The Game in 60 Seconds
A shooter rolls two dice. The first roll of a sequence is the come-out roll:
- 7 or 11 โ Pass Line bets win immediately
- 2, 3 or 12 โ "craps," Pass Line bets lose immediately
- 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 โ that number becomes the point
Once a point is established, the shooter keeps rolling. Pass Line wins if the point repeats before a 7 appears; it loses if the 7 comes first. That's the entire core game. Everything else on the felt is a side bet layered on top of it.
Pass Line: Your Anchor Bet
The Pass Line carries a 1.41% house edge โ better than every roulette bet, better than most blackjack tables you'll actually sit at, and better than every slot machine in existence.
The catch: once the point is set, the odds turn against you. A point of 4 or 10 only repeats 33% of the time before a 7. The come-out roll advantage is what keeps the overall number at 1.41%. Which is why the next bet matters so much.
Free Odds: The Only 0% Bet in the Casino
After a point is established, you can place an additional bet behind your Pass Line called Odds or Free Odds. It pays at true mathematical odds. The house edge is exactly zero.
| Point | True odds | Odds bet pays | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 or 10 | 2:1 | 2:1 | 0.00% |
| 5 or 9 | 3:2 | 3:2 | 0.00% |
| 6 or 8 | 6:5 | 6:5 | 0.00% |
Because the Odds bet has no edge, adding it to your Pass Line dilutes the combined house edge across a larger total wager.
| Odds multiple offered | Combined house edge |
|---|---|
| No odds | 1.41% |
| 1ร odds | 0.85% |
| 2ร odds | 0.61% |
| 3-4-5ร odds (standard) | 0.37% |
| 10ร odds | 0.18% |
| 100ร odds | 0.02% |
This is the single best proposition in any casino. Pass Line with 3-4-5ร odds costs you 37 cents per $100 wagered. A slot machine costs $4โ$10. Roulette costs $5.26. Nothing else on any casino floor comes close โ and the Odds bet isn't even marked on the felt.
The trade-off is bankroll. To take full 3-4-5ร odds on a $10 Pass Line you need up to $50 behind it. If your bankroll can't sustain a $60 total exposure per point, take a lower odds multiple rather than raising your base bet โ the odds portion is the cheap part.
Don't Pass: Mathematically Better, Socially Worse
Betting Don't Pass is betting against the shooter. Its house edge is 1.36% โ slightly better than Pass Line's 1.41% โ and with Odds laid behind it, it drops to about 0.27% at 3-4-5ร.
| Bet | Base edge | With 3-4-5ร odds |
|---|---|---|
| Pass Line | 1.41% | 0.37% |
| Don't Pass | 1.36% | 0.27% |
| Come | 1.41% | 0.37% |
| Don't Come | 1.36% | 0.27% |
Two practical notes. First, the Don't Pass odds bet is a lay โ you risk more than you win (lay $40 to win $20 on a point of 4), which feels wrong to many players even though the EV is identical. Second, everyone else at the table is betting Pass. You will be the only person happy when a 7 rolls, and craps is a social game. That's a real cost even if it isn't a mathematical one.
Place Bets, Buy Bets and the 6/8
Place bets let you bet on a specific number appearing before a 7, without waiting for the come-out. The pricing varies enormously by number.
| Place bet | Pays | True odds | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place 6 or 8 | 7:6 | 6:5 | 1.52% |
| Place 5 or 9 | 7:5 | 3:2 | 4.00% |
| Place 4 or 10 | 9:5 | 2:1 | 6.67% |
| Buy 4 or 10 (5% comm.) | 2:1 | 2:1 | 4.76% |
| Lay 4 or 10 | 1:2 | 1:2 | 2.44% |
Place 6 and Place 8 at 1.52% are the only place bets worth considering. Place 4 and 10 at 6.67% cost eighteen times as much as a Pass Line with full odds. Same table, same dice.
The Bets That Destroy Bankrolls
The centre of the craps table โ the "proposition" area with the flashy payouts โ is where the casino makes most of its craps revenue.
Every Craps Bet Ranked by House Edge
| Bet | House edge | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Odds / Free Odds | 0.00% | Always take |
| Don't Pass + 3-4-5ร odds | 0.27% | Optimal |
| Pass Line + 3-4-5ร odds | 0.37% | Optimal |
| Don't Pass / Don't Come | 1.36% | Excellent |
| Pass Line / Come | 1.41% | Excellent |
| Place 6 / Place 8 | 1.52% | Acceptable |
| Lay 4 / Lay 10 | 2.44% | Situational |
| Field (12 pays 3:1) | 2.78% | Marginal |
| Place 5 / Place 9 | 4.00% | Avoid |
| Buy 4 / Buy 10 | 4.76% | Avoid |
| Field (12 pays 2:1) | 5.56% | Avoid |
| Place 4 / Place 10 | 6.67% | Avoid |
| Hard 6 / Hard 8 | 9.09% | Never |
| Big 6 / Big 8 | 9.09% | Never |
| Hard 4 / Hard 10 | 11.11% | Never |
| Any Craps | 11.11% | Never |
| Any 7 | 16.67% | Never |
The Complete Low-Edge Strategy
The one-sentence version: small Pass Line, maximum odds behind it, Place 6 and 8 if you want more action, and nothing from the middle of the table. Play that way and craps is the cheapest game in the building at 0.37%. Play the middle of the table and it's more expensive than slots.
Play with the math on your side
SlotDrop's free tools show you the real house edge, EV and variance behind every bet โ before you place it.
Open the Black Box โReality check: no strategy on this page turns a negative-expectation game into a positive one. Strategy reduces how much the house takes and how fast your bankroll disappears โ it does not guarantee profit. Only ever bet money you can afford to lose entirely.