A High Roller Approach to Heavy’s Heat Seeking Craps Strategy

For many years I’ve recommended my Heat Seeking Craps Strategy as a savvy way for players with limited bankrolls to approach the game. The strategy has a number of advantages that work well for players on a budget – most notably that is positions the player to win with very little downside risk. When played properly you’ll never have more than three units at risk per hand – and in fairly short order you can lock up a profit and play from a position of power.

For this play we’re going to assume the guy doing the betting is a high roller who buys in for $30,000. He likes to keep 10% of his bankroll on the table, so he’ll be looking to get $3000 out there in fairly short order. He takes that $3000 and places it in the front rack, then sets his remaining $27.000 in the back rail. As our player wins he will place the winning chips in the front rack along side his action chips. When the dollar value of the chips in the front rack exceeds $3500 he has the choice of stepping up his play to the next level.

Let’s say our player watches a new shooter come out, then toss a couple of box numbers, including one repeater. That’s his queue to get some action on the table, so he drops $1200 on the layout and tells the dealer Place the six and eight for $600 each. Then he bets $500 in the Come. At this point, due to the hedge effect of the Come bet, the shooter has a net $700 at risk to win $700 on the six or eight. There are ten ways to win on the combined six and eight bet, versus six ways to lose on the seven. In essence, the shooter is booking the house instead of the other way around.

On the next toss of the dice one of four things happens. The shooter makes his pass, he throws a box number, he throws a craps or eleven, or he sevens out. If he sevens out, the series ends with a net $700 loss. If he throws a craps number and you lose your Come bet you must stop betting until you note another positive indicator. If he makes his Pass or throws any box number your Come bet will travel to that number.

Let’s assume the next number to roll is the nine and continue with our play. The come bet travels to the nine. The player now has three units at risk, $600 each on the six and eight plus a $500 flat bet on the nine. The dealer asks him if he wants odds. The answer is no. Instead the player drops another $500 on the Come, taking advantage of the hedge effect of the Come bet to reduce his exposure to two $60 units. That leaves him $800 in action chips in the rack and puts a total of $2200 in action.

The shooter tosses the dice and rolls the six. A couple of things happen at this point. First of all, the $500 Come Bet travels to the six. Next the dealer will pay our player $700 for the $600 six place bet and bring the bet down. Our player will put his $700 winnings plus $100 of the original bet back in the rack, bringing his action chip total back up to $1600. Then he will drop the remaining $500 in the Come to hedge his two flat bets and the Place action on the eight.

By this time the stickman will have tried valiantly to get our player to take odds on his Come bets. The box man may even have piggybacked on those recommendations. But the player is steadfast. “I’m playing a little system I like,” he says. And that’s that.

This time the shooter rolls a four. The $500 Come bet travels to the four. The player now has four bets on the layout – three contract Come bets that consist of $500 each on the four, six, and nine, plus a $600 Place bet on the eight. This is the highest point of risk in this strategy. The player has two options. First, to risk all Four units with no further Come action until one of his bets repeats and is paid, or to come down off the place bet on the eight and continue to Come bet.

Let’s assume our player does the former and assume the eight rolls next. Our player collects an additional $70 for the place bet and adds it to his action rack – bringing the total up to $250. But since the bet on the eight does not come down he makes no additional wagers.

Now let’s say the six repeats on the next roll. Since the six is a Come bet our shooter is paid $500 and the $500 Come bet comes down. At this point the shooter locks up $400 with in his action rack, bringing his front rack total to $290, then hands $600 to the dealer and re-places the six. Why? Because in the Heat Seeker we always want the six and eight working UNLESS there are four or more working bets on the layout. If the player finds himself with more than four bets working he must come down off the six or eight, or both.

Suppose the shooter makes his pass and throws the five on the next toss. Our shooter wants to do a quick tally so he notes he has $500 flat bets working on the four and nine, plus $60 each in Place Action on the six and eight. If he were to bring down the $1200 action on the six and eight and drop it in his action rack he would find himself with a $110 win guarantee for the series. And since our shooter made his Pass, under the Heat Seeking Craps strategy the player can now make a Pass Line wager.

Our player makes a $500 Pass Line bet. This provides a partial hedge for his established Come bets and leaves him with just $50 at risk. The shooter gets the dice again and establishes a four as the point. The dealer pays the player’s $50 Come bet and hands off $1000. The player takes $20 from his action chips, adds it to the $1000 and Places the six and eight for $600 each. Then we start the entire process again. When those long, hot hands come along and there’s a profit in the rack the player has the option of adding odds on subsequent hits -always watching those action chips and focusing on keeping more than $300 in the rack.

You’ll find the complete Heat Seeker on the Axis Power Craps Forum. The point of this simple place/come betting strategy is that it allows the player to see plenty of action while minimizing risk. It forces the bets to pay for themselves first while taking advantage of the lowest vig bets on the layout. Will it win 100% of the time? Of course not. But long, hot hands are what most players are looking for in the game. The Heat Seeking Craps Strategy will help you survive until the hot shooter comes along. Then – it’s money in your pocket.