Craps Part 4 - Four Place Bets and Buy Bets
Michael Shackleford: We've already talked about all the best bets on the table, the pass, the come, the, don't pass, the don't come, always backed up with the odds. So, these are all the best bets on the table. All you really need to know about craps is with those bets right there. If you just bet that, you'll be in great shape. However, there's still lots of other bets at the table which are not as good. Some of them are called place bets, so let's talk about those next. Those are generally not made on a come out roll, so let's make a pass line bet and wait for you to roll a point and then we will make some place bets.
Angela Wyman: All right.
Dan Lubin: Five. No field five.
Michael: Let's back up the pass line bet with a 20-dollar odds bet and now let's make some place bets. What a place bet is, is a bet that you're going to roll any one of these numbers that you choose before seven. Let's start with making place bets on the six and the eight. Those pay seven-to-six odds, so you should bet in increments of six dollars. So, let's bet six dollars on each of the six and the eight and these bets you own, you put in the come area and you have to tell the dealer what you want to do. You would say, “Place the six and the eight”.
Angela: Place the six and the eight.
Michael: Let's also make one on the nine. The place bet on the nine pays seven-to-five, those should be evenly divisible by five dollars, so let's make a five-dollar place bet on the nine.
Angela: Place nine.
Michael: We're not going to place the 5 because we already are going to win on that with the pass line bet, although we technically would be allowed to. Let's also place the four and the 10. Those pay nine-to-five odds, so those should be divisible by five.
Dan: If you can put 10 and say, “Give me the four and the 10”.
Michael: And it would be implied that she's odd betting on both of them equally.
Angela: Give me the four and the 10 then.
Dan: Okay. You're settled on the four and the 10.
Michael: Now we have covered all of the place numbers, all of the registers, so if you roll a four, five, six, eight, nine or 10, we'll win one of those bets. It's now the seven that is the dreaded number and will cause everything to lose, so stay away from the seven.
Angela: No seven. [Laughs]
Dan: 10 easy.
Michael: So, our place bet on the 10 wins. That's going to pay nine-to-five, so we just won nine bucks.
Dan: And here the dealer cuts out nine in the come and hands it off to the player.
Michael: And the dealer assumes that you want to keep that place bet up there, so he only paid you the winnings, he didn't return your original wager, he assumed you want to remake it. At any time, you can say, “Take these place bets down”. Once you make them, they're not locked in stone, you can remove them at any time but we're going to stay up there. So, just stay away from that seven.
Angela: All right.
Dan: You're 11, pay the come, pay the field.
Michael: So, nothing happens with that to us.
Dan: Four easy.
Michael: We just won nine dollars on our four.
Dan: Eight the hard way.
Michael: The six-dollar bet on the eight pays seven, so-- and you're still shooting.
Angela: Great.
Dan: Two crap deuce come away. Double the field.
Michael: That means nothing to us.
Dan: Nine's in.
Michael: Another winner. Our nine pays seven-to-five odds, so you just won seven dollars. Notice how you just keep raking in money as long as you stay away from that seven.
Dan: Exactly. The hot roll. Five, no field five.
Michael: We just won on a pass line bet, that's a big bet too. So, the point pays 30 and the five pays five. That's a new pass line bet and as I was explaining earlier, on a come out roll, sevens are bad, so there's three kinds of bets that get turned off automatically on a come out roll. Place bets, odds and come bets and buy bets. I'll explain buy bets next. Right now, the pressure is off. If you roll a seven, it's actually going to be good because the pass line will win and all those bets will just stay on the table.
Dan: Five no field, relight the five.
Michael: We light the five with a 20-dollar odds bet and now, all of our place bets are suddenly working again so stay away from that seven.
Dan: Eight the hard way.
Michael: Our six-dollar bet just won seven.
Angela: Hurray.
Dan: Seven the hard way.
Michael: We lost everything but you still did well.
Angela: [laughs]
Michael: Our stacks keep growing.
Angela: It's all right, we still have enough for dinner.
[Laughter]
Michael: Angela, next I'm going to teach you about buy bets. Buy bets are just like place but they pay different odds. The way it works is that they pay statistically fair odds like an odds bet, except you have to pay a 5% commission on the amount of your bet. Mathematically speaking, you're better off making place bets on the five, six, eight and nine, so the only time you should even consider making a buy bet is on the four and the 10. Fair odds are two-to-one, however, you generally pay the 5% commission on wins only, so it's going to be like getting paid 19-to-10 odds which is better than the nine-to-five odds on the place bet.
And I know it sounds confusing but trust me, if you're going to be making place bets, don't make them on the four and the 10. Make buy bets instead. So, let's demonstrate the buy bets. It's a new come out roll. Traditionally, in craps they always make a line bet, meaning a pass or a, don't pass bet, but since you're the shooter, it's mandatory. So, let's make a pass line bet, a come out roll.
Dan: Four, [unintelligible 00:06:54] the four.
Michael: Out of habit, let's make an odds bet, 15 dollars on your four. We already covered the four with this, so now let's make a buy bet on the 10. As I was saying before, buy bets pay 19-to-10 odds, so if you don't want to lose anything on the rounding-- because in every game they always round down, you should make buy bets in even in even increments of 20 dollars. So, let's bet 20 dollars on the 10.
Dan: Buying in the 10 for 20, this is what you would say and I would settle it up and I would put a buy lid on it. It's better to know it's a buy bet.
Michael: Try to roll a four or a 10 and stay away from the seven.
Angela: All right, no seven.
Dan: 10 the hard way.
[Cheering]
Michael: So, your first buy bet ever wins.
Dan: I've cut out 40 dollars, pays two-to-one minus the commission, so there's 40 dollars, 25 and 15 for 40. On the 20-dollar bet, the commission is a dollar, so I'd say, “Madam, drop a dollar” and I would pay the soft on her hand, pick up the dollar.
Michael: To summarize, her 20-dollar buy bet paid two-to-one odds minus a 5% commission. Two times 20 is 40, she owed one dollar commission because 5% of 20 is one, so she just won 39 dollars. That's pretty much all there is about the buy bets. I would like to add that-- let's say Angela was uncomfortable betting 20 dollars on the 10, let's say that she was comfortable with 10, she could do that. That 10 dollars is going to pay nine fifty if it wins, but you always round down to the nearest dollar, so that win is going to round down to 19 dollars.
However, what if she made a place bet of 10 dollars? That would pay nine-to-five or a total win of 18 dollars. What's more, 19 or 18? The 19. So, even though you're losing 50 cents due to the rounding, you're still better off making a buy bet on the four and the 10 as long as you're at least betting 10 bucks. Right, Dan? Did I have it right?
Dan: Absolutely, you had it perfect.
Michael: Okay, I think that that covers buy bets.