Craps: Die Roll Odds
Playing a good game of Craps is as easy as the rolling of the dice. Well, sort of.
Truth be told, there is a little more involved with the game than just that. The biggest factor of the game is focusing on the bets and the odds. This entails where to bet (such as the Line, the Come, the Pass Area and Don’t Pass Area), and what areas to bet in.
The term “roll odds” has two different meanings. To begin, they are the odds of any given number coming up on the dice. To understand the roll odds, remember that there are 36 possible number combinations, thus, the odds are listed here:
Die Total Odds (first in terms of out of 36, then broken down further, if possible)
2 - 1 possible combination out of 36 total combinations (1/36)
3 - 2/36 or 1/18
4 - 3/36 or 1/12
5 - 4/36 or 1/9
6 - 5/36
7 - 6/36 or 1/6
8 - 5/36
9 - 4/36 or 1/9
10 - 3/36 or 1/12
11 - 2/36 or 1/18
12 - 1/36
Notice the obvious pattern (you could say this is one of those curves that we hated plotting in math class)? Seven is the most common number, generally coming up once every six rolls (with two dice, there are six possible combinations for seven.) The numbers closest to seven have five combinations each, then four, three, two, and coming in last are 12 and 2, with a pair of dice having only one possible way to roll each number.
The second type of roll odds is the odds of a particular event happening. To give an example, say after the come out roll, you make a place bet on the number 8 (meaning you really want to see an 8 before a 7.) Looking at the above chart, we can see there are five ways you can win (there are 5 ways to get an 8), and six ways to lose (the seven coming up). Thus, you have approximately a 45 ½ percent chance of winning (we won’t make you do the actual math here – trust us, its right. Based on the above probabilities, you can make odds on any one roll happening.)
If you are really interested in roll odds, we recommend finding a good book on the subject, as it can be a lengthy topic. And to those of you who are terribly bored by that statement, we recommend just sitting at the table and bet the pass/don’t pass lines until you get a good feel for the game (and trust us, it’ll come!)
As always, good luck at the tables, and come out rolling!
