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The Basics
The general rule of thumb in craps is to keep your pass (or
don't pass) bet as low as possible and take odds. The more
you place on the odds the lower the overall house edge is
on your total wager. Although most online casinos allow only
2X odds there are many land based casinos that offer 20X or
100X odds. The following table shows how the house edge is
reduced by placing odds on the pass line bet:
| Bet |
Total House Edge |
| Pass Line |
1.41% |
| 1X Odds |
0.85% |
| 2X |
0.61% |
| 3X |
0.47% |
| 5X |
0.33% |
| 10X |
0.18% |
| 20X |
0.10% |
Taking odds can be confusing for the beginning craps player
partly because it is not advertised on the craps table. The
fact is, the odds bet is the best bet at the craps table and
an integral part of increasing your chances of winning. The
payout on the odds bet matches the true odds as follows.
For Pass and Come bets:
| Number |
Odds (payout) |
| 4 or 10 |
2-1 |
| 5 or 9 |
3-2 |
| 6 or 8 |
6-5 |
For
don't pass and don't come bets:
| Number |
Odds (payout) |
| 4 or 10 |
1-2 |
| 5 or 9 |
2-3 |
| 6 or 8 |
5-6 |
Rounding
Down
When placing odds bets you should make sure that the bets
can be paid exactly or the dealer will pay off by rounding
down. For example if you bet $2 on the pass line and the shooter
comes out with an 8 (or 6) you shouldn't back up the bet with
$4 (assuming 2X odds). Since the odds bet on the 8 (or 6)
pays 6 to 5 your payout would be (6/5) x $4 = $4.80 and the
casino will round your payout down to either $4 or $4.50.
Either way you lose that extra advantage of getting true odds.
The
better approach would be to take $5 odds on the 8 (or 6) in
which case your payout on the odds bet would be an even $6.
Most land based casinos will let the player increase the odds
bet slightly over the 2X (or whatever table limit) amount
so that the payout will not be rounded down.
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