• House Edge Craps Field Betting
• House Edge Craps Field Bets

An odds bet doesn’t carry a house edge. You can place one of these wagers behind your original pass line or don’t pass line bet once a point number has been established. Here’s an example on how this works: You bet $5 on pass line. Craps: Field Bets – 3, 4, 9, 10 or 11: 5.50%: Craps: Field Bets – 2 or 12. Another point to note when looking at House Edge is that for bets which feature a. There are two field payouts you will see. One pays double if you hit a 12 or 2. The other pays triple on either the 12 or 2 and still pays double on the other one. I’m going to show you step by step the odds on the layout that pays triple on a 12.

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House Edge Craps Field Betting

Likewise, always placing a field bet when you bet the hardways will lower the house edge.

certainly not! but perhaps the variance

Likewise, always placing a field bet when you bet the hardways will lower the house edge.

A good example of what I'm talking about - if you combine a hardway and a field bet, you do lower the combined house edge, since a field bet has a lower edge than a hardway, but you ADD to your expected loss, not subtract from it.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
Woodland, Ca

Great site & especially love the Wizard of Odds site - I use the basics to impress my friends with my knowledge of probability & refer them to it when they ask me questions too hard for me to answer.
I've recently started playing craps. I bet pass line with full odds, and once the point is set, I bet the come with full odds when that new point is set & continue doing this until I crap out. (The tax professor who taught me craps calls this 'turbo craps')
The question I have is this: Ordinarily, after an original pass line point is made, the odds on my come bets are not 'working' until a new point is established. However, I can tell the dealer that I want my odds 'working.'
My assumption is that since the casino default is that the odds are not working, it's to my advantage to have them working.
Is that correct? Does it matter how many come bets I have up at the time?
Thanks for your thoughts.

Well IMO its just a matter of how large your bankroll is. The house advantage on your come bet once placed on a point or a 'put bet' is not going to ever change whether or not your odds are working. Lets assume you have a $5 come bet that moves to the 10 and you place 10X's odds on it ($50) then your pass line point is made. And you are now on a new come out roll. What you need to ask yourself is.......Do I want to risk $5 at a 33.33% house edge or $55 dollars at a 3.03% house edge?
Off topic: I used to pay with a guy at a casino that had 10x odds, and he would play what I like to call 'super turbo craps' LOL It was a $1 table. He would place a $1 pass line bet. Once the pass line point was established he would place $10 odds on it. Then he would make a $1 'put bet' with 10X's odd on every other number and a $1 come bet. One night he made 11 passes in a row with 80 plus rolls before '7ing out' and he always had his odds working on the come out. Needless to say the guy had a HUGE night!

A good example of what I'm talking about - if you combine a hardway and a field bet, you do lower the combined house edge, since a field bet has a lower edge than a hardway, but you ADD to your expected loss, not subtract from it.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
Woodland, Ca

Ah. I stand corrected. At least we agree a player is not accomplishing what he wants.

You could play pass line/full odds, one come bet/full odds, and a don't come bet/full odds. If you are lucky and they hit in the right order you will win the come bets before you 7 out. It will reduce your variance a little.

I often try this, usually for 2comebets or 3comebets and then switching to the DontCome. It always seems to annoy the dealers for some reason.

House Edge Craps Field Bets

I usually have my odds working on ComeOut rolls but often this doesn't work out too well for me.

Odds working on the Come Out you just lose your odds and original bet if the shooter rolls a 7.
This is assuming the last point was made.
So, you've got all your odds working and the guy rolls a 7. It sucks to be you!
Remember, the 7 comes up more than any other number.

This is no different than having your odds working when it's not the pass comeout. If you want to bet odds, why not have them working?
It's the pass comeout, and you have a come bet behind the four, with working odds. The shooter rolls a four. You win your come and and 2-to-1 odds. It's great to be you!
If you think there's any difference between the pass comeout roll and any other roll, you're confused.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
Woodland, CA

Since the odds have a zero expectation, there is no mathematical reason to have them not working - or working, for that matter.

According to the Wizard, Come Odds should always be left on, since the Come bet itself cannot be turned off. He elsewhere once gave an example of a Come bet up on 5 with maximum Odds behind it increasing the overall house edge by 0.377% by turning the Odds off through come-out.

According to the Wizard, Come Odds should always be left on, since the Come bet itself cannot be turned off. He elsewhere once gave an example of a Come bet up on 5 with maximum Odds behind it increasing the overall house edge by 0.377% by turning the Odds off through come-out.

To perfectly grasp why the Wizard likes free odds at all, you have to understand that he is framing the use of it in the context of the amount of action the player wants. In other words, if you are at a $25 min table and that *is* also the size bet you are comfortable with, IMO Michael would not say to that gambler to use free odds to try to increase how much he will win.
At a $5 min table, it would pain him [and most of us] to see the same player place that same $25 bet on the passline with no free odds.

....[A]lways placing a Field bet when you bet the hardways will lower the house edge.

Hardways 2&2 (or 5&5) with a Triple-12 Field: (-1*8 + 7*1 + 2*1 + 3*1 + 1*14 - 1*20)/(9 + 36) = -4.2553% (v. -6.3830% with a Double-12 Field).
Hardways 3&3 (or 4&4) with a Triple-12 Field: (-1*10 + 9*1 + 2*1 + 3*1 + 1*14 - 1*20)/(11+36) = -4.0816% (v. -6.1224%).
Per-roll for Hardways 2&2/5&5 + T12 Field: (2*1 + 3*1 + 1*14 - 1*20 + 7*1 - 1*8 + 0*27)/(2*36) = -2.7778% (v. -4.1667%).
Per-roll for Hardways 3&3/4&4 + T12 Field: (2*1 + 3*1 + 1*14 - 1*20 + 9*1 - 1*10 + 0*25)/(2*36) = -2.7778% (v. -4.1667%).

• Page 3 of 13

You’re about to learn the secret on how the casinos try to increase their advantage over you at the craps table by the way the layout is designed.

Advanced players already know these secrets, but for the beginner and a number of more novice intermediate players, not knowing can cost you your hard earned dollars.

Before we get into the details, let me ask you a couple of questions…

• Which game(s) take up most of the gaming floor in a typical casinos?
  • Why?
• Which game(s) have the most attention drawing lights, bells and whistles?
  • Why?

ANSWER: Slot machines take up most of a casino’s gaming floor AND have the most attention drawing lights, bells and whistles.

WHY: Because slot machines have some of the biggest house advantages where, dependent on the game and denomination, can range up to 18 to 20% in favor of the casino. Why wouldn’t they try to get more people to play the slots.

I don’t fault the casinos for doing this. They’re a business and their goal is to trade entertainment and excitement for as much of your money as they can. To the casino, making that happen is a science… and they’re good at it.

The way to counter that, and give yourself the best chance of leaving the casino a winner, is with knowledge, and understanding these secrets is a major step in that direction.

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE CRAPS LAYOUT

The casinos use the same tactics and psychologies at the craps table, as they do throughout the casino, to try to separate you from more of your money.

Though more subtle than the lights, bells and whistles of the slot machines, they use color, space and marketing techniques to get the unsuspecting gambler to place bets that have a much higher casino advantage.

For more on the casino’s advantage for each bet, see my post on ‘not so smart’ bets vs. ‘smart bets’…Craps: Odds, Payouts, House Edge

Now, some of these ‘not so smart bets’ play a role in some broader and more complex craps strategies, but as an individual bet for the average gambler, they favor the house in a big way.

Let’s take a look at some of these…

FIELD BET

Take a look at the ‘Field Bet’ on the layout above.

The novice gambler sees;

• It’s an easy, self service bet right in front of me
• It occupies one of the largest spaces on the layout.
• You ‘WIN’ if any of those 7 numbers, and only 4 make you lose
• On top of that, they’ll double the payout if the 2 or 12 come in

What’s the reality?

• The Field Bet is one of the worst bets on the main board
• While you only lose if 4 numbers come in (5, 6, 7, or 8), they only have 20 ways of being rolled versus 16 for all the other numbers combined.
• The advantage (House Edge) is 5.6% in favor of the casino

BIG 6 & BIG 8

Here’s another trap for the inexperienced craps player.

The novice gambler sees;

• Another easy, self service bet right in front of me
• Aside from the seven, 6 & 8 have the best chance of being rolled
• This is a great bet, isn’t it??!! Well… not quite

What’s the reality?

• The Big 6 & 8 actually are the worst bets on the main board
• It pays 1 to 1 on your bet while the real odds are 6 to 5
• That gives the casino a GIANT 9.1% house advantage over you
• You’re better off ‘Placing’ the 6 or 8 which pays you 7 to 6
• Placing the 6 or 8 give the casino only a 1.5% house edge

COME BET

This one is probably one of the most deceptive on the main board (I’ll explain in minute)

The novice gambler sees;

• It IS the biggest section of the main craps layout
• You see the giant ‘COME’ written across the section
• You heard that taking odds is the best bet on the table
• You ask the dealer how to play and they say, “The puck is on, so just throw money on the COME and then put odds money on top”

What’s the reality?

Let me answer why it’s one of the most deceptive bets on the board.

• The COME bet plays a roll in some more complex advanced strategies
• The COME bet, by itself, offers only a 1.41% house edge
• Adding ODDs to the COME bet lowers that advantage even more
• Sounds great so far, right? Well, not so much… Here’s what they don’t tell you.
  • To take advantage of the low house edge, you have to win the bet first
  • The SEVEN, on average, appears every 6th roll or so
  • When you walked up to the table, you don’t know how many rolls in the shooter is. (Might the start of a monster roll, but then again, it might not be)
  • And while the COME bet protects you if a SEVEN is rolled, to win the bet once the your bet moves to the number, you have to hit it again… before a 7 rolls.
  • There’s a lot better ways to enter a game that’s already in progress

CENTER (PROPOSITION) BETS

Center bets are gold for the casinos and they know it. Even advanced players sometimes fall victim to the draw and enticement of these bets

What the novice gambler sees;

• They’re low money bets with big payouts (ie. a 12 pays 30 to 1)
• It’s exciting when these bets come in
• Everyone is high fiving when a ‘hard eight’ comes in
• You want to get in on the excitement and possible BIG WIN
• The stickperson keeps calling out, “Any center action, hardways, horn bets” Hmmm… I wonder why that is?

What’s the reality?

• All of these bets have a very high house advantage and while you may get ‘lucky’, in the long run, these bets are the fastest way the casino takes your money away from you
• Here’s some of the bets and their house edge (Hard 4/10 – 11.1%) (Any SEVEN – 16.7%) (2 or 12 – 13.9%) Not very good for the player

Starting to get the picture?

We’ve looked at how the casino tries to get the novice gambler to make ‘not so smart’ bets by using those bells, whistles and call outs at the craps table.

NOW let’s take a quick look at how they try to minimize, and even hide, the ‘SMART BETS’ on the table.

PASS LINE / DON’T PASS ODDS

• ODDs bets are the only bets on the table that offer the same advantage to the player and the casino. There is NO ‘house edge’ on these bets.
  • Now, take a look at the layout above… where do those bets go?
  • They’re not listed anywhere on the board… You have to already know about them

DON’T COME

• Remember we talked about the enticing size of the COME bet and how being in the middle of a roll, a SEVEN would be likely coming sooner than later….
  • Well, let’s take a look where that 1.36% HA bet is on the table.
  • Go figure… it’s tiny and ,in the back corners of the layout

LAY BETS

• For the ‘Don’t’ player, lay bets offer the player a low 2.4 to 4.0% House Advantage. So how is that called out for you?
  • Well, once again, it’s not. There’s a spot for you bet, but nothing indicating what that space is for.
  • When was the last time you heard the stick calling out; “Lay Bets, Lay Bets, anyone!!??”

Again, I don’t fault the casino or the dealers for doing this. That’s their job! Our job is to make sure, that if we’re going to bet our hard earned money, we have the knowledge that gives us the best possible advantage to leave the casino a winner.

Whether it’s articles on this board, or someone else’s, keep learning the strategies that will make your time at the craps tables more prosperous and a heck of a lot more fun!

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Please visit us at BlackChipClub.com

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If you have any questions, suggestions or recommendations, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

In the meantime…

BEST OF LUCK AT THE CASINOS!!!