The Iron Cross System

Iron CrossIf you hang around craps players for any length of time, you’re bound to eventually hear someone mention the Iron Cross betting system. It’s the most popular craps betting system in the world, and for good reason – it results in a win 80% of the time!

But like every other betting system out there, the Iron Cross system is a member of the “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is” camp. But before we debunk the Iron Cross betting system, here’s an explanation for those of you out there who have yet to run across it.

How to Place the Iron Cross Bet

The Iron Cross isn’t really a betting system - it is more so a combination of two different craps bets. Players who want to place an Iron Cross bet simply place a field bet and a place bet on the 5, 6, and 8.

If you recall the field bet, it’s a bet that you can make at any time. It wins when the dice land on a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12 and it loses when the dice show 5, 6, 7 or 8. The field bet pays out 1:1 except when the dice land on 2 or 12. When the dice land on 2 or 12, the casino pays 2:1 on your money.

At the same time, you make a place bet on the numbers 5, 6, and 8. With both bets in effect, you win on every number except seven. Not a bad bet, right? Well… actually it’s not that great of a bet. It’s not the worst bet in the casino but there are many better ones available (like the pass line bet).

The Problem with the Iron Cross

So it sounds great winning 80% of your bets, but that’s a meaningless statement without breaking it down into real numbers. The problem with the Iron Cross bet is that when a seven hits, you lose all your bets at once. The other problem is that sevens appear quite frequently (4 and 3, 5 and 2, 6 and 1).

If you add up all the times you win and then subtract the few times you lose, you’ll see that the Iron Cross bet will actually result in you giving up about a 3.87% advantage to the house. If you just stick with the pass line bet, you’ll only be giving up a 1.41% advantage.

Why Use the Iron Cross?

If the Iron Cross isn’t so special, why do so many people use it? Some people use the Iron Cross system simply because they don’t know any better. Someone might have told them it works, they might have read about it somewhere, or whatever – they just think it works.

Other people realize the Iron Cross betting system doesn’t negate the house advantage but they use it anyways because they find it fun to win 80% of their bets! There’s nothing wrong with giving up a little edge to have a good time. As long as you understand what you’re doing, you can consider it the cost of an evening of entertainment.

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