“Hedging” is making one bet to “safeguard” another. You’ll frequently see players create a $5 (or $10) Pass Line bet after which hedge it having a $1 Any Craps bet. When the shooter rolls not a craps around the come-out roll, the Any Craps bet loses (but it is only $1, therefore it is not very painful). When the shooter rolls a craps around the come-out, the $5 Pass Line loses, however the $1 Any Craps wins (aside from the “bar” number, by which situation it is a push). The casino odds for just about any Craps are 7:1, therefore the player wins $7 for that $1 bet. When hedging, the gamer believes the $1 Any Craps bet “protects” the $5 Pass Line bet from losing around the come-out roll.
Another less frequent hedge bet is applying a $1 Hard 6 or 8 to assist safeguard the player’s Don’t Pass with Odds. For instance, suppose you are making a $5 Don’t Pass bet, the thing is 8, and also you then lay $12 in Odds from the point (i.e., using the $5 Don’t Pass and $12 Odds, your overall bet is $17). After this you create a $2 Hard 8 bet to basically remove one way you are able to lose the Don’t Pass. When the shooter makes her point by moving 8 the Hardway (i.e., 4-4), your Don’t Pass with Odds lose. However, within this example, the shooter made her point by moving 8 the Hardway, so that your $2 Hard 8 bet wins. Casino odds for that Hard 8 are 9:1, which means you win $18. Therefore, your $17 Don’t Pass and Odds bets lose but you are “protected” since your Hard 8 bet wins $18. Unhealthy news relating to this hedge bet is, when the shooter makes her reason for 8 the easiest way (i.e., 6-2, 2-6, 5-3, or 3-5), then you definitely lose your Don’t Pass with Odds and difficult 8 bets.
Hedging sounds fairly smart, right? Within the short-term, maybe. Within the lengthy-term, certainly not. Should you hit a 20-minute time period in which the distribution goes crazy and each other roll creates a 2, 3, or 12, maybe a $1 Any Craps is a great hedge to safeguard your Pass Line bet. Maybe. Whether it works and also you win a couple of Any Craps bets, then your table will think you are a genius. However in the lengthy-term, you’ll lose. The crazy variance within the distribution that shows a couple, 3, or 12 almost every other roll will not last lengthy. Therefore, should you consistently hedge your bets, you’ll lose with time. Why?
For that player (i.e., and not the casino), craps is really a negative expectation game. Everything up for grabs (except the real odds bet) is really a negative for that player. No possible mixture of negative-expectation bets exists that yields an optimistic expectation. Quite simply, you cannot mix several negative-expectation bets into something that’s to your benefit. You simply can’t. You need to realize that concept. Utilizing a bad bet (e.g., Any Craps or perhaps a Hardway) to hedge a great bet (e.g., Pass Line or Don’t Pass) only helps make the safe bet worse.
