Hardways, props and the middle of the table

Chapter 3: More ways to bet · Lesson 13 of 21 · 7 min read

The loud bets in the center of the table, what they pay, and why they cost so much.

The center of the table is bright, loud and paid at long odds. It's also where craps makes most of its money.

Hardways (multi-roll): bet that a number rolls as a pair before it rolls easy or a 7.

Hardways are off on the come-out by default and can be taken down. They use the smaller "prop" minimum.

One-roll ("proposition") bets win or lose on the very next roll:

You will also hear about hop bets: a bet that the very next roll is one exact pair, such as 2-4. An easy hop (two different dice, either way round) pays 15:1 and costs 11.11%; a hard hop (a pair such as 3-3) pays 30:1 and costs 13.89%.¹ In the simulator, tap Hop in the center bets and pick a pair; the math is the same as the other props.

Every one of these is a Sucker bet in the simulator's colour code (red, 9% or more). You can still place them in the sandbox, but it asks you to tap a second time first.

Watch the word "for". Some layouts print "30 for 1" instead of "30 to 1". "For" includes your original bet, so 30 for 1 is really 29 to 1, an even worse deal. This app's tables pay "to".

Bonus side bets live on a rail at the bottom of the Center panel. They ride the whole hand: you can only put them up before a new shooter's first roll, and they stay until the hand decides them.

• Fire Bet: pays if the shooter makes 4, 5 or 6 different points (the same point twice counts once). With the common 24:1 / 249:1 / 999:1 paytable the edge is 20.76%. About 1 hand in 100 reaches 4 points.²
• All / Tall / Small: pays if every number from 2 to 6 (Small), from 8 to 12 (Tall), or both (All) rolls before a 7, come-out rolls included. With 34:1 / 34:1 / 175:1 the edge is 7.76% for Small or Tall and 7.46% for All; it jumps to 18.3% / 20.6% where they pay 30:1 / 150:1. Small and Tall hit 2.64% of the time, All 0.53%.²⁴

They're fun lottery tickets, but think of them as a fee for the thrill, not as a strategy. In the simulator the Fire Bet shows the red Sucker bet tier; All, Tall and Small land in the orange Costly tier (between 5% and 9%), which is cheaper than any one-roll prop but still far from the line bets.

Crapless craps is a whole table that looks friendlier: the Pass Line can't lose on the come-out. A 7 still wins, but 2, 3, 11 and 12 become points instead of craps. There is no Don't side, and you can place the 2, 3, 11 and 12 (but not buy or lay them).

You give up the sure win on 11 (2 ways in 36): it becomes a point that usually loses to the 7. In return the 2, 3 and 12 no longer lose at once, but as points they usually lose to the 7 too. The Pass Line looks safer but costs almost 4x as much.³