Gaming Guru

Parlaying the Field Bet

Jerry "Stickman" received this letter from a reader:

Hi Stickman,

Always enjoy your posts as I do the other guys as well. Regarding your comments on the field, I have an interesting idea.

Since the field pays 2.8% with a 3x's bet on the 12 in some casinos and considering a parlay situation, I'm finding an interesting scenario.

Consider this: If you place a bet for $5 on the field and parlay a win, it now becomes $10 bet. If you do that each roll for 8 rolls, you have 8 chances to get a 3 field roll parlay before losing $40. In other words, you can try to hit a 3 parlay 8 times before you lose the $40 because at anytime during the 8 rolls, if you get the 3 parlay, you win $40. Now if you consider you can also hit the 2 or 12, I call that the bonus round.

So if you can use the set Frank talks about in his book the 1-1 on top and 5-5 facing you and hit the 2 or 12 with any reasonable ability, the 8 parlay can net quite a win. Now if you consider the 4 parlay, the number of times you can try is 16 instead of 8.

The key is to be able to hit a 3 parlay on the field using dice setting and ability. Also, when you consider the parlay along with the potential for hitting the 2 or 12, it increases the win considerably.

Let me know what you think about that idea.

John

Hi John,

I am glad you enjoy the articles. You are correct in your belief that parlays become more attractive as your dice control becomes better. It is great fun to hit multiple parlays and collect a big win.

That being said, I am not a big fan of the field bet for several reasons. First, even though you win on 16 of the 36 possible dice combinations, you lose on 20 of them. You lose or win on each and every roll. That can wreak havoc with you bankroll.

Second, with the exception of the 2 and 12, you only win even money. I would prefer getting something a little closer to true odds.

Third, you can get a much better edge going for the 6 and 8 using the 3-V set. In fact, a truly skilled dice controller can make huge profits betting properly on the 6 or 8 as Frank writes in his new book Cutting Edge Craps - Advanced Strategies for Serious Players.

When I am shooting and place betting, I definitely favor the 6 and 8 (or 4 and 10 if the vig is taken on wins only). These bets still have the lowest house edge for place/buy bets so they are easiest to win money on. I will, however, look into what using the proper dice sets do to the house (or player) edge at various levels of dice control and publish my findings at a later date.

Jerry "Stickman"