What Is Darby'S Field?

Craps enthusiasts like to employ different techniques involving money management and the placement of bets to achieve more of an opportunity to win money at the game. Without necessarily offering a solid recommendation, we're going to introduce you to one of these techniques here. It's called "Darby's Field."

As part of the one of the basic tenets of this strategy, the rolls of the number 7 must be minimized. As we know from past installments, the seven has a 5-to-1, or one-in-six chance of being rolled.

Two things have to take place before the betting strategy in Darby's Field takes shape. First the seven has to be rolled. Then the shooter has to be able to establish a "point." After that, this is what the player has to do (and the money amounts are flexible, though they must be proportionate):

* Place $25 each on the 5 and the 9
* Place $30 each on the 6 and the 8
* Place $25 on the Field bet

This is good for one roll only. If the seven doesn't come up on that roll, you will win one of the following bets and amounts:

* $50 if the 9 rolls
* $50 if the 2 or 12 rolls and pays double
* $10 NET if the 5 rolls
* $10 NET if the 6 or 8 rolls
* $25 if the Field rolls

Remember, this is a one-roll bet; after that, you take all the bets down and start the process from step one all over again.

Darby's Field is based by and large on a few principles: that the odds of the other numbers being rolled is five times that of the seven; that once the seven is rolled, there is less of a chance for it to be rolled again right away, and that some shooters are better than others (this applies more in the physical setting obviously). Of course, there is some wishful thinking at work here, because since the dice have no memory they are subject to the law of independent trials.

Hey, that's why they call it gambling, right?