This question comes up all the time. Which is a better bet in the game of Craps, a ‘Come Bet’ or a ‘Place Bet’?
Both Come Bets and Place Bets play vital rolls within different strategies and based on the particular strategy you’re using, you could make the case that either is better than the other, and not be wrong.
Buying #'s means you get True Odds but pay a 5% vig to the house.Placing #'s means u don't pay a vig but the Payout is Worse. So what I notice, is that its best to 'Place' the 6 n' 8. And 'Buy' the 4 n' 10. 5 n' 9 is a small difference in favor of Buying. When compared to the Place bet on the same numbers, the former leaves a lot to be desired. The odds associated with a Place bet on 6 or 8 are 7:6, making it a more favorable one. The Buy bet itself often gives craps fans a better feel about the game in general and themselves as players. The pass line and don’t pass wagers are the most commonly placed bets in craps and also the most straightforward. A shooter will usually have to place one of them before making their come-out roll; and in some casinos, players must make one of them if they also want to place other wagers. The Wizard of Odds explains to Angela place and buy bets Wizard's strategy and rules: https://wizardofodds.com/games/craps/. Place bets are paid at lower than true odds while Buy bets are paid at full true odds minus a 5% commission. Person 1: places the 4 for $20. He is paid off at 9-to-5 odds which is a net of $36 won. Person 2: buys the 4 for $20 and is charged a 5% commission ($1) for his bet.
But, if you take a closer look at the characteristics of both Come and Place bets individually, you may be very surprised by the answer.
If you’re like me, when I was learning to play craps, I was taught to remember two things;
- Always play a Pass Line Bet with 2 Come Bets and back them up with as much in Odds as you can, and
- To win, you have to lower the house edge as much as possible and Free Odds on the PL and Come Bets are the best way to do that
To this day, when a novice player walks up to the table, that’s what the dealer, and other novice players, tell them, “Place a Come Bet and back it up with odds. So, that’s what I did. Some days, when the table was hot, I’d walk away a pretty solid winner, but when the table was choppy or cold, I would usually lose and lose fast.
After playing craps for a while, you get to know who the pros are, and I started noticing that while some of them played the Pass Line, virtually none of them used Come Bets. They were Placing Bets instead and they were winning more often than I was. How could that be? I was taught the 2 most important keys to winning, or so I thought.
Adding to my confusion, was that when my Come Bet + Odds won for the same amount as their Place Bet, the dealer was delivering a lot more chips to me than them, until I realized that almost half the chips I was getting was from my bet coming down.
It was time to take a closer look at the real differences between Come Bets and Place Bets, and I was pretty astounded by what I found out.
Craps Secrets Tip: Use Place Bets instead of Come Bets unless they’re part of a larger overall strategy.
HOUSE EDGE
The first thing to do is to check the house edge on both Come Bets and Place Bets. The house edge is the casino advantage on the bet and what you can expect to happen in the long run. The chart below shows the difference between the two.
The clear winner here is Come Bets with Free Odds and at only 1.41% for the Come, the more you back in odds, the lower you can drive the house edge.
BUT… I soon realized, there’s a number of things that the house edge on these bets doesn’t take into account.
- House edge is only calculated based on having won the bet. The Come + Odds has to win, before you can claim an advantage over Place Bets
- Come Bets are contract bets meaning once it travels to the number, it stays there until a decision is made. You don’t have the option of taking it down if you feel a Seven is coming (Odds can come down). Place Bets, on the other hand, can be taken down or turned off at any time.
- Come Bets are live during the Come-Out roll, Place Bets are not (unless you make them live). After hitting a point, if the shooter rolls a seven, your Come Bets lose.
- AND… to take advantage of the lower house edge, the number has to hit twice. First to travel to the number, then to hit the number and win.
The house edge advantage of Come Bets over Place Bets is much more cloudy when you take these factors into consideration.
PAYOUTS
Let’s take a look at the payout differences between Come Bets and Place Bets. With a lower house edge, you would expect that Come Bets would clearly outperform Place Bets in this area. WELL, NOT SO FAST… Let’s take a look.
For our example, we’ll use a $10 minimum table and use the payouts for the box number (5). The place bet on the (5) carries a 4.00% house edge vs. the Come Bet at 1.41% + Free Odds. Should be easy, right?
You’re probably as surprised as I was at the results since everything I had been told was to key on Free Odds, Come Bets and House Edge. This also explains why the pros that were using Place Bets instead of Come Bets were winning significantly more than I was.
The payout is where Place Bets take a clear lead over Come Bets in a number of ways even though Free Odds are supposed to give you the biggest payouts.
- On the first hit of the number, the Come Bet travels to the number and needs to be hit again before there is any payout. The Place Bet on the (9) pays out $14 on the first hit.
- Even when you add 4 times Odds to your Come Bet, the Place Bet still pays out more on the second hit.
- This is due to the Come Bet itself that is only paid out at 1 to 1, so while the Odds pay out at a higher rate, it needs to make up the lesser payout on the original Come Bet
- When you get to 5 times Odds or a total of $60 in bets, the Come Bet beats the Place Bet by $1, BUT… you still haven’t made up the $14 win on the first hit.
- It takes almost 20X Odds before your Come Bet pays out more that the Place Bet including the 1st hit on the number. In our example, that would mean putting $200 behind your $10 come bet to outpace a Place Bet.
- While you can still find casinos that offer 100X Odds, most have moved to 3/4/5X Odds and some at 10X, which keeps your Come Bets producing less than Place Bets on the craps tables.
Based on the findings above, unless you’re at a casino that offers at least 20X Odds AND have the bankroll to support $200+ bets, you’re significantly better off using Place Bets to win at the casino.
When I made the switch to Place Bets, I became a lot more consistent at leaving the casino with their money in my pockets rather than the other way around.
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BEST OF LUCK AT THE CASINOS!!!
The pass line bet with odds is the best craps bet you can make because it has the lowest house edge. However, players can also wager on the numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 at any time with a Place Bet. These numbers are sometimes referred to as “point numbers” or “box numbers,' and the wagers go in the big boxes shown on the layout. Place bets are very valuable when a shooter is rolling many numbers, as you'll get paid each time the number repeats.
How to Make Place Bets
To make a place bet you put your chips in front of you on the layout and tell the inside dealer which numbers you want to cover. The dealer will then move your chips to the numbered box you want to wager on. Place bets are not self-service bets.
The dealer keeps track of which bet belongs to which player by placing them strategically inside the box.
Winning Your Bet
After you place a number it must roll before a seven appears in order to win. When the shooter sevens-out, you lose all of your place bets. When you win a place bet the dealer will push you your winnings but the original bet stays where it is and keeps winning if the number keeps rolling.
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Your original bet will stay on the place number until the shooter sevens out or until you ask the dealer to take your bet down. You can take down your place bets anytime you want to. If the shooter makes their point the place bet will be turned-off for the come-out roll. Want it to work (win or lose) on the come-out? You've got to tell the dealer before the shooter releases the dice!
The Pay Out
The true odds of rolling the numbers six and eight are 6 to 5 but a winning place bet on these numbers pays $7 to $6, so you must make your place bets on these numbers in multiples of six dollars. The house edge on the 6 and 8 is only 1.52 percent which makes it a very good bet.
The true odds of rolling a five or nine are 3 to 2 but a winning place bet on these numbers pays $7 to $, so you must make your place bets in multiples of five dollars. The house edge on the 5 and 9 is 4-percent.
The true odds of rolling the for or ten are 2 to 1 but a winning place bet on these numbers pays $9 to $5. These numbers require bets in multiples of five dollars. The house edge on the 4 and 10 is 6.67 percent.
Place Bets
Buy Bets
A Buy Bet is very similar to a place bet, but with slightly better odds for the player in the 4 and 10. When betting on a number with a buy bet you pay a 5 % commission to the house. Since the minimum chip value at the casino is a dollar you will be paying at least that much. It is not worth it to buy a number for less than $20.
Craps Buy Bet
If you are betting more than $10, buying the 4 and 10 is better than placing them. This is because you are being paid 2 to 1 instead of 9 to 5. Some casinos only charge you the commission on buy bets when you win. Ask the dealer at the table if this is their policy. If you have a choice of casinos to play in, always choose the one that only charges a commission on winning buy bets.
Buying A Number In Craps
Buying the 6 and 8 is not worthwhile. You will actually have a higher house edge because of the commission.