Craps/Odds Question

I%26#39;ve played a little bit of craps before, mostly pass line bets and the numbers. I%26#39;m also a low-roller, meaning $10 BJ hands. When playing craps, and betting the pass line, I%26#39;m always lectured by someone about placing odds. (Being lectured by someone with a dwindling stack of chips is always amusing, but that%26#39;s another story.) Anyway, I understand that placing odds is the way to help narrow the house edge, but wouldn%26#39;t placing odds increase my $10 bet to something in the $50 per hand/roll range? I%26#39;m beginning to think that playing craps ';correctly'; is not for the low-roller.....or am I totally off base?

Craps/Odds Question

Your odds bet can be as low as your passline bet. It can be as much as 100 times as large as your passline bet, depending on the house rules.

The odds bet is the only ';fair'; bet in the casino. The pay offs are much more fair than the place bets ... or any other bets for that matter.

Craps/Odds Question

You don%26#39;t have to play $50 in odds. I only play 2x odds. If I play $5 pass line, I put $10 behind it.

You would be better off(statistically) if you played 5 on the PL and 5 behind after the point. Your bet would be the same.

Only downside, on the come out if you won, you would only win 5... but same could be said if the shooter rolled craps on the come out(you would only lose 5).

When I was in Vegas last Sept at Binions, we were winning a good bit playing craps. This one guy was there with us for a long time. My wife and I had some pretty long rolls. One time, we even had a guy at the table with us give odds to my wife while she was shooting.

';Odds for the shooter.';

One time when I was shooting, I only had 5 on the pass line. I rolled for a LONG time, but NEVER placed a bet and NEVER hit the point. So, I lost 5 bucks while I was shooting, but everyone else at the table was making money as they were playing a lot of numbers. I did not want to place a bet and jynx the table.

Did I go far enough off topic?

Ignore folks who lecture you.

The house edge on a $10 passline bet is 14 cents. The house edge on a $10 passline bet with $40 odds is 14 cents.

Now if you are playing at a $5 table and want to make $10 bets, it makes some mathematical sense to play $5 bets with $5 odds. Then again, that cuts the house edge by a whopping 7 cents.

People need to stop lecturnig folks.

';I%26#39;m beginning to think that playing craps ';correctly'; is not for the low-roller.....or am I totally off base?';

Playing Craps %26#39;correctly %26#39; means following the rules - you can place any bet you feel happy with.

Now, playing the smartest game is a totally different story - in other words playing the bets with the lowest house advantage. Depending on the rolls, as you have seen, you can make a lot more money with other bets, but your mathematical probability of this is lower.

That being said, if I am conserving money I might not place odds on a point at all, sometimes I play the 6+8 and use my winnings there to place my odds bet which usually works out on longer rolls.

I usually play $5 tables which means I might have $15 to 50 working at any time. $5 Pass ( or dont ) 2X or 3X odds, 6 on the 6+8 maybe $1 hard 4 and 10 . A few quick 7 outs and it busts me pretty fast.

llcamino: My suggestion is to stick with $5 craps tables, then you can make a $5 pass line bet and a $5 odds bet. If you win, your odds bet gets paid at better than 1 to 1, so you%26#39;ll be risking the same amount of money but winning more. Of course, there%26#39;s absolutely nothing that says you have to make an odds bet every single time, either.