source: lolcraps.com
The act of making odds bets is called either taking or laying odds.” The Pass Line, Don’t Pass, Come, and Don’t Come bets are the heart of craps and all possess some common properties. They are standing bets, meaning they can win, lose, or stand depending on the roll of the dice. Unlike one-roll bets, standing bets may remain in play indefinitely until their particular winning or losing numbers are rolled.
An Odds bet can be made if a player already has a bet on the Pass line, Don’t pass line, Come or Don’t come. It is an additional bet, and is usually limited to 2 or 3 times the original wager
Each of these bets has two components: A flat or primary bet which is made before a point is established. And an odds, secondary bet that is allowed only after a point is established.
When you first make a flat bet, the next roll of the dice determines whether a natural is rolled, the bet either wins, loses, or stands-off or if a point number is rolled, a point is established and marked by the dealer.
Maximum Free Odds
The two best bets on the craps table are the Pass Line and Don’t Pass wagers. They offer the lowest house edge, and you can reduce that edge further by taking the maximum Free Odds allowed by the casino.
| House Advantage when you take the Odds | ||
| Table Odds Taken |
Pass Line | Don’t Pass |
| 0x | 1.41% | 1.36% |
| 1x | 0.848% | 0.682% |
| 2x | 0.606% | 0.455% |
| Full Double Odds | 0.572% | 0.431% |
| 3x | 0.471% | 0.341% |
| 3-4-5X | 0.374% | 0.273% |
| 5x | 0.326% | 0.227% |
| 10x | 0.184% | 0.124% |
| 20x | 0.099% | 0.065% |
| 100x | 0.021% | 0.014% |
By playing at a casino that offers 20X or 100X odds you can effectively reduce house edge to almost 0%. Managing your bank by making minimal bets on the Pass Line or Don’t Pass Line and maximizing the use of House Odds is the most important thing for any player who wants to reduce the casino’s advantage as much as possible.
The Free Odds Bet and the House Edge
The house edge is the casino’s average profit on any bet. In craps, the house edge on the Pass Line bet is 1.41%. That means that for every$5 wager on the Pass Line, the casino will keep seven cents as profit on average.($5 x 1.41% = $0.07) This doesn’t mean on a single wager the casino will keep $0.07and pay you back $4.93. The house edge is the mathematical average for the long run. If you made $1,000,000 in Pass Line wagers, $5 at a time, by the end you’d probably have lost around $14,100, or 1.41% of what you wagered.
Different bets carry a different house edge. The 1.41% for the Pass Line bet is pretty low for a casino game, and is one of the best bets in the casino. When you gamble it’s important to seek out the bets with the lowest house edge, because you’ll lose less money that way and have a greater chance of winning.
You should put as much of your craps money on the Free Odds bet as possible. The Free Odds bet carries no house edge. The casino makes no profit on this bet. This is the only bet you can make on a table game where the odds aren’t against you.
Of course the Free Odds bet isn’t totally free. You have to make a flat bet (Pass, Don’t Pass, Come, or Don’t Come) before you can make the Free Odds bet. As an example see how it works with a Pass Line bet. You make a Pass Line bet, and the shooter rolls a number to establish a point (4,5,6,8,9, or 10). Now you can make a Free Odds bet, by putting your chips below of your Pass Line bet. Now if the shooter rolls the point again, you not only win your Pass Line bet, you also win the Odds bet.
The reason there’s no house edge on the Free Odds bet is that winning bets are paid at true odds. If there’s a 2-to-1 chance of your winning the bet, then a winning bet is also paid 2-to-1. The way the casino makes its profit on all other bets in the casino is by paying less than true odds.
The true odd varies according to the point, and so the payoff varies as well.
| The Point | Payout | Example |
| 4 and 10 | 2 to 1 | a $5 wager is paid $10 |
| 5 and 9 | 3 to 2 | a $5 wager is paid $7* |
| 6 and 8 | 6 to 5 | a $5 wager is paid $6 |
| * Rounded down from $7.50 on a Strip table layout. “Downtown” layout might pay actual ratio of a full $7.50. Strip table layouts do not handle 50-cent pieces. | ||
Multiple Odds
The amount you can bet on the Free Odds varies from casino to casino, and is posted on a sign on the table. It’s always some multiple of the Pass Line bet. On a table with Double Odds you can bet twice as much on the Odds as on your Pass Line bet. Like if you made a $5 bet on the Pass, you could bet $10 on the Odds. Since the Odds bet carries no house edge, it pays to seek out casinos that offer the maximum odds possible.
| House Advantage when you take the Odds | ||
| Table Odds Taken |
Pass Line | Don’t Pass |
| 0x | 1.41% | 1.36% |
| 1x | 0.848% | 0.682% |
| 2x | 0.606% | 0.455% |
| Full Double Odds | 0.572% | 0.431% |
| 3x | 0.471% | 0.341% |
| 3-4-5X | 0.374% | 0.273% |
| 5x | 0.326% | 0.227% |
| 10x | 0.184% | 0.124% |
| 20x | 0.099% | 0.065% |
| 100x | 0.021% | 0.014% |
With Full Double Odds means the player can take 2.5x odds on a point of 6 or 8,and 2x on the other points. 3-4-5X Odds means the player can take 3X on the 4 and 10, 4X on the 5 and 9, and 5X on the 6 and 8. If the player takes the maximum odds then the payoff will conveniently be seven times the pass or come bet.
Laying Odds
The Free Odds bet works differently if you’re betting the Don’t Pass or Don’t Come instead of the Pass or Come. With the Pass or Come you bet a smaller amount to win a bigger amount. On the Don’t side it’s the opposite: you lay a larger bet in order to win a smaller bet. As an example, on a point of 4, instead of betting$5 to win $10, you lay $10 to win $5. The bet is still paid at true odds and carries no house edge, it’s just made and paid in reverse. That’s because once a point has been made you’re the favorite to win, since a 7 is more likely to be rolled than the point, so when you do win you’re paid less.
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