Come Bet Odds Craps
- Thankfully, you can add an additional wager to your pass line bet after the come-out roll called the odds, which, if you win, will pay true odds. Consequently, the odds bet has a house edge of 0%. Overall, the pass line bet is definitely one of the best bets on the craps table with a house edge of 1.41%.
- Unlike the odds bet, however, a place bet does not need to be accompanied by a pass or come bet; in other words, there is no ‘flat’ bet requirement. A bettor can wager a place bet by itself, with no other bets on the table. As a matter of fact, many players play place bets and nothing else. WIN-LOSS CONDITIONS OF THE PLACE BETS.
- Alternately laying odds bets have zero house edge but slightly lower payout odds, at 2:1, 3:2 and 6:5, depending on which numbers a player bets on. What is the odds bet in craps? This is a bet players can make in a craps game, but only after a point is thrown.
This question comes up all the time. Which is a better bet in the game of Craps, a ‘Come Bet’ or a ‘Place Bet’?
The Come Bet wins if the shooter rolls the point before rolling a 7. If a shooter rolled a 6 on the come-out roll, then the shooter needs to roll another 6 (before rolling a 7) for the Come Bet to win. Come Bets have the same house edge as the Pass Line Bet: 1.41%. Pass / Come Free Odds Bet This is the most powerful bet in all of craps. In order to play the free odds bet, you must have wagered on the pass line bet or the come bet. If the shooter has not rolled a craps number (2, 3, or 12) or a 7 or 11, then there must be a point number established (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10).
Both Come Bets and Place Bets play vital rolls within different strategies and based on the particular strategy you’re using, you could make the case that either is better than the other, and not be wrong.
But, if you take a closer look at the characteristics of both Come and Place bets individually, you may be very surprised by the answer.
If you’re like me, when I was learning to play craps, I was taught to remember two things;
- Always play a Pass Line Bet with 2 Come Bets and back them up with as much in Odds as you can, and
- To win, you have to lower the house edge as much as possible and Free Odds on the PL and Come Bets are the best way to do that
To this day, when a novice player walks up to the table, that’s what the dealer, and other novice players, tell them, “Place a Come Bet and back it up with odds. So, that’s what I did. Some days, when the table was hot, I’d walk away a pretty solid winner, but when the table was choppy or cold, I would usually lose and lose fast.
After playing craps for a while, you get to know who the pros are, and I started noticing that while some of them played the Pass Line, virtually none of them used Come Bets. They were Placing Bets instead and they were winning more often than I was. How could that be? I was taught the 2 most important keys to winning, or so I thought.
Adding to my confusion, was that when my Come Bet + Odds won for the same amount as their Place Bet, the dealer was delivering a lot more chips to me than them, until I realized that almost half the chips I was getting was from my bet coming down.
It was time to take a closer look at the real differences between Come Bets and Place Bets, and I was pretty astounded by what I found out.
Craps Secrets Tip: Use Place Bets instead of Come Bets unless they’re part of a larger overall strategy.
HOUSE EDGE
The first thing to do is to check the house edge on both Come Bets and Place Bets. The house edge is the casino advantage on the bet and what you can expect to happen in the long run. The chart below shows the difference between the two.
The clear winner here is Come Bets with Free Odds and at only 1.41% for the Come, the more you back in odds, the lower you can drive the house edge.
BUT… I soon realized, there’s a number of things that the house edge on these bets doesn’t take into account.
Craps Come Bet Odds Payout
- House edge is only calculated based on having won the bet. The Come + Odds has to win, before you can claim an advantage over Place Bets
- Come Bets are contract bets meaning once it travels to the number, it stays there until a decision is made. You don’t have the option of taking it down if you feel a Seven is coming (Odds can come down). Place Bets, on the other hand, can be taken down or turned off at any time.
- Come Bets are live during the Come-Out roll, Place Bets are not (unless you make them live). After hitting a point, if the shooter rolls a seven, your Come Bets lose.
- AND… to take advantage of the lower house edge, the number has to hit twice. First to travel to the number, then to hit the number and win.
The house edge advantage of Come Bets over Place Bets is much more cloudy when you take these factors into consideration.
PAYOUTS
Let’s take a look at the payout differences between Come Bets and Place Bets. With a lower house edge, you would expect that Come Bets would clearly outperform Place Bets in this area. WELL, NOT SO FAST… Let’s take a look.
For our example, we’ll use a $10 minimum table and use the payouts for the box number (5). The place bet on the (5) carries a 4.00% house edge vs. the Come Bet at 1.41% + Free Odds. Should be easy, right?
You’re probably as surprised as I was at the results since everything I had been told was to key on Free Odds, Come Bets and House Edge. This also explains why the pros that were using Place Bets instead of Come Bets were winning significantly more than I was.
The payout is where Place Bets take a clear lead over Come Bets in a number of ways even though Free Odds are supposed to give you the biggest payouts.
- On the first hit of the number, the Come Bet travels to the number and needs to be hit again before there is any payout. The Place Bet on the (9) pays out $14 on the first hit.
- Even when you add 4 times Odds to your Come Bet, the Place Bet still pays out more on the second hit.
- This is due to the Come Bet itself that is only paid out at 1 to 1, so while the Odds pay out at a higher rate, it needs to make up the lesser payout on the original Come Bet
- When you get to 5 times Odds or a total of $60 in bets, the Come Bet beats the Place Bet by $1, BUT… you still haven’t made up the $14 win on the first hit.
- It takes almost 20X Odds before your Come Bet pays out more that the Place Bet including the 1st hit on the number. In our example, that would mean putting $200 behind your $10 come bet to outpace a Place Bet.
- While you can still find casinos that offer 100X Odds, most have moved to 3/4/5X Odds and some at 10X, which keeps your Come Bets producing less than Place Bets on the craps tables.
Based on the findings above, unless you’re at a casino that offers at least 20X Odds AND have the bankroll to support $200+ bets, you’re significantly better off using Place Bets to win at the casino.
When I made the switch to Place Bets, I became a lot more consistent at leaving the casino with their money in my pockets rather than the other way around.
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In the meantime…
BEST OF LUCK AT THE CASINOS!!!
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.
Come Bet Odds In Craps
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.
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!
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