King of Craps

Let's continue our discussion of Place bets...

If you're like me, you'll search out and play a table with a $3 minimum bet instead of the typical $5 or $10 minimum.

Suppose you find a $3 table (a few are still left in the middle of the Vegas Strip). Since the minimum bet is only $3, you can make $3 Place bets, but you don't get the full Place odds.

The payoff odds for a $3 Place bet on the 6 or 8 are 1:1, or even money. For the 5 or 9, it's 4:3 (i.e., your $3 bet wins $4). For the 4 or 10, it's 5:3 (i.e., your $3 bet wins $5).

For a $3 Place bet, you get a little less than full Place odds because the lowest chip denomination at the craps table that casinos allow is generally $1, so they can't pay you a fraction of a dollar (i.e., cents). For example, suppose you make a $3 Place bet on the 5. The full Place odds are 7:5, but the reduced payoff odds for a $3 bet are only 4:3.

Why?

Because it gives the casino another excuse to stick it to the player! The roulette table has chips for 25 cents or 50 cents, so why can't the craps table have chip denominations less than $1? That's right. They screw you again! The full Place odds are 7:5, which means for a $3 Place bet on the 5, we divide $3 by 5 = 60 cents, and then multiply 60 cents by 7 = $4.20. So, for a $3 Place bet on the 5 or 9 with full Place odds of 7:5, we expect to be paid $4.20 when we win. The craps table doesn't have 20-cent chips, so the casino rounds down to $4.

Let's look at a $3 Place bet on the 4 or 10. The full Place odds are 9:5, which means we divide $3 by 5 = 60 cents, and then multiply 60 cents by 9 = $5.40. So, for a $3 Place bet on the 4 or 10 with full Place odds of 9:5, we expect to win $5.40, but the casino rounds down to $5. (Notice how the casino rounds down instead of up.) The player isn't giving up much by making $3 Place bets, so if you have a limited bankroll, these bets are fun and give you more action than just Pass Line bets. The point is, be aware that you get a little less than full Place odds and increase the house advantage when you make $3 Place bets.

Full Place odds aren't as good as true odds. That's how the house maintains its advantage. Remember, the house is in business to make money, not to gamble. Over time, the house wins because when you lose, you pay the true odds; but when you win, the house pays you less than true odds. So, by paying less than their fair share when you win, the house can't help but come out a winner over the long haul. Let's look closer at how the house screws the player.

Let's look at the number 4. The true odds for making a 4 compared to a 7 are 1:2 (i.e., three ways to make a 4 compared to six ways to make a 7, which is 3:6, which reduces down to 1:2). Therefore, since the number 7 is twice as easy to make as a 4, we expect to get paid twice as much as our bet when we win. For example, if we bet $5 on the 4 to hit before the 7, we expect to get $10 when we win (i.e., $5 x 2 = $10). However, for a Place bet on the 4, the payoff odds are only 9:5. This is close to 2:1, but not quite.

Therefore, if we make a $5 Place bet on the 4 and win, the house pays us only $9. When the house loses, they don't pay the true odds; they pay only $9 instead of $10 and keep that extra dollar. You might think, "For my $5 bet, I win $9, so I don't care if they screw me out of that extra $1. It's only a buck." Okay, but think of it this way. That's only one Place bet made by one player during one game.

Imagine keeping that extra dollar when other people at the table make that same bet, multiplied by the number of tables in action, multiplied by the number of hours in a day, multiplied by the number of days in a month, and so on. It's easy to see how the house rakes in the money over the long haul.

For more valuable information on how to play casino craps, read my FREE articles (click on the "Older Posts" link in the button bar at the bottom of this page). Better yet, order the book/booklets to get all the information you need to play craps like a Vegas pro without losing your ass.

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