll hear them
call out: “Give me $44 inside.” That means
$10 on the 5 and 9, $12 on the 6 and 8.
When you place the
5 in increments of $5, a winning wager will pay
$7. At first this might sound great, but the true
odds of the bet would be $6 for $4. You’re
betting an extra dollar but that extra dollar is
only being paid off at even money. The house edge
on a placement of the 5 is four percent.
Perhaps the reason 5 is called “fever,”
has to do with its religious connotations. Five
is considered the number of the flesh and is therefore
somewhat naughty. It was also the number of wounds
Christ suffered on his flesh when he was on the
cross. People whose names add up to 5 are often
said to be sexually promiscuous, sociable, willing
to take risks, clever, erotic and amusing. Some
are also debauched. We have 5 senses and some ancient
Greeks believed that there were 5 basic elements
in nature. The 5 is made up of the male number 3
and the female number 2, so if you’re androgynous,
it’s probably a good number for you at craps,
although it will still be difficult to overcome
that four percent edge on placing it!
One of the two most
powerful numbers (after the 7) at craps is the 6.
There are five ways to make a 6 (1:5, 5:1; 2:4,
4:2 and 3:3) and thus the 7 is merely a six-to-five
favorite over this number. Placing the 6 is not
a bad bet as craps bets go since the house has only
a 1.5 percent edge. You bet $6 to win $7. However,
if you are going for that longshot of a hard six
(3:3) be aware that the casino has a nine percent
edge over you. Ouch! Many craps players like to
place the 6 and the 8 together as these are the
two most-frequently appearing numbers (again, after
the 7).
Unlike the sexy 5,
the 6 is a settled, relaxed, passive, and normal
number but it has a powerful love component as well
– it represents a mother’s love. As such
it’s clean and unselfish. Although it is considered
a female number and somewhat passive, it is not
a bad luck number (in Western thinking, most things
associated with femaleness are unlucky or not good
– just tell your 10 year-old son he “throws
like a girl” for verification of this thesis),
in fact it is a “perfect number” as its
divisors, other than itself, add up to it: 1 + 2
+ 3 = 6. Of the first 10 numbers it is the only
such number.
Now we come to the
central number in all of craps, the 7; sometimes
called “the devil,” sometimes called “big
red,” sometimes called “that number”
so as not to say it aloud and bring down bad luck
on the table. The 7 is the most powerful number
at craps and the most pivotal. It can be made six
ways (1:6, 6:1, 3:4, 4:3, 2:5 and 5:2). If you take
a look at a single die, you will notice that all
the opposite sides add up to 7. Take a look at the
side that has the six-spots, flip it over and you’ll
see the one spot; the four-spots, opposite the three-spots;
the two-spots opposite the five-spots. Every time
a single die lands, we’re halfway to seeing
a 7 appear.
The 7 is a boon on
the come-out roll. If it hits, you win your Pass
Line bet immediately. It’s a bane on the “point”
side of the game, however, since a shooter must
make his “point number” before a 7 to
win. During the point cycle of the game, the 7 is
a two-to-one favorite to beat the 4 and 10, a three-to-two
favorite to beat the 5 and 9, and a six-to-five
favorite to beat the 6 and 8. And don’t think
that betting a 7 straight-up is going to help you
loot the casino coffers. The Any Seven bet is the
single worst bet at craps. It’s a one-roll
bet that the next number will be a 7. You get paid
four-to-one if it is. This might sound like a decent
payoff but when you realize that the true odds of
the bet are five to one, you soon discover that
the casino has a 16.67 percent edge. If the 7 is
the devil, then the Any Seven is a legion of fallen
angels.
The 7 in numerology
and religion has both good and bad connotations.
There are 7 pillars of wisdom but also 7 deadly
sins. There are 7 heavens but also 7 virgins get
hacked up to feed some ancient monsters such as
the minotur. Seven is considered the number of completeness,
as there are 7 days in a week, and then we start
all over again. In craps, a 7 wins in the beginning
and loses in the end for Pass Line bettors; it’s
just the opposite for Don’t Pass bettors. (Check
out the exclusive interview I did with the 7 in
a past issue of Midwest Gaming and Travel.)
For craps players,
the 7 is a god –it is feared, it is loved,
it is supreme and we sacrifice a lot of money to
gain its favor.
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