This post in my playing and winning at craps series looks at the various craps bets available and ranks them from best to worst. If you don’t know who the people are running the craps game, if you don’t understand how the table and dice work, or if you’re not sure how the game plays out, check out my previous posts in this series.

Part 4 of 6

• 1 The Craps Dealers and Other Staff at the Dice Table: Who’s Who
• 2 How the Craps Table Layout Works and How the Dice Work
• 3 How to Play a Craps Game in a Casino
• 5 Craps Bets Ranked According to House Edge
• 6 How (and Why) to Act Like a Craps Player

This odds table is for use with an initial don't pass line bet of $5 beginning with 1x odds. The far left column contains the number of consecutive 7-outs, the line bet, and the odds won in multiples of the line bet. The columns under the point numbers contain the dollar amount of the odds laid, and, in bold, the payoff on the odds.

1. The Don’t Pass Odds bet against the point is based on true odds, or the odds that a 7 will appear compared to a point number. Let’s review the data our other article about basic craps math. Remember, for a Don’t Pass bet after a point is established, the bet wins if a 7 is rolled before the point, and loses if the point is rolled before a 7.
2. This odds table is for use with an initial don't pass line bet of $5 beginning with 1x odds. The far left column contains the number of consecutive 7-outs, the line bet, and the odds won in multiples of the line bet. The columns under the point numbers contain the dollar amount of the odds laid, and, in bold, the payoff on the odds.

The basic bets in craps, as it turns out, are the ones that offer the best odds for the player. The more complicated the craps bet is, the worst it is for the player mathematically.

Craps is a game of streaks, and you can win or lose a lot of money playing fast.

But you’ll almost certainly lose your money faster if you take the sucker bets.

Stick with my list of the best craps bets on this page, and avoid my list of the worst craps bets on this page, and you’ll be all set.

The Best Bets at the Craps Table

The come out roll is the 1^st roll of each “round” of craps. This is the most important roll in the game, and the best bets at the craps table are tied closely to the concept of the come out roll. So I’m going to reiterate how that works:

• The shooter starts a round of craps with a come out roll.
• If she rolls a 7 or an 11, the dice win. If she rolls a 2, 3, or 12, the dice lose.
• If she rolls any other number, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, a point is set.

If a point is set, the shooter continues to roll the dice until she rolls a 7 or until she rolls the point again. If she rolls a point before rolling 7, the dice win. If she rolls a 7 before rolling the point, the dice lose.

The Pass-line bet is the most popular bet at the craps table, and it’s also one of the best bets you can make. This is called right betting. If you bet on the Pass-line bet, you’re a right bettor. You’re betting that the dice will win.

Craps players are no different than most people. They like to root for people to succeed. At most craps tables, the players are almost all rooting together for the dice to win.

I should point out, though, that the casino doesn’t care if you’re betting the Pass-line bet or the Don’t Pass bet. The casino has a mathematical edge regardless of which bet you place, so they know in the long run they’re going to profit.

I should also point out that you can only make a Pass-line bet before a come out roll. You cannot place the Pass-line bet before subsequent rolls during a round.

It’s the most prominent area on the table, too, so it should be easy. The bet pays off at even money if the dice win—and I discussed the winning criteria above. The bet loses if the dice lose.

The Don’t Pass bet is the opposite of the Pass-line bet. It’s called wrong betting, and if you place this bet, you’re a wrong bettor. This wager is a winner if the dice lose, but casinos—to maintain an edge over the house—either bar 2 or bar 12 from winning. Which number is barred will be listed on the craps table in that section.

These are the 2 main bets available at the craps table, and they’re also the 2 best bets at the craps table.

A right bettor has a high chance of winning on the come out roll. He can win 8 different ways immediately. There are only 4 ways for him to lose immediately.

How do you know this?

• There are 6 ways to make a 7, which wins on the come out roll: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, and 6-1.
• There are also 2 ways to make an 11, which also wins on the come out roll: 5-6 and 6-5.

But there’s only one way to roll a 2 and only one way to roll a 12. There are 2 ways to roll a 3, for a total of 4 ways to lose immediately on the come out roll.

Since there are 36 total possible combinations, it’s easy to calculate the probability of winning on the come out roll as a percentage, too. 8/36 is 22.2%, and 4/36 is 11.1%. A third of the time, the outcome of the round will depend on the come out roll immediately. This also means that 2/3 of the time, a point will be established.

And when a point is established, the odds favor the wrong bettor. If the point is a 6 or 8, the odds of a wrong bettor winning are 6 to 5. If the point is 5 or 9, the odds of winning are 3 to 2. And if the point is a 4 or 10, the odds of a wrong bettor winning are 2 to 1.

The Free Odds Bet

I mentioned in a couple of my previous posts that the absolute best bet on the craps table isn’t printed on the table. That bet is the odds bet or the free odds bet. This is the only bet in the casino that has no house edge.

You can only place an odds bet after a point has been set. When you place this bet, it’s in addition to your existing Pass-line or Don’t Pass bet. This bet pays off at the same odds of winning, so the house edge is 0.

• If the point is 4 or 10, the odds bet pays off at 2 to 1—the same as the odds of winning.
• If the point is 5 or 9, the odds bet pays off at 3 to 2—the same as the odds of winning.
• If the point is 6 or 8, the odds bet pays off at 6 to 5—the same as the odds of winning.

Casinos limit the amount of money you can bet on odds to a multiple of your original bet. In a casino where you’re only allowed to match your original bet, this is called single odds. In a casino where you’re allowed to place an odds bet that’s twice as much as your original bet, it’s called double odds.

The effect of the odds bet on the total amount you have in action is to reduce the house edge. For example, on the Pass-line bet, the house edge is 1.41%. If you make a single odds bet, the house edge drops to 0.8%. A double odds bet reduces the house edge to 0.6%. And so on.

Some casinos are generous with this. You can find casinos that allow you to bet 10X and even 100X on your odds bet.

And the closer your cumulative edge gets to 0, the closer the game gets to a break-even game.

When you’re making an odds bet on a Pass-line bet, you’re taking odds.

But wrong bettors can also place odds bets. They work slightly differently, but the house edge is still 0. Wrong bettors placing an odds bet are said to be laying odds.

The payoffs, in this case, are the opposite.

• If you lay odds on a 4 or 10, the payoff is 1 to 2.
• If you lay odds on a 5 or 9, the payoff is 2 to 3.
• And if you lay odds on a 6 or 8, the payoff is 5 to 6.

In other words, if you’re a wrong bettor and place the odds bet, you must risk more money than you’ll win. This doesn’t matter to smart math types like you and me, because we understand the house edge is the same. But for many players, risking more money if you lose than what you’ll win is foolish.

As a result, many wrong bettors turn their nose up at laying odds, even though they shouldn’t.

I also want to point out here that there’s nothing wrong with being a wrong bettor, regardless of what the other players at the table might think. Any time you’re gambling, you should ignore the attitudes of the other gamblers.

In fact, the house edge for being a wrong bettor is only 1.36%, as compared to 1.41% for being a right bettor. So the odds are slightly better for being the wrong bettor.

3X 4X 5X Odds

In some casinos, the maximum odds you can take are listed as 3x4x5x odds. This means that if the point is 4 or 10, you can bet 3x your original bet on the free odds bet. If the point is 5 or 9, you can bet 4x your original bet on the free odds bet. And if the point is 6 or 8, you can bet 5x your original bet.

The casinos didn’t just decide on these multiples randomly. Their goal was to simplify their payout procedures on these bets.

Since the payoff on a 4 or 10 free odds bet is 2 to 1, if you bet 3x your original bet, your total payoff (including your original Pass-line bet) is 7 to 1.

The total payoff on a 5 or 9 free odds bet combined with a Pass-line bet is also 7 to 1. You get 3 to 2 on your money.

The same holds true for the payoff on the 6, or 8 free odds bet.

These limits make it easier for the casino to pay off your bets. A table with 3x 4x 5x odds is a better deal than a table with single odds or double odds, but it’s not as good as a table with 10X odds or 100X odds.

An Example from Real Life Play

Brian sits down to play craps. He has $1000 total, and he bets $10 on the Pass-line on the come out roll. The shooter rolls a 6, setting a point.

This casino offers 10X odds, so Brian places a free odds bet of $100. He now has $110 in action on the table.

On the next roll, the shooter makes the point, making Brian a winner.

He gets paid off $10 on his original bet of $10.

Since the point was 6, he gets paid off at 6 to 5 on the $100 free odds bet, which means he wins another $120 on that bet.

Brian’s bankroll has increased to $1130. He likes this shooter and thinks she might get hot, so he places a $20 bet on the Pass-line on the next come-out roll.

This time she rolls a 10 as the point. Brian now places $200 on the free odds bet, putting $220 total into action.

It takes her several rolls, but she does eventually roll a 10, so Brian collects winnings again—this time $20 for the original Pass-line bet, but also 2 to 1 on the odds bet, for winnings of $400 there. That’s $420 in total on an initial bet of $220.

Brian now has $1550, and the shooter hasn’t even changed yet. In fact, he’s only made 4 bets.

Now that he’s confident the shooter is hot, he decides to let his winnings ride on the Pass-line bet, although he does collect his winnings on the odds bet. So he now has $40 on the Pass-line bet.

This time the shooter rolls a 9 and Brian places $400 on the odds bet. She succeeds again, and Brian collects $40 on his Pass-line bet as well as 3 to 2 on his $400 odds bet, which is $600 more in winnings. That’s a total win on this round of $640.

Craps Don't Pass Odds Payout

Brian now has $2190. He’s double his money in just 3 rounds of craps, all with the same shooter.

Doubling your money at the blackjack table would take at least an hour if you got hot, even if you’re betting fairly big. This is one of the reasons I love craps so much.

Of course, winning streaks can evaporate and become losing streaks just as quickly. But it’s hard not to find these winning streaks exhilarating when they happen.

An Odds Bet Trick Based on Some of the Actualities in the Casino

If you’re betting something simple, like $10 or $20, on the Pass-line, betting the odds is easy. You just bet the largest multiple you’re allowed on the odds bet. It’s easy to calculate—if you have double odds, you bet $20 or $40, and so on.

But if you’re betting $5, $15, or $25, the odds bet gets trickier because of the payoffs. For example, suppose the point is a 5 or 9, which pays off at 3 to 2. It’s easier for the casino to pay you off at 3 to 2 if you’re betting $6 instead of $5. That’s because a 3 to 2 payoff on a $5 odds bet is $7.50, and the casino would rather not deal in change. If you bet $6, a 3 to 2 payoff is $9.

There’s no need for anything special on the 4 or 10 points because a 2 to 1 payoff never involves change unless you bet change. 2 to 1 on $15 is $30—no problem there.

But the 6 or 8 is another unique situation because that bet pays off at 6 to 5. Most casinos allow you to bet 5 units on the odds bet if you have 3 units bet on the Pass-line, even if the casino only offers single odds.

So if you bet $15 on the Pass-line, and the point is 6 or 8, you can bet $25 on the odds bet.

Strategy Considerations Based on the Odds Bet

Since anything you can do to lower the house edge is something you should do as a gambler, the obvious correct strategy in craps is always to take the biggest odds bet you can. Based on the information in that last section, if you’re playing at a table that only allows single odds bets, you should always bet 3 units so that you can make that 5 unit odds bet if the 6 or 8 comes up.

You won’t run into many casinos in Las Vegas that limit you to single odds, though. Most of the Vegas casinos allow at least 2X odds, and many of them offer 3x4x5x odds. A few of the casinos which cater to high rollers also offer 10x and 100X odds. So that section might not come into play unless you’re playing craps in Reno or Atlantic City at a casino which does limit you to single odds.

The Come and Don’t Come Bets Are Great, Too—And They’re Not as Hard to Understand as You Might Think

Some new craps players ignore the come and don’t come bets because they don’t understand them. That’s a shame because these are on the short list of the best craps bets you can make.

Craps Don't Pass Odds Bet Horse Racing

The come bet allows you to make a series of bets on rolls subsequent to the come out roll. In other words, this bet treats the next bet as a new come out roll, and it wins just like a Pass-line bet would win.

In other words, it’s another way to bet on the dice winning.

You bet $5 on the come out roll, and the shooter rolls an 8. You already had a $10 bet on the pass line, but now you can also bet $20 on the odds bet. (The casino offers 2x odds.)

But you can now also make a come bet. This bet will win just like a Pass-line bet would. If a 7 or 11 shows up on the next roll, you win, and if a 2, 3, or 12 comes up, you lose. If a point is set here, it’s called a come point number. And for your come bet to win, that number must come up again before the shooter rolls a 7.

You can even take the free odds bet on the come bet. The house edge on the come bet is the same as the house edge for the Pass-line bet.

Don’t come works like don’t pass, but again, it treats that subsequent roll of the dice as a new come out roll.

You get to keep making come or don’t come bets until the shooter rolls a 7 and “sevens out,” or until there’s a new come out roll.

So here’s how the come bet works in a nutshell:

You can only make a come bet on a roll subsequent to the come out roll. You can keep making come bets as long as you want, too. Or you can wait and only make come bets once in a while. You can wind up with lots of money in action this way.

One of the things you’ll hear gamblers say about the come bet is that it’s “always working.” This means that it still applies even on a new come out roll. The free odds bet, though, is off on the come out roll.

If you understand come bets, you also understand don’t come bets. They’re just like the don’t pass bet, but on those subsequent rolls.

The Worst Craps Bets You Can Make

All the rest of the craps bets are worse than those 5 bets. To review, the best bets are:

• Pass
• Don’t Pass
• Come
• Don’t Come
• Free Odds

Some of the worst bets are better than others, but there’s really no reason you should ever mess with any of the other bets on the table. The house just has too much of an edge over the player.

But the worst of the worst of those bets are the proposition bets in the middle of the table. You can place some other bets occasionally for grins, but not these. The house edge on these is over 9%, and in some cases, it’s almost 20%. That’s too much of an edge for the casino for a smart gambler.

I’ll cover those other bets in detail in the next post in this series.

Conclusion

The best bet at the craps table is the free odds bet, because it has no house edge. It pays off at the same odds as the odds of winning it are.

But you can only take the free odds bet after you’ve taken one of the other basic bets. The Pass-line bet and the come bet are both bets on the dice to win. The Don’t Pass and don’t come bets are both bets on the dice to lose. The house on those bets are 1.41% and 1.36%, respectively.

The house edge on all the other bets skyrockets. Those are the worst bets at the table, but the worst of the worst are the proposition bets in the center of the table.

Let me begin by apologizing to our beginner craps players. I pride myself on being a good teacher, but I overlooked the fact the I have not yet written an article dedicated to the free odds bet. I took it for granted that everyone understood what is mathematically the best bet in the game.

However, recently, I started seeing very basic questions about the free odds bet pop up on the RoadGambler YouTube channel.

So let’s have a simple discussion about the free odds bet.

For purposes of simplicity, I am only going to discuss free odds on the light side, aka the pass and come side. For the dark side of free odds, see this: https://roadgambler.com/casino/darkside/

Also, the free odds are simply referred to as ‘odds’; so going forward, I will use the term ‘odds’ in lieu of ‘free odds.

WHAT ARE THE FREE ODDS BET?

The odds bet is a bet that can only be made once the player has bet on the pass line or come bet.

It’s mathematically the best bet on the table because the odds pay true odds. That means that, unlike almost every other bet in the casino, the house has no advantage.

Odds bets are usually capped. At most Las Vegas strip properties, the odds bet is capped at a maximum of 3x, 4x, and 5x.

For example, here is a table limit sign at a Las Vegas Strip casino.

Notice that the minimum bet on this table is $15. 3x, 4x, and 5x means that: if the point is 4 or 10, then the maximum odds are 3 times the pass line bet; if the point is 5 or 9, then the maximum odds are 4 times the pass line bet; and if the point is 6 or 8, the maximum odds allowed are 5 times the pass line.

Let’s say that you make a $15 pass line bet. That means that in the above picture since the point is 8 (as marked by the white puck), you can bet $75 worth of odds.

Some casinos will allow more free odds. Notice the sign that says 100x. That means if you bet $5, you can bet up to $500 worth of odds.

WIN-LOSS CONDITIONS OF THE ODDS BET

The odds bet will win if the point assigned to that odds bet rolls before the 7 rolls.

For example, if the point is 8, and the 8 rolls before the 7 rolls, then the odds bet will win. If the 7 rolls before the 8 rolls, then the odds bet will lose.

Odds bets can also be wagered on Come bets after the Come bet point has been established. Be warned that typically if the bettor has a live come bet with odds, and the pass line has just won, then the next roll will be a come out roll for the pass line. In that case, the odds bet attached to the come bet will not be working unless the bettor declares the odds to be working.

Craps Don't Pass Odds Betting

HOW TO IDENTIFY AND MAKE THE ODDS BET

In the picture below, the two bets that are behind the pass line bet are the odds bet. To make the odds bet, you just position your chips in the area behind your pass line bet, AFTER THE POINT HAS ROLLED.

If you are playing online, the odds bet is made by dragging chips to the area behind your pass line bet, like this…

PAYOUT ON ODDS BET

The most important thing to know about the odds bet is the payout.

The following are the payouts for each point…

Point is 4 or 10

• Odds will pay 2-1.
• For example, if you bet $10 on the odds, you will be paid $20

Point is 5 or 9

• Odds will pay 3-2.
• For example, if you bet $10 on the odds, you will be paid $15.
• When betting odds on the 5 or 9, always make sure that you bet in even dollar increments. For example, if you bet $5, you will be penalized. True odds payout would be $7.50, but since most casinos do not have 50 cent chips, the casino will round down and pay $7.

Point is 6 or 8

• Odds will pay 6-5.
• For example, if you bet $10 on the odds, you will be paid $12.
• Always bet in $5 increments, or else you will be penalized. The casino will round down from the true odds payout.

FINAL ADVICE

When in doubt about how much to bet, follow this one simple rule about how much to bet on free odds: Bet in $10 increments.

If you bet in $10 increments, you will always have the correct odds bet. Make sure that the $10 increment does not go over the maximum odds allowed.

Play responsibly and enjoy!

Posted in: Casino, Craps, Gambling