Let's talk about playing craps, Colorado (part 2 of 3)

By Mark Lasser

Last time I explained the basic game of craps through the Pass Line bet. We also looked at the straight-forward odds of winning on both the come-out roll and the subsequent rolls that occur when trying to roll the point number.

This time we’ll look at a wager we call the “Odds” as well as another option called a Place bet. The Odds are such a good wager for the player that the craps table doesn’t even advertise it. If you watch people playing craps, you’ll notice stacks of chips in the space just outside the Pass Line space. This isn’t a chip storage area, it’s a special bet called the odds that you can take whenever you have a Pass Line bet. The reason this bet is so good is that it pays “true” odds. In other words, the casino has no edge or advantage on this bet. You can place this bet only once a “point” has been established.

So let’s say the roller comes out with an 8. Eight becomes the point. If you had bet $10 on the Pass Line, you’re now hoping they roll another 8 before they roll a 7. If they do, your $10 on the Pass Line wins even money. Now, let’s say you had bet another $10 in the space for the Odds once the point had been established. Now when the 8 is rolled, you’re going to win $22 for your $20 bet ($10 for the Pass Line and $12 for the Odds. I’ll explain in a moment why it pays $12) vs. winning $20 if you had just put it all on the Pass Line!

To see what actual odds are, we need to do a quick calculation. If you look back at our pyramid diagram from the last issue, you’ll see there are six ways of making a 7 and five ways of making an 8. So the odds are 6:5 against us. Our $10 Odds bet will pay exactly that, so if the roller makes an 8, our Odds bet will pay $12 which is 6:5 and our Pass Line bet pays even money. The roller now starts again with a new come-out roll. Had the point been a 4 instead of an 8, the odds would have been 2:1 instead of 6:5 since there are still six ways to roll a 7 and there are three ways to roll a four. 6:3 is 2:1. Our odds bet then would have paid $20 against our $10 bet and again the Pass Line pays even money. So without Odds we wagered $20 to win $20 but with Odds and a point of 4, we wager $20 to win $30.

Because this bet is so good for the player, there’s a limit to how much you can wager based on how much you bet on the Pass Line. Some casinos limit you to double whatever you bet on the Pass Line. Others allow as much as 100x odds (not in Colorado!). Most of the craps tables here have what’s called 3-4-5 which means you can bet as much as 3x your Pass Line wager when the point is a 4 or 10, 4x your Pass Line bet when the point is a 5 or 9, and 5x your Pass Line bet when the point is a 6 or an 8.

What does this do to reduce the house edge? Tons! In the last issue we showed that just the Pass Line bet gives the house a 1.41 percent advantage. If you take even single odds you reduce the house edge to 0.85 percent. Double odds take it to 0.61 percent. Five times odds take it to 0.33 percent. Without odds you could figure on paying about 14 cents per $10 wager over the long run. With double odds it would only be 6 cents. That’s a huge improvement and makes this easily one of the best bets in the casino.

The other pretty solid bet on the craps table is called a Place bet. These are really easy to understand. You can make these bets once a point has been established. All you have to do is pick a number from among the point numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10). Your bet goes into the square of the number you “place.” Since these are hard to reach, tell the dealer how much you want to place and which number you want, toss your chips in the general direction of the dealer and they’ll put the chips in the right spot.

If your number comes up before a 7 is rolled you win. The 6 and 8 can be bet in increments of $6 since they pay 7:6. The 5 and 9 can be bet in increments of $5 since they pay 7:5 and the 4 and 10 can be bet in increments of $5 as well since they pay 9:5. You can bet different amounts, but the house will round off what they pay you in their favor, so it’s not a good idea. The house edge on the 4 and 10 is 6.67 percent which isn’t very attractive, but the 6 and 8 are only 1.52 percent which is pretty good.

Next time, we’ll talk about the long shots that populate the middle of the craps table.

Mark B. Lasser is Denver writer and international poker player. He regularly plays in Colorado, Arizona, California, Missouri and Nevada. His work has appeared in Bikini Magazine, Blue Travel and Warp. Readers can send questions and comments to him at ColoradoPokerMark@comcast.net.