John Patrick's Craps Book: What It Actually Teaches and How to Use It
Most people pick up John Patrick's book expecting it to hand them a magic formula. It doesn't. What it gives you is a clear-eyed look at the math behind craps, some practical betting frameworks, and enough context to stop embarrassing yourself at the table. That's more than most craps resources deliver. This is the book in question. Full title is John Patrick's Advanced Craps: The Advanced Player's Guide to Winning. It's one of those older, self-published-style gambling guides that circulates in PDF form across various forums and download sites. The original print edition has been out for years, and you'll find scanned copies and digital versions floating around the internet. Don't pay much for it if you can avoid it — there's no reason to overpay for a book that's widely available through secondhand channels or legal free distribution. The book covers three main areas: the mathematical foundation of craps bets, betting systems and progression strategies, and a section on dice control that Patrick advocates for. The pass line with full odds remains the core recommendation throughout. Everything else is built around managing variance and extending play within a bankroll framework.
The Core Strategy Explained
Patrick's central argument is straightforward: the pass line bet with maximum odds is the best thing you can do at a craps table. The house edge on pass line is 1.41 percent. Add true odds behind it — most tables offer 3x, 4x, or 5x odds, some even go to 10x or 20x — and your overall expected loss per dollar wagered drops dramatically. On a $10 pass line bet with 5x odds, you're putting $60 at risk but the house edge only applies to the initial $10. That changes the math in your favor more than any betting system ever will. What most beginners miss is that taking maximum odds requires a larger bankroll than you'd initially expect. Say you're playing at a $5 minimum table. You place $5 on the pass line, then take 5x odds, that's another $25. Total action per roll is $30. If you're rolling three times before a decision hits, you need enough money in front of you to cover a string of losses without tilting. I've watched people blow through their planned buy-in in about twelve minutes because they underestimated how fast consecutive loses compound when you're laying big odds behind each bet. The come bet is Patrick's secondary recommendation. It works exactly like the pass line but you place it after the point is established. The math is identical. This means you're keeping more money on the table longer, which sounds good until you factor in that more bets at the table means more total exposure to the house edge, even if the edge per dollar is lower with odds attached.
What the Betting Systems Actually Do
Patrick devotes a significant portion of the book to various progression systems. The Martingale gets discussed, the Labouchere system comes up, and he also covers modified versions designed specifically for craps volatility. Here's the unvarnished truth about these systems: none of them change the house edge. They redistribute when you win and lose, not whether the casino has an advantage. That sounds like a downer but it's the honest starting point. What progression systems do give you is a structured way to manage your session. A Martingale-style approach where you double after losses can feel controlling. It works fine until you hit a losing streak long enough to either top out at the table limit or drain your bankroll. I ran this exact scenario at a $10 minimum table once, started with a $50 unit, and lost seven consecutive rounds. That required a $640 bet on the eighth round to recoup. The table limit was $500. I walked away with a $120 loss instead of potentially losing everything that would have been wagered on that eighth bet. Table limits exist precisely to break these systems, and Patrick acknowledges this but some readers gloss over that point. The one counter-intuitive thing Patrick does well is explain why flat betting on pass line with maximum odds is often the superior strategy despite feeling less exciting. When you're moving up and down your bet size based on a progression, you're increasing your exposure precisely when you're emotionally vulnerable. Flat betting with consistent odds takes does the math exactly the same but protects your head and your wallet simultaneously.
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The Dice Control Section
This is the most debated part of the book, and I should be direct about it. Dice control — the idea that you can influence the outcome of a roll through consistent grip and throw technique — is something that sounds reasonable until you examine the actual data. Patrick trains his readers to hold the dice a certain way, throw with a specific backspin, and aim for a designated touch point on the back wall. The theory is that controlled throws reduce randomness and allow skilled shooters to shift the odds slightly in their favor. My experience with this is limited but honest: in informal settings, I've seen people practice dice control for months and then get tested under observation. The variance is enormous. A single lucky bounce off a chip can ruin a perfectly executed throw, and the sample sizes needed to prove any statistical advantage are so large that casual players will never accumulate enough rolls to confirm whether their technique is actually working. The house edge on pass line with odds is already so low that even a small dice control advantage could theoretically tip the scales, but proving it requires thousands of rolls under controlled conditions that most casino floors simply don't provide. Patrick himself doesn't claim dice control makes you a long-term winner in every session. He frames it as a skill that can reduce variance and extend playing time, which is a different proposition than turning craps into a positive expectation game. If you enjoy learning the mechanics and feel more confident throwing the dice deliberately, it's a worthwhile pursuit. Just don't build your entire strategy around it being a guaranteed edge.
Table Selection and Practical Setup
One of the more useful but overlooked sections covers how to choose which table to sit at. Tables with higher odds multiples — 5x, 10x, 20x — are easier to find on weekdays and at less busy casinos. Weekend afternoons at busy casinos often mean 3x odds or less. This directly impacts your expected value. Moving from 3x to 5x odds on pass line cuts your combined house edge from about 0.46 percent to roughly 0.32 percent. Over a long session, that difference matters. Avoid tables where the dealer calls out proposition bets aggressively. Those are side bets with house edges ranging from 11 percent on places to nearly 17 percent on some hard ways. I've sat at tables where the flow of conversation naturally drifted toward proposition bets after a series of big wins, and watching experienced players who normally stick to pass line and come bets start placing field bets and betting hard eights is a predictable pattern. It doesn't matter how smart the betting system is if you're simultaneously making side bets that eat your edge.
The Hard Truths About This Approach
Here's what the book doesn't emphasize enough: craps is still a negative expectation game unless you combine maximum odds with dice control and exceptional discipline. The average player will lose money over time regardless of which system they follow. Patrick knows this and builds his recommendations around minimizing losses and maximizing entertainment value, not turning craps into a reliable income source. Bankroll management gets mentioned throughout but deserves its own emphasis. If you're buying in for 50 units at a $5 minimum table, you're looking at a $250 minimum with comfortable odds betting. A typical session lasting two to three hours with moderate volume can see 200 to 400 rolls. At an average bet size including odds, that's substantial action. Plan to lose your buy-in before walking away with a profit unless luck runs strongly in your direction during that session window. The book also doesn't address online craps at all, which is a notable gap. Live dealer craps and RNG-based online versions have different dynamics. The pacing is faster, the table limits often favor the house more aggressively, and dice control isn't applicable in any meaningful way on digital rolls. If you're playing online, the strategy from this book translates only partially — the pass line with odds advice remains valid, but everything else assumes a live table environment.
Bottom Line
The book is worth reading if you want a practical, mathematically grounded approach to craps that doesn't oversell itself. The pass line with odds core strategy is solid. The betting system sections are informative even if their mathematical ceiling is limited. The dice control material is interesting but should be treated as optional skill development rather than a central winning strategy. The biggest value is in understanding what NOT to bet — proposition bets, field bets, hard ways, and the other sucker bets that generate the real casino profit — and keeping your action focused on the bets that give you the best possible odds.
