The Pass Line Bet
| Updated: The Pass Line Bet: The Most Fundamental Bet in Craps
With its fast pace and staggering number of available bets, craps can be an intimidating casino game for first-time players. Although it may appear highly complex, especially with a crowd of loud players gathered around the table, it is a simple, traditional dice game that depends purely on chance. It is suitable even for novices, who need to understand only two fundamental bets to start playing: the Pass Line and Don’t Pass wagers. If you are a new player, this article will provide the information you need to place these bets while playing craps.
Before exploring the basics of the Pass Line bet, it is useful to explain the importance of the different wagers in craps. Craps is among the oldest games invented by humankind, with many researchers believing that its origins can be traced to the Roman Empire or even further back, to Ancient Egypt some 4,600 years ago. Over the centuries, the game of dice has changed and evolved, with new rules and wagers being introduced.
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One of the few aspects that has probably remained unchanged is the Pass Line bet, a wager on the shooter to win. The other fundamental wager, the Don’t Pass, was introduced in the 19th century by American dice maker John H. Winn, who is known today as the “Father of Modern Craps”. With the Don’t Pass wager, players can bet on the shooter to lose. Before its introduction, the game was considered unbalanced because everyone could bet only on the shooter to win. In addition, many players resorted to cheating.
Winn decided to make craps more interesting and balanced, so he introduced the Don’t Pass wager. Gaming halls began offering other wagers, and by the middle of the 20th century, the simple dice game had developed into the craps we know today: a fun, dynamic, and intriguing casino game with plenty of betting options. Still, players do not need to know them all to enjoy craps at land-based or online casinos. The two main wagers are the only bets novices need to learn before they start playing, and the Pass Line bet is the more common of the two.
What Is the Pass Line Bet?
As explained above, the Pass Line wager is the most fundamental and straightforward bet in craps, as well as the most commonly placed one. It is believed that around 90 percent of all players at the table choose it, whether they are complete novices or experienced gamblers. As a result, when you look at a typical craps table, you will often see most players cheering together after a win or waiting in anticipation for the next opportunity to win.
This shared excitement is part of what makes the game so entertaining. So, what exactly is the Pass Line bet, and when does it win or lose? The shooter’s first throw is called the “come-out roll”, and it can result in an immediate win or loss for Pass Line and Don’t Pass bettors. If the come-out roll is 7 or 11, the Pass Line bet wins, but if it is 2, 3, or 12, the bet loses. These three losing totals are referred to as “craps“. If any other total is rolled, further action is required, as explained in the following sections.
To place a Pass Line wager, you need to put your chips on the corresponding area of the craps table. It is easy to reach from any position because this long, narrow area lies along the outer edge of the betting layout and surrounds the other areas at both ends of the table. Players can place the wager themselves without asking a dealer or the stickman for assistance.
Although this sounds straightforward, rolling a 7 or 11 on the come-out roll is far from guaranteed. The following sections provide more detailed information about the odds, the payout for a Pass Line bet, and the associated house edge.
Possible Outcomes of the Pass Line Bet
There are three possible outcomes when you place a Pass Line bet on the come-out roll. Two are straightforward: if the total of the two dice is 7 or 11, you win and receive an even-money payout; if the total is craps (2, 3, or 12), you lose. Whenever any of these totals is rolled, the next throw of the dice is also considered a come-out roll, and the game continues in the same manner.
But what happens if one of the other totals is rolled on the come-out? This third possible outcome makes craps more interesting, even for novices who limit themselves to betting on or against the shooter.
The Point
The third outcome occurs when the two dice total 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10. The total rolled is called the “point”, and the shooter must continue rolling until the same point appears again for the Pass Line bet to win. If the shooter rolls a 7 before repeating the point, however, those who placed their chips on the Pass Line lose. Rolling a 7 first is called a seven-out.
In this situation, rolling a 7 results in a loss. It is important to remember that 7 is the total most likely to be rolled. For this reason, players should wait for a come-out roll before placing a Pass Line wager. Because craps is very dynamic, it can be difficult to keep track of the rolls and determine whether the current throw is the shooter’s second or third roll or a new come-out roll. This is where the puck becomes useful.
The Puck
Players who find it difficult to keep track of the bets and rolls can look at the marker puck. This is a small disc usually placed beside the betting layout. It resembles a hockey puck and has two sides. When its black side, marked “Off”, is facing up, the shooter is making a come-out roll, and players can place a Pass Line bet.
Once the point has been established, the dealer indicates it by flipping the puck to its white side. This side reads “On”, and the puck is moved to the corresponding box for the point number. As explained above, this could be 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10. Whenever the puck is white and placed on one of these numbers, players should not place a new Pass Line wager because rolling a 7 results in a loss, while only repeating the point number produces a win.
Pass Line Bet House Edge and Payout
Craps is based on chance, which means that the outcome of every roll depends on statistical probability rather than player decisions. Therefore, understanding the mathematical aspects of the game is important, especially for those who plan to play regularly. Craps is played with two dice, each of which has six possible outcomes. There are 36 possible combinations, with the totals of 2 and 12 each having only one combination (1-1 and 6-6).
The Pass Line wager wins immediately if one of two totals is rolled on the come-out: 7 or 11. A total of 7 can be formed with six combinations, more than any other total (1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 6-1, 5-2, and 4-3), so the probability of rolling it is 6/36, or exactly 16.67%. The other winning total, 11, has a probability of 5.56% (2/36), with two possible combinations: 5-6 and 6-5.
The probability of the Pass Line bet winning immediately on the come-out roll is the sum of the probabilities for 7 and 11, which is 8/36, or about 22%. However, calculating the overall probability of winning this bet also requires considering the third possible outcome of the come-out roll, known as the “point”. This occurs when neither 7, 11, nor one of the craps totals is rolled and the two dice total 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10. In this case, another rule comes into play, and the actual odds of winning the bet are around 49%, while the odds of losing are slightly higher at 51%.
Players should understand that this percentage is theoretical. After each individual bet is resolved, they either win or lose. With a $100 wager, a player can receive $200 in total, including the original bet and the $100 profit, or lose the entire wager. The house edge is a useful statistical measure, but it does not directly indicate the result of an individual bet. More precisely, it shows how much a player can expect to lose on average after placing a very large number of wagers.
The house edge becomes more representative over hundreds of thousands of wagers. Over a shorter playing session, the actual result can be very different. In addition, although the Pass Line bet has a house edge of 1.41% when resolved, the figure works out to only 0.42% per roll.
Pass Line Bet Patterns
Instead of placing a single bet on the table, many players use combinations that spread their wagers across multiple outcomes. Several bets combine well with the Pass Line wager to create patterns with varying levels of risk and house edge. Some can be used by beginners, while others are more suitable for experienced players who understand how the individual wagers work.
Below are three common Pass Line bet patterns, along with brief descriptions of the additional wagers involved. Each combination is suitable for a different type of player, depending on individual risk tolerance, experience, and bankroll size.
Pass Bet with 1 Come Number
Before examining this relatively simple pattern, it is helpful to explain the basics of Come bets. They are similar to Pass Line wagers, but instead of being placed before the come-out roll, they are made after the point has been established. The chips are placed in the large rectangular area in the middle of the betting layout marked “Come”.
This bet wins when the dice total 7 or 11 and loses when one of the craps totals is rolled (2, 3, or 12), mirroring the rules for the Pass Line during the come-out roll. When one of the point numbers is rolled, a separate point is established for the Come bet. The wager wins if the shooter repeats that number before rolling a 7. As with the Pass Line wager, the Come bet loses if a 7 is rolled before its point number. The Come bet pays even money and has a house edge of 1.41%.
This is a relatively conservative strategy that may be suitable for less-experienced players. The double odds on the Come bet work similarly to free-odds bets, providing better payouts for winning wagers and significantly reducing the overall house edge.
Pass Bet with 2 Come Numbers
This pattern is similar to the strategy described above, but it adds another Come bet. The second Come bet cannot be placed before the original point has been established. Players must wait until a point number is determined and the first Come bet has been placed without the Pass Line wager being resolved.
They can then place a second Come bet and back it with double odds once again. This move allows them to have three point numbers working for them. The house edge remains lower than usual at 0.6% as long as the Come bets are backed with double odds. It is important to understand how the two Come bets are handled when the Pass Line bet wins. Once the Pass Line bet wins, the puck is flipped to show “Off”, and the next come-out roll begins.
The Come bets and their odds may be inactive during the come-out roll, with the chips returned to the player or left on the boxes to which they were moved, awaiting the point numbers. This pattern may seem difficult to understand in theory, but it is less complex in practice. Because the Come-bet chips may be returned, the risk is not particularly high, although more money is wagered before the pattern is resolved.
Pass Bet with 2 Come Numbers, 6-8 Place Bet
This is a riskier and more aggressive betting strategy in which considerably more money is at stake. At the same time, it covers more numbers and possible outcomes. To use this pattern, players start with a Pass Line bet and back it with double odds. They then make two Come bets with double odds and, depending on the next roll, add one or two Place bets.
If none of the established point numbers covers 6 or 8, players can bet on one or both of these numbers, depending on which totals have already been rolled. The Pass Line and Come bets in this pattern are backed with double odds. With this strategy, players can cover up to five numbers, which increases the number of potential winning outcomes. However, all these bets lose whenever the shooter rolls a 7.
Because 7 is the total with the highest probability of being rolled, this Pass Line bet pattern remains vulnerable to it. Another important consideration is that Place bets on 6 and 8 have a house edge of 1.52%. Therefore, this strategy is better suited to players who have a thorough understanding of the game’s basic rules and wagers. Craps is a game of chance, and although players can calculate the probability of each dice total, these calculations cannot guarantee a particular outcome.