Craps: Proposition Area Bets

As I have said in a previous post on this blog, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll avoid the proposition bets found in the centre of the table given their high house advantage.

But sometimes you just want the thrill of 30 for 1 payoffs so here’s a short tutorial on how to play craps proposition bets. I just don’t recommend that you incorporate these bets into your craps playing strategy even though they are potentially profitable.

The proposition bets known as the ‘hardways’ and the ‘horn bet’ are probably the most popular proposition bets.

Hardway Bets: For a hardway bet to win, the four, six, eight or ten must roll as a pair so for example a hard four would be the roll of a two and two. You will lose a hardways if you don’t roll a pair or you roll the seven. Hardway bets do not come into action during the come out rolls until a point number is marked. The house edge on a hard 4 or 10 is 11.11% with a payout of 7 to 1. The house edge on a hard 6 or 8 is 9.09% with a payout of 9 to 1.

Horn Bets: These are one roll bets and whether you win or lose depends on the subsequent roll of the dice. There are in fact four different types of horn bets (craps horn bet, craps horn low, craps horn high and the craps horn yo) that combine the numbers two, three, eleven and twelve. If, on the next roll, one of the horn numbers wins, then the portion of the bet will be paid.