- Note: Individual casinos may pay some of these bets at different odds than those listed below. The payoff odds listed are the most common throughout North American casinos. Actual odds, of course, do not vary.
Proposition bets are generally located in the center of a craps table, and often pay off at high odds but with a significantly higher house advantage.
One roll bets that the shooter will make an 11, or “yo” (pays 15-1, actual odds 17-1); 3, or “ace-deuce” (15-1, actual 17-1); 2, or “snake eyes” (30-1, actual 35-1); and 12, “box cars” or “midnight” (30-1, actual 35-1). A “hi-lo” is a combination bet on 2 or 12, paying 15-1 (actual odds 17-1); the stickman places this bet on the line dividing the 2 and 12 bets.
Bets that a shooter will make a hardway number such as 4-4 (before throwing a 7 or an 8 the easy way such as 6-2 or 5-3). The hard 4 (2-2) and hard 10 (5-5) pay off at 7-1 odds (actual odds 8-1), and the hard 6 (3-3) and hard 8 (4-4) pay off at 9-1 odds (actual odds 10-1).
The Horn is a bet that involves betting on 1 unit each for 2, 3, 11 and 12 at the same time for the next roll. The bet is actually four separate bets, and pays off depending on which number is actually rolled, minus three units for the other three losing bets. Most players do a “Horn High” bet which involves betting an additional $1 on one of the 4 choices, with the most frequent being a $5 “horn high yo” bet (which means $2 on the 11, $1 each on 2, 3 & 12).
A hop bet is a bet on any combination of the dice on the next roll. For example, hard 8 on the hop pays 30-1 (actual odds 35-1) if two fours appear on the dice on the next roll only. “Easy” combinations may also be bet, such as a 3-5 or 4-6, paying off at 15-1 odds (actual odds 17-1). On most craps tables, hop bets do not have a designated space on the layout; instead, they are kept in front of the boxman, often with a “hop” marker placed on top of the chips.
Craps is a bet that the shooter will roll 2, 3 or 12 on the next roll. The true odds are 8-1 and the casino pays 7-1.
C & E is actually two bets. A player is betting one unit on craps and another unit on 11. One of the two bets will always lose, and the other will pay off as above.
Any Seven is a bet that the shooter will roll a seven on the next roll. The true odds are 5-1 and the casino pays 4-1. This bet is also nicknamed “Big Red,” since the “7” on its betting space on the layout is usually large and red.
A whirl or world bet is a five-unit bet that is a combination of a horn and any-seven bet. The bet is effectively a push if a 7 rolls, since the 4-1 payoff on the any-seven bet is offset by the other four losing bets.
The field bet is a wager that one of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12 will appear on the next roll of the dice. This bet pays 2-1 on the 2 or 12 and even money on the others; many casinos will instead pay 3-1 on the 2 or 12. The house advantage is slightly more than 5%, reduced to 2.7% when the 2 or 12 pays 3-1. This bet is located in a box between the don’t pass line and the come box. Unlike the other proposition bets which are handled by the dealers or stickman, the field bet is placed directly by the player.
The Big 6 and Big 8 wagers are considered by craps players as sucker bets because they pay even money while a player can bet on the same proposition (a 6 will be rolled before a 7) by placing the 6 or the 8, which pays 7-6 (true odds are 6-5). Veteran craps players avoid these bets, and some casinos (particularly those in Atlantic City) do not even offer them. These are located in the corners behind the pass line, and bets are placed directly by players.
Most of these bets are very costly and disadvantageous to the player, because the house percentage on these bets can be 11.1% and up. Knowledgeable craps players often restrict their action to either the pass line or don’t pass line with full odds. More aggressive players can also bet on the Come/Don’t Come with full odds which is statistically identical to the pass/don’t pass bet.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
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