No filet mignon this time
August
1, 2008
Dear Mark: What is the best way to play $25 on
the crap game. I say place it on the Pass line,
while my friend believes you should Place it on
either the 6 or 8? Your decision gets one of us
a steak dinner. Jeff F.
You are in the know, Jeff, sort of, but only for
Whopper at Burger King and not a steak dinner,
and here’s why.
Between the two wagers mentioned, your Pass Line
bet has a 1.414% house edge whereas Placing the
6 or 8 has a casino advantage of 1.52%. But you
guys forget the Don’t Pass, which has an even
lower house edge of 1.36%.
Better yet, the bet with the lowest house edge
would be a Pass/Come or Don't Pass/Don't Come
with odds placed behind them. It amazes me how
few players think about making an odds bet along
with their Pass Line bet. Like you, most players
just want to chuck a $25 chip down on the Pass
Line, but what you really should do, Jeff, is
get the most money you can in odds and the least
amount of money on the line.
For instance, instead of taking that $25 chip
and plunking it down on the Pass Line, you are
better off with $5 on the Pass Line and $20 in
odds. By taking odds, you will lose just seven
cents each time you make the bet this way over
the long haul, versus a 35-cent loss if you make
just a Pass Line with the full $25 amount.
You can enhance the wager even more if you
happen to be on a $2 game that offers 10X odds.
By splitting up the $25 wager into a $2 Pass
Line bet with $20 in odds, the cost of your
wager is only three cents.
An Odds bet costs you nothing, Jeff, because the
casino’s edge on it is zilch, so use it. Now go
enjoy that Whopper, heavy all, light mayo.
Dear Mark: Is the Field bet in craps ever worth
playing? Seems in the past you were not a big
fan of it. Bill M.
A Field bet is a wager that one of these
numbers, the 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12, will
appear on the next roll of the dice. Typically
this bet pays 2:1 if either the 2 or 12 rolls,
and 1:1 (even money) if 3, 4, 9, 10 or 11 rolls.
You’re right, Bill, my past comments were always
to disregard all proposition bets that the
dealer is barking out. Craps offers two kinds of
one-roll proposition bets—hopeless and wretched.
Although proposition bets have seemingly lofty
payoffs, the house edge is way too high, as high
as 16%, to waste your hard-earned money on them.
The Field bet is one of those proposition bets,
and it normally carries a casino advantage of
5.56%. The only difference between the Field and
other proposition bets is that the Field bet is
placed directly by the player and not handled by
a dealer or a stickman. Because of this, I’ve
seen some confusion as to its quality in the
minds of many players, but it’s still a wager
you should avoid.
The exception to my “don’t play” rule is when
the 2 or 12 are returning three to one, instead
of the usual two to one. Here the house edge
drops to 2.78%. Yes, Bill, it is over my “never
make a bet that has more than a 2% house edge,”
rule, but if you’ve got to play one proposition
bet, this one is the best of the worst bets on
the game.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week:
"If it wasn't for luck, I would win every hand."
--Phil Hellmuth
