Craps Put Bet: Everything You Need to Know

Craps players are taught that the best moment to place a pass line wager is on the comeout roll when learning how to play craps online or offline. If it is not the comeout, you can wager on come, which has the same basic odds and gameplay.

But what if you bet on the pass line and the comeout doesn't happen? Will the casino still take your wager? It most certainly will. A "put bet" is a pass bet made on a roll other than the comeout.

WHAT IS A CRAPS PUT BET?

Put bets are normally a lousy deal for players, but under specific conditions, such as backing your wagers with free odds, they might be a viable option.

They're terrible bets since they're placed after the comeout, which means there's no first roll with eight ways to win and only four ways to lose. On a standard pass bet, you win on the comeout if the shooter rolls any of the six ways to roll 7 or two ways to roll 11, and you lose only if the shooter rolls any of the one way to roll 2, one way to roll 12, or two ways to roll 3.

Instead, after a point has been established, the put bettor enters the fray. If the shooter rolls your number again, you win; if he rolls a 7, you lose.

CRAPS PUT BETS ON THE HOUSE EDGE

Every point number has an advantage for the house. Because there are six ways to roll a 7 and only five ways to roll a 6, you're a 6-5 underdog if the point is 6 and you place a put bet. Similarly, if the point is 8, you're a 6-5 underdog, a 3-2 underdog if the point is 5 or 9, and a 2-1 underdog if the point is 4 or 10.

Put bets, like pass bets, pay even money. Because you're being paid less than the genuine craps odds of winning, the house edge on a put bet is 9.1% on 6 or 8, 20% on 5 or 9, and a whopping 33.3 percent on 4 or 10.

The absence of a comeout roll makes a significant difference. The house edge is merely 1.41 percent if you bet pass before the comeout. With odds of 1.41 percent on come bets or 1.52 percent on place bets on 6 or 8, put bets are frequently a bad gamble, with four of the numbers worse than the 16.67 percent edge on any 7.

You can, however, back put bets with free odds in the same way that you can accept free odds on pass bets.

Free odds are secondary wagers that are placed after a point has been established and are paid at actual odds. Instead of being paid equal money, winning free odds bets are paid 6-5 if the point is 6 or 8, 3-2 if the point is 5 or 9, and 2-1 if the point is 4 or 10.

Consider what happens if you bet $5 in free odds on 6 11 times and the dice come up in the regular proportions of six 7s and five 6s.

The entire amount at risk is $55. You maintain your $5 stake and receive $6 in prizes for each of your five victories. That's $11 on your side of the table five times, for a total of $55 at the end of the trial. The house has no corners.

The size of the free odds wager allowed varies every casino. A select number let you to place a free odds bet equivalent to your pass, come, or put bet. Others enable you to double your original stake, some allow three times, and it's not uncommon to see five times, ten times, and even 100 times.

For a put betor, this means that you can pick your number, playing 6s and 8s while avoiding the greater house edge numbers, and also place a major amount of your wager in free odds.

With so few free odds, this isn't much of a help. You'd be better off placing a spot bet on 6 or 8 at low odds multiples. Winners on those bets receive 7–6 odds and a house advantage of 1.52%.

However, consider what happens with 5x odds, or when your odds bet is five times your put bet.

You stake $30 every roll with $5 on put and $25 in odds on the same 11 rolls where 7 comes up six times and 6 comes up five times. That amounts to a total risk of $330.

On each of the five victorious rolls, you keep your $30 wagers, receive $5 in put bet profits, and receive $30 in odds winnings. That's a total of $65 on your side of the table per win, and if you win five times, you'll have $325 of your original $330 at the end of the trial.

Divide the $5 kept by the house by the $330 in bets, then multiply by 100 to convert to a percentage, and you get 1.52 percent-the same house edge as on placing bets on 6 or 8.

This is the break-even threshold for put bets on 6 or 8 as opposed to placing bets. With 5x odds, you're getting the same bargain on place as you are on put. The balance shifts in favor of put plus odds as free odds increase. With 10x odds, the house edge on a put-plus-odds combination shrinks to 0.83 percent.

The tipping point with the other place numbers is at 4x odds. When the odds bet is four times the put bet, the house edge is 4% on 5 or 9 and 6.67% on 4 or 10. The house edges on place bets on those numbers are the same, albeit neither place nor put-plus-odds is as good a deal as when the points are 6 or 8.

Remember that even on 6 or 8, getting the house edge as low as put bets necessitates wagering far beyond the table minimums. Don't overbet your bankroll and put money at risk that you can't afford to lose. Stick to lesser bets on pass, come, or place bets if you wouldn't ordinarily bet enough to back a put bet with 5x odds or greater.