The Highs and Lows of Line Bets in Craps

by Larry Edell, published on Wednesday, October 3 2001

I was betting at a $25 table on the Las Vegas Strip. So I had a $25 flat bet, plus $50 behind the line on a 5 or 9 point. When it hit I won $25 for the flat portion and $75 for the odds, total $100. Not too shabby. After all, I was playing at a classy joint! If the 6 or 8 was the point, I had $25 pass line and $50 odds. So if the 6 or 8 hit, I would win $25 for the flat portion and $60 for the odds, total $85. Plus, I might even get a comped free buffet worth $5! And finally on the four or ten point, I had $25 on the line, with $50 in odds. If either hit, I would win $25 for the flat portion plus $100 odds, so I’d get a total of $125! WOW, how could Ted do any better than that! Everything sounded pretty good. And I got to see all the waterfalls, tigers and volcanos that no gambling area should be without. I naturally picked one of the better casinos because in Las Vegas, the best is always THE BEST! While I was playing on the strip, Ted was downtown, making the same total bets with the same points. He had a total bet of $75 on every number, just like I did. So, who do you think won the most money? Old crazy-like-a-fox Ted? Well, you’re right. Using exactly the same money and exactly the same points, he won an average of $10 more PER BET! You see, what he did was play at a low limit, 20X odds table. No waterfalls. No volcanos. No tigers. On the 5 and 9 he put only $5 on the pass line, and used $70 for odds. So he won $5 for his flat bet and $105 for this odds bet, so his total won was $110, compared to my $100. On the 6 and 8, he put $5 on the pass line, and used $70 for odds. He won $5 for his flat bet and $84 for his odds bet, for a total of $89, compared to my $85. And, on the 4 and 10 he had $5 on the pass line, and $70 in odds. So he won $5 for the flat portion and $140 in odds, total $145, compared to my $125. He won a lot more than I did, betting exactly the same money on exactly the same points. And I wasn’t the only one donating my hard earned money to the casino. This happened everywhere we looked. There were lots of people at fancy $25 2X odds tables, throwing their money away. If the people playing there switched to a $5 20X odds table, everyone would win about $10 more PER BET every ten minutes or so. There would be a lot more happier gamblers! The moral of this story is to go where the money is - not the glitter. If you play the pass line with odds, you should NEVER play at a $25 table. Find a $5 20X odds table and bet the absolute minimum flat bet and use the rest of your money for odds. You better start doing it now, before you have to buy someone a nice dinner! And, as always, good luck at the tables!