In contrast, a $10 don't pass bet with double odds offers 90 percent certainty of being alive after 400 come-out cycles and a 61 percent chance of reaching the $500 profit target. The odds portion of your bet would be $40 to win $20 on the four and 10, $30 to win $20 on the five and nine, and $24 to win $20 on the six and eight. The Odds is like a side bet in craps made after a point is thrown. It pays if the point is thrown before a seven. The odds on the Odds are exactly fair, which zero house edge. To be specific, the Odds pays 2 to 1 on points of 4 and 10, 3 to 2 on a 5 and 9, and 6 to 5 on a 6 and 8.

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This question has a simple answer. The don’t pass bet has a lower house advantage than the pass bet. If you’re comparing craps wagers by how likely they are to pay off, don’t pass bets are technically better than pass line bets.

Look at the house edge on various bets in craps. Poke around on that site long enough and you’ll see that the house edge on pass line bets is around 1.41%, while don’t pass bets give the casino a 1.36% edge.

Pass Bet Details

Pass is the fundamental wager in the game of craps. Bettors who place a Pass bet are hoping that the shooter will roll a 7 or 11 on the come out roll. Otherwise, if the shooter rolls a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, a point is established and play continues. Once that point is set, pass bettors are hoping that number will appear again before a 7. The worst possible result for pass bettors is a 2, 3, or 12 – when this number appears on the come out roll, everyone who bets with the shooter is a loser.

Don’t Pass Bet Details

Don’t pass bets are the opposite of pass bets. Don’t pass bettors are hoping the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12 on the come-out roll. If that doesn’t happen, don’t pass bettors are hoping that a 7 appears before the established point.

Understand that both of these wagers pay even money. Since they pay the same, but one has better odds than the other, you must be thinking: why do people place pass line bets at all?

Three important twists to the way the game is played explain why.

Right vs. Wrong Craps Bets

Spend any time reading up on craps and you’ll come across these phrases – “right bettors” and “wrong bettors.” Understand that don’t pass bets are literally the opposite of pass line bets. Betting on the pass line means betting WITH the shooter, while laying don’t pass bets means betting AGAINST the shooter.

Gamblers who bet with the shooter are called “right” bettors, while those lay wagers against the shooter are called “wrong” bettors. Believe it or not, a lot of people prefer to bet with the shooter (even at a slight disadvantage) than bet on the wrong side.

A don’t pass bet is a bet that the shooter will “seven out” before the point number reappears. Peer pressure and gambling tradition imply that you’d be better off betting with the shooter. It’s a stroke of genius on the part of casinos, because they’re gently pressuring customers to take less-advantageous bets.

“Betting to Lose”

Another reason commonly cited in discussions about pass vs. don’t pass bets – the idea that people don’t like “betting to lose.” What’s that mean?

Imagine the game of craps if everybody switched over to better don’t pass. The dice would be switching hands back and forth – losing would be the same as winning used to be. Wrong bettors are ignoring the appeal of the hot shooter, which is by far one of the most exhilarating things you can see on the casino floor. Once a shooter “gets hot,” customers start increasing their bets, the money starts flowing, and a crowd forms. People who wager on the don’t pass line are cut out of that excitement altogether. If “don’t pass” became the new “pass,” the game itself would change fundamentally.

Low Difference in House Edge

Let’s be honest – the difference in edge between don’t pass and pass is very small. Craps appeals to a certain kind of bettor, one that is not likely to get all that excited about an additional 0.5% advantage. Sports bettors and blackjack players? Absolutely. Craps players? They’re not really known for their ability to slow down and calculate.

The fact that the difference in the casino’s advantage is so low is no doubt another factor in the popularity of the pass line. Let’s say you’re betting $5 per round and seeing 100 outcomes an hour. If you place only pass line bets, your expected losses are around $7 an hour. If you place only don’t pass bets, your expected losses are $6.80 an hour. To most people, betting with the shooter is totally worth that extra $0.20 an hour, just to protect them from the scorn of the rest of the table.

Craps Don't Pass Odds Bet Win

Those are all pretty powerful reasons to avoid don’t pass bets. But the fact remains – most people simply don’t want to bet against the shooter.

And now for a little extra wisdom – there’s nothing at all wrong with betting against the shooter. No casino employee will tell you that you can’t bet the “wrong way.” No dealer will kick you out of the game, and no other players are allowed to do anything to you just because you’re betting against them. What they can do is make your life a bit miserable – give you the cold shoulder, etc.

This is why you’ll often see wrong bettors sitting off to themselves away from the crowd betting with the shooter. All they’re really doing is taking the better bet – the one with the better chances of winning. But the culture of the game is such that a “wrong” bettor is likely to get a little guff from the rest of the table.

The Best Bets In Craps: Pass/Come and Don’t Pass/Don’t Come

Craps Don't Pass Odds Bet Belmont Stakes

By Jerry 'Stickman'

The game of craps can be very exciting. It can also be very frustrating. One of the great draws to this game is the variety of bets available. One can bet with the shooter – betting that he will make the point number before the 7 shows, or one can bet that the 7 will rear its ugly head before the shooter repeats the point number.

Of course, there are dozens of other bets also available; place bets, hard way bets, field bets, horn bets, whirl bets, hop bets, big 6, big 8 and big red. Each bet comes with its own probability of hitting, payback amount and related house edge.

Two of the very best bets on the table are the pass line / come bets (with the shooter), and the don’t pass / don’t come bets (against the shooter). Both of these bets have about a 1.4 percent house edge, but obviously pay at different times.

A pass line – on come-out (before a point is set) – wins if a 7 or 11 is tossed and loses when a 2, 3, or 12 appears. If any other number is thrown, that number becomes the point and the come-out cycle is over for the pass line bet. The point numbers (sometimes called box numbers because they are the numbers in the 'boxes' by the dealers) are 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10.

The come bet works just like the pass line bet, but it is placed when a point is already established for the pass line. The player places the bet in the Come area. If a 7 or 11 appears, the bet wins. If a 2, 3, or 12 appears, the come bet loses. If any other number is rolled, the come bet is moved inside the square by the dealer that contains that number. The point is now established and the come-out cycle is over for that come bet.

If a 7 is rolled when there is a come bet in the Come area, the come bet wins but the pass line and any come bets that have already been moved to a point number lose.

The power of pass / come bets is realized during the come out phase. It wins on a 7 or 11 and loses on a 2, 3, or 12. There are six ways to make a 7 (1-6, 6-1, 2-5, 5-2, 3-4, 4-3) and two ways to make an 11 (5-6, 6-5) for a total of eight ways to win. There is one way to make a 2 (1-1), two ways to make a 3 (1-2, 2-1) and one way to make a 12 (6-6) for a total of four ways to lose. That is a 2-to-1 advantage. Once a point is established, however, the advatage swings solidly toward to house.

The don’t pass/don’t come works similar to the pass/come bet, however, you are betting the opposite way. On come-out, a don’t pass / don’t come loses if a 7 or 11 is thrown and wins if a 2 or 3 is rolled. If this bet were truly the opposite of the pass/come bet, the player would have an edge, so in order to tip the scales toward the house, the 12 appearing on come-out is a push – no one wins or loses. This one minor change is enough to swing the edge toward the house.

The edge is solidly with the house on the come-out with don’t pass/don’t come bets. There are 8 ways to lose and only 3 ways to win, however , once you make it past the come-out, the edge favors the player.

Once a point is established, the pass/come, don’t pass/don’t come player can add odds behind initial (flat) bet. This is called placing odds for the pass/come bet and laying odds for the don’t pass/don’t come bet. On a win, the flat portion of the bet is paid even money and the odds are paid at true odds. For example, the odds of throwing a 4 before a 7 is 2-to-1. For a point of 4 the odds behind a pass or come bet are paid at 2 units for every unit bet. For don’t pass/don’t come the odds are 1-to-2 that the 7 will appear before the 4, so the odds are paid at 1 unit for each 2 unit laid.

The flat portion of pass/come bets are considered 'contract' bets after the point is established. This means that the flat portion cannot be removed or reduced once the point is established. It can be increased however. The odds can be increased, decreased or removed at anytime.

Don’t pass / don’t come bets can be removed at any time since the player has the edge on these bets.

As stated previously, the house edge for pass/come, don’t pass/don’t come bets is about 1.4 percent. Because the odds bets are paid at true odds, there is no house edge on the odds portion. By adding single odds (equal to the flat bet), the edge drops to .83 percent. At double odds it drops to .61% and at 5 times odds it drops to paltry 1/3 of one percent. This is why the pass/come and don’t pass/don’t come bets are the best in the game of craps.

Stick with this betting and your winning session will increase and the amount you lose will decrease. It is in the math.

May all your wins be swift and large and all your losses slow and tiny.

Jerry 'Stickman' is an expert in craps, blackjack and video poker and advantage slot machine play. He is a regular contributor to top gaming magazines. The 'Stickman' is also a certified instructor for Golden Touch Craps and Golden Touch Blackjack. For more information visit www.goldentouchcraps.com or www.goldentouchblackjack.com or call 1-886-738-3423. You can contact Jerry 'Stickman' at stickmanGTC@aol.com

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