I only play craps on rare occasion and then it is only for the crowd excitement and fun. Craps is not a +EV game (read that, craps is a losing game). At times when I’ve played, a colleague will say, if you’re playing the pass line, “you have to place an “odds bet” behind the pass bet. Its a much better deal.” In fact, I once got into a heated argument with a relative about this and was told “if you’re not going to play craps right, you shouldn’t be at the table”. Puhleeze. Well, I want everyone to know that the odds bet is no great deal.

Here’s why: Pass Line: The pass bet has a house edge of 1.41 percent. That is the equivalent of the pitboss Stan offering you to reach in a bag of 1000 marbles (507 red and 493 black) and saying, “if you can pick one of black ones you win, if you pick a red we win.” That’s not bad. Its still a negative expectation, but not bad. Odds Bet: Now, Stan continues on, “if you take us up on this “pick a marble” game which happens to be in our favor, we’ll let you bet on a fair coin toss. Heads you win, tails you lose and we won’t take any juice on the bet.” The coin toss game is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. It is not an advantage to you and it is not an advantage to the house. That is what the odds bet is. It is just an additional bet with fair odds that is activated after the point has been chosen and that is only offered after you take a bet in the house’s favor. If they offered the odds bet as a standalone bet I would take it every time while I am waiting for my friends at the craps table and enjoying free drinks. However, that is just not going to happen. The only way I will ever agree that it is a “good deal” is if someone put a gun to my head and said you must bet $300 per roll. Then, I will put $100 on the pass line and $200 on the odds bet. Short of that requirement, my best bet is to bet the minimum on the pass line until my friends are bored enough to go back to playing poker where I can get a real edge.

Disclaimer: Craps is not a +EV game.