The dealer will move the odds bet into the same box as the Come number. If the point number is rolled before the next 7, the Pass or Come wager will be paid off at even money, but the odds bet will be paid at true odds of rolling that number - 6-5 on a 6 or 8, 3-2 on 5 or 9, or 2-1 on 4 or 10. The combination of a Pass or Come bet with an odds. Let’ssee what the Free Odds bet is, and why the Boneman is so insistent that you favorit over most of the other bets. To understand why the Free Odds bet is so important you first have to understandthe 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%.
A lot of people keep asking us “What is the best bet when playing craps?” and “Which bet has the lowest house edge when playing craps?”. The answer to these question is always The Odds Bet! The odds bet is actually advantageous to both the wrong-way bettors and the players betting on the pass-line and the Come bet, but the payout is lower for odds bets on the don’t-pass line.
In this section of our site we will explain the odds bet to you and how it works. We will also teach you the best strategy for playing the odds bet and give you advice on which online casino to chose depending on how any times the odds bet they offer.
All of these may sound like Greek to you at the moment but keep reading and you will be a full feathered craps pro in the 10 minutes it takes to read the article properly.
Since the odds bet is one of the best bets in any casino it’s not often advertised a lot and you will have to dig deep to find information about the current limits at the table. When playing in a land based casino the odds limit is always posted on the end zone of the table below the rim. When it comes to playing craps at online casinos it might be a bit trickier to find this information, especially if you are looking for odds bet limits at an online casino where you are not yet registered. That’s why we have created the table below where you can see the odds limits for the different online casinos that we recommend. Since the odds bet is such a good deal for the player we would suggest creating an account at Rushmore Casino for your craps play as they are offering 100x odds bets.
| Craps Casino | Bet Odds Limit | Bonus | Play now |
| 3x | $888 | Play Now | |
| 3x | $10,000 | Play Now | |
| 3x | $7777 | Play Now |
If you have never played the odds bet before it might be a bit confusing for you to figure out where to place the wager as there is no designated box for the odds bets. In the image below you will see a picture explaining where to place the chips to make the odds bet.
Playing the odds on pass-line and come bets
Once a point has been established for the pass-line bet you will be able to place an additional odds bet. In order to place your odds bet you just have to place the chips directly behind the pass-line bet as in the image above. You will be able to place your odds bet at any time as long as the game is still “ON”, you don’t have to place the odds bet directly after the come-out roll. You are also allowed to take back your odds bet at any time as long as the point is still “ON”. At online casinos you can usually place odds bets of between 2 – 5 times the pass-line bet. If you want to know what casinos offer the highest limits for odds bets please refer to the table at the beginning of this article.
You might still not know what we are talking about when we say 3 times the odds or 100 times the odds so we will go through it in a concrete example just to show you what it is we are talking about. Let us say that an online casino is offering you three times the odds on your pass-line bets. This means that you are allow (but in no way obligated) to place up to three times the stake you put on the pass-line bet, on the odds bet behind the pass-line.
In Las Vegas the odds bet is often referred to as a free bet due to the fact that the house doesn’t have any advantage over you on this bet, which is something that doesn’t come along very often in the casino world. By complementing your pass-line bet or don’t-pass line bet with an odds bet you will effectively bring the house edge down to under 1%, so taking the odds is something you would definitely want to do when playing craps.
The Odds Bet in Action
Let’s say that you place a $10 bet on the pass-line before the come-out roll in your favorite online casino that allows up to 10x odds. You click the button to roll the dice and a 10 comes up and you curse your luck for rolling a number that is hard to repeat. You are now two times more likely to roll a 7 and crap out than rolling another 10 and winning your pass-line bet. It’s not enough that you aren’t very likely to roll another 10 and win the bet but you will only get paid even money even if you should manage to do the unlikely. This is where the odds bet comes in very handy as it will make sure that you get properly rewarded for rolling another 10.
With this in mind you go ahead and place $20 (double the amount of the pass-line bet) behind the pass-line to mark your odds bet. If you would have wanted to you could have placed up to $100 on the odds bet (10x your pass-line bet) but you chose to keep the stakes low for now.
After a few insignificant rolls you mange to roll another 10 which means you are now a double winner as both your pass-line bet and your odds bet won. The pass-line bet pays out even money so you make a $10 profit on that but your $20 odds bet pays 2 to 1 which gives you an additional $40 profit.
The odds bet always pays out at the true odds and that’s why the casino doesn’t have any edge over you when it comes to this bet.
The Payouts for Odds Bets
The odds you get for your odds bet depends on the point that is decided during the come-out roll. Below you will see the different payouts for odds bets on the various points.
- The odds pays 2 to 1 when the point is 4 or 10.
- The odds pays 3 to 2 when the point is 5 or 9.
- The odds pays 6 to 5 when the point is 6 or 8.
Lower the House Edge by Betting the Odds
Depending on the limits your casino will offer for the odds bet you will be able to work the house edge all the way down to 0.02% for pass-line bets. In the table below we will explain to you how the house edge for the pass-line bets go down as the odds bets multiples go up.
1x Odds Bet = 0.85% House Edge
2x Odds Bet = 0.61% House Edge
3x Odds Bet = 0.47% House Edge
5x Odds Bet = 0.33% House Edge
10x Odds Bet = 0.18% House Edge
20x Odds Bet = 0.10% House Edge
100x Odds Bet = 0.02% House Edge
Odds Bet Etiquette at Real Casinos
When playing in a land based casino it’s always important that you try to keep your odds bets in increments that the dealer at the table can easily pay out. An example of this is if your pass-line bet is $5 and the point is 5 or 9 you should always try to bet $6 or $10 etc so that the dealer can pay out an even amount once you win. This will make the game flow a lot smoother than if everyone has to be paid odd amounts at the table which can be a hassle for the dealers.
Free Odds Betting on the Don’t-pass and the Don’t-Come
As a wrong-way bettor you will be able to lay odds on what is called don’t bets just like a right-way bettor can take odds on the pass-line and the come bets. Since the house never wants to end up at a disadvantage to the player the odds offered for the don’t bettor is a lot lower than the ones offered for the right-way bettors. When looking at the odds for laying the odds it might seem as the casino will have a big edge on this bet bet in reality these are the true odds and the house doesn’t have any edge at all.
Below you will find the payouts offered when laying odds:
- The odds bet pays 1 to 2 when the point is 4 or 10.
- The odds bet pays 2 to 3 when the point is 5 or 9.
- The odds bet pays 5 to 6 when the point is 6 or 8.
The maximum odds bet is the way to go
Once the point has been decided after the come-out roll it’s usually best to bet the maximum on the odds bet. When we say the maximum bet we mean the max bet that your bankroll can afford. It’s not a good idea to bet all of your money on the odds bet just because you have heard it’s a good bet. Most online casinos offer a maximum 3x odds bet as a standard which means you can bet three times the amount of the bet placed on the pass-line bet.
The higher the free odds bet the lower the house edge will be but if your bankroll can’t take a couple of bad rounds it’s better to keep the stakes lower until you have built up your bankroll. It’s a lot better to place small bets on the pass-line bet and then bet higher on the odds bet than just placing large bets on the pass-line.
We hope you have found this article helpful on your way to becoming a winning real money craps player.
Most craps gamblers have multiple bets on the table simultaneously. This has the effect of creating huge winning streaks and huge losing streaks.
But is that the best way to play the game?
You might be surprised to know this, but I have an opinion about whether you should make multiple bets at the craps table.
Having 3 Bets Going at the Craps Table at One Time
Most craps players try to get 3 bets going simultaneously at the craps table. They’ll start by making a pass line bet. Then on the next roll of the dice, they’ll place a come bet. On the 3rd roll of the dice, they’ll place another come bet.
If the shooter is rolling point numbers the whole time, the player winds up with 3 bets in action all at the same time.
And some craps bettors will just keep placing come bets until the shooter rolls a 7, which can result in gobs of chips on the table.
Real wild men at the craps table supplement these standard bets with other bets with worse odds. Some of them are only marginally worse, like some of the place bets, but others are outrageously bad, like the any craps or any 7 bet.
The problem with a craps bet is the same problem you face with any bet in casino games:
A bet on a casino game is, essentially, a negative number.
It doesn’t matter if you double or triple the size of those bets.
The more money you put into action per hour at the craps table, the more money you’ll lose in the long run.
Sure, you’ll have big swings when you hit a lucky streak, and you’ll also have big losing streaks.
But on average, your results are going to follow the same formula:
The number of bets you make per hour multiplied by the size of those bets multiplied by the house edge determines your expected average hourly loss rate.
Having Only One Bet on the Table at a Time Reduces the Amount of Money You Have in Action
You have multiple techniques you can use to decrease your average hourly loss rate.
One of those is to stick with the games (or bets) that have the lowest house edge.
For example, the house edge for the pass line bet is only 1.41%.
But the house edge for a bet on snake-eyes is 13.89%.
If you put $300 into action per hour on the former, your expected hourly loss is only $4.23.
Put that $300 into action on the latter, and your expected hourly loss skyrockets to $41.67.
Since you already know how to minimize the house edge, let’s talk about how many bets you’re placing per hour.
If you place a new bet every time the shooter rolls the dice, you’ll bet putting a lot more money into action per hour than if you placed just one bet and waited for it to be resolved before making another bet.
This will reduce the amount of money you lose per hour dramatically.
An average craps table with about 9 players sees about 120 rolls per hour.
About 1/3 of those rolls will be new come-out rolls, or 40 rolls.
Craps Odds Bet Multiples Calculator
This means that you can reduce the amount of money you lose dramatically by only betting on the new come-out rolls.
Let’s assume you’re betting $10 per roll, and you bet on either pass or come on every roll. That’s $1200 per hour you’re putting into action, and you can expect to lose (on average) 1.41% of that.
That’s an expected hourly loss of $16.92.
Now assume you’re betting pass on every new come-out roll. That’s 40 rolls at $10 each, or $400 in hourly action.
Your expected loss is 1.41% of $400, or $5.64 per hour.
Craps is a random game, and it’s streakier than most. (This means it has a high standard deviation or volatility.)
This means that you’ll sometimes be at the table and win seemingly constantly.
It also means that sometimes you’ll be at the table and seem to lose way more than you expected.
The math in the long run doesn’t change, though.
The Worst Thing You Can Do
The worst thing you can do at the craps table is take any of the prop bets being offered by the stickman. All of these bet have a high house edge. And even though the minimum bet is low, over time, that high house edge will more than make up for it.
Proposition bets are one-roll bets that are determined on the outcome of the next roll.
One example is the boxcars bet in craps. This is a bet that the next roll of the dice will result in a pair of 6s, for a total of 12.
There are actually 36 possible outcomes when you roll a pair of dice. A total of 12 is only 1 of these, which means the probability of that bet winning is 1/36, or 35 to 1.
So yeah, a bet on boxcars is a longshot, but that’s not what makes it a bad bet.
What makes it a bad bet is the comparison of the payout with the odds of winning.
The boxcars bet normally pays off at 30 to 1, which means that, in the long run, you’ll lose a lot of money on that bet.
How much? The math is easy.
Just assume you’re betting $1 on boxcars 36 times in a row. You’ll win once and lose 35 times – if you see the mathematically predicted results.
How much money will you win or lose in that situation?
On one of those rolls, you’ll win $30.
On the other 35 rolls, you’ll lose $35.
That’s a net loss of $5 over 36 rolls, or a little over 13 cents per roll.
Craps Odds Bet Multiples 5
The house edge on that bet is that number expressed as a percentage. In this case, we’re looking at a bet with a house edge of 13.89%.
It should be obvious why you’d want to avoid a bet where you’re going to lose an average of 13.89% of your money, but if it’s not:
There are much better bets on the table.
The house edge for the pass line bet is only 1.41%, which means that over time you’ll lose 10X as much betting boxcars than you would betting the pass line bet.
All of them have a house edge of almost 10%, but most of them are significantly more than that.
Conclusion
You should not make multiple bets simultaneously at the craps table. The only thing you accomplish by doing so is increasing the average amount of money you’re going to lose per hour when playing.
Instead, just stick with the pass line bet, and when it’s resolved, bet it again.
Taking odds every time is a good idea, too, because it’s a bet with no house edge.
But even if you want to skip the odds bet, you’re better off not making too many bets at a time at the craps table.
Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments.