Atlassino Academy · Craps · Lesson 3
The pass line
How a pass-line bet is settled from the come-out roll to the point, what it pays, and what it costs for every bet.
An example 10 units sits on the pass line, and a fresh 10 units goes down after every decision. What does each of those bets cost, on average?
The short answer
Every pass-line bet is paid even money or lost, and over many bets it is lost a little more often than it is paid. That small gap is the price of the bet, 1.41% of every bet on average: about 0.14 units on the example 10 units.
The line across each bar is the half-way mark. The paid bar stops just short of it and the lost bar runs just past it; the whole price of the pass line is the small piece between the two bars.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
A craps table looks like a hundred bets at once, and most people stand back from it for that reason. Underneath, one bet holds the whole table together, and it is settled by two rules you can carry in one hand: the come-out roll, and then the point.
What the pass line pays, and when the bet can come down
A pass-line bet that is paid is paid even money: the dealer adds as much as the bet, and the bet itself comes back beside the payout.
The bet on the pass line, plus the payout at even money, makes what comes back when the bet is paid.
The amount is only an example, not a suggested bet. Amounts are in betting units, not pesos: a unit can stand for any amount, and the arithmetic is the same at any scale.
Once a point is set, the pass-line bet is a contract bet: it stays on the line until it is paid or lost, and it cannot be taken down or made smaller in the meantime. The moment to decide on the pass line is before the come-out roll, because after a point is set the decision has been made.
How one bet is decided
The first roll of a pass-line bet is the come-out roll. On that roll a 7 or an 11 pays the pass line at once, and a 2, a 3 or a 12 takes the pass line at once.
One pass-line bet: the come-out roll settles the bet at once on a 7 or an 11, which are paid, and on a 2, 3 or 12, which are lost; any other number becomes the point.
- 7 or 118 wayspaid even money at once
- 2, 3 or 124 wayslost at once
- 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 1024 waysbecomes the point: the bet waits
Any other number on the come-out roll, a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, becomes the point, and nothing is settled yet. From then on only two numbers matter: the point coming again pays the pass-line bet, and a 7 coming first takes the pass-line bet.
| Point | Ways to roll the point | Ways to roll a 7 | Chance the point comes before a 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 or 10 | 3 | 6 | 1/3 |
| 5 or 9 | 4 | 6 | 2/5 |
| 6 or 8 | 5 | 6 | 5/11 |
No point reaches the half-way mark: every point has fewer ways to fall than the 7 has.
Why a bet that pays even money still has a price
Put the branches together and they give the two bars under the short answer: the pass line is paid on 244 of every 495 bets and lost on 251. The bet pays exactly what it puts down, so the 7 bets in every 495 that the lost side has over the paid side are the whole of the price: 1.41% of every bet, on average, over many bets.
Counted the same way, the field costs 5.56% of every bet, and the odds bet behind the line, which is paid at the true chance of the point, costs 0%.
- The odds bet behind the line0%paid at the true chance of the point
- The pass line1.41%paid even money, decided by the come-out roll and the point
- The field5.56%a bet settled on a single roll
How many rolls one bet takes
- Settled on the come-out roll itself12of the 36 ways two dice can fall
- Rolls to settle one bet, on average3.38the come-out roll and any wait for the point, together
| Point | Rolls after the come-out roll, on average |
|---|---|
| 4 or 10 | 4 |
| 5 or 9 | 3.6 |
| 6 or 8 | 3.27 |
The rarer the point, the longer the wait for the point or a 7. Averaged over every pass-line bet, the come-out roll and the wait together come to 557/165 rolls, which is the figure in the right-hand tile above.
That is why a craps table throws more rolls than it settles pass-line bets: the price is charged on a decision, and one decision takes several rolls.
One bet at a time
The price above belongs to one decision, and it is charged again every time a bet is settled.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
One pass-line bet at a time is one of the cheapest ways to be at a craps table, and it still costs something on every decision. Decide how much money the evening gets and how long it runs before you walk up to the rail, and stop when either one is used up.
A hand that ends in a 7 does not make the next come-out roll any kinder. Putting more down to get a loss back only buys more decisions at the same price. If the money on the table starts to feel like money you need, stop there and read the box below: it says where self-exclusion and the regulator are reached.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being fun, the SCJ self-exclusion applies in every casino in the country. Minimum entry age: 18 (age of majority under Law 19.221; Law 19.995 bars minors from gaming rooms). The casino may ask for an official ID. More on responsible gaming.
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Practice: settle the line
Level 1 is one pass-line bet and one roll: the table is either on a come-out roll or has a point marked, and the question is what the roll does to the bet. Level 2 is a run of rolls from a come-out roll, with a fresh bet after every decision, and the question is where the money stands at the end. The 10 units on the line is an example bet, not a suggested bet.
Nothing is bet here, and nothing is random. Each question is a set picture of dice, and the answer is worked out from the rules of the pass line, the same rules as the rest of the page.
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Level 1 · One bet
A point of 6 is set and marked
10 units on the pass line
What happens to the pass-line bet on this roll?
- Paid 10 units at even money, and the 10 units comes back beside the payout A 7 pays the pass line only on the come-out roll. With a point set, a 7 is what takes the bet.
- Lost: the dealer takes the 10 units A 7 came before the point, 6, came again, so the dealer takes the bet and the dice move to the next shooter.
- Not settled: the 10 units stays on the line A 7 with a point set settles the bet at once: the dealer takes it, and the dice move to the next shooter.
On the come-out roll a 7 or an 11 pays the pass line even money and a 2, 3 or 12 takes it; any other number becomes the point. Once a point is set, the point coming again pays the bet, a 7 coming first takes it, and every other number settles nothing.
Level 2 · Bet after bet
From a come-out roll, in order
10 units on the pass line before the first roll, and a fresh 10 units after every decision
An example 10 units goes on the pass line before roll 1, and a fresh 10 units goes down after every decision. Where does the money stand after the last roll?
- Up 20 units That reads every roll by the come-out rules, paying each 7 or 11 and taking each 2, 3 or 12 wherever it falls. Once a point is set, only the point and a 7 settle the pass line.
- Up 10 units That pays a 7 that came after a point was set. A 7 pays the pass line only on the come-out roll; with a point set, the 7 takes the bet.
- Down 10 units One decision: roll 3, a 7, lost. With 10 units on each bet, the money ends down 10 units.
The pass line is settled one bet at a time. A bet that is paid or lost is a decision; the next bet goes down for the come-out roll that follows, and every roll in between either settles the bet in play or settles nothing.
Every question in the practice run is worked out the same way: the same two dice that are drawn are put through the rules of the pass line, and the answer comes out of that, not out of anybody’s memory.
How the practice run works
Where the questions come from. Every roll in the practice run is a pair of dice put through the same settling rules our dice engine uses for every lesson of this track: the answer is worked out when the page is built, never written in by hand. The wrong answers are worked out from the same dice, and each wrong answer is one named mistake: the come-out rules applied in the middle of a hand, a 7 after the point counted as paid, or only the first decision of a run counted.
One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one question of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a question you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. Each example 10 units pass-line bet costs about 0.14 units on average, and a fresh bet after every decision is a fresh price each time.
Where to go next, and further reading
18+ across Chile · Play responsibly · self-exclusion and the regulator are further up this page
Further reading
- Catálogo de Juegos (Craps y Mini Craps) · Superintendencia de Casinos de JuegoThe regulator’s rules for craps: the crew, the pass and don’t-pass lines, gabelas (odds), place bets and the multi-roll bets.
- Funcionamiento de los juegos: Juegos de dados · Superintendencia de Casinos de JuegoThe regulator’s plain-language page on dice games and the equipment it approves.
How it’s worked out
Numbers, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every table on this page is a live craps table in a room you can walk into. An electronic craps table keeps its own pace and its own screen, and it belongs to other lessons.
Numbers. Every chance on this page is counted exactly from the 36 ways two dice can fall, as fractions rather than rounded decimals, and every share of the money bet comes from the same count. The price of the pass line is our own count and not a figure any rule book prints. The price of the field in the comparison tile uses the field payouts in the rules published by Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ), the rule set this course uses. Nothing is typed in by hand, and our checks recompute each figure from the engine rather than reading it back from this page.
Pace. No document we could read prints how many rolls or decisions an hour a craps table plays, so this page works out the price of one bet and does not price an hour.
What is deliberately absent. The come-out roll and the point, roll by roll with the point marked, are lesson 5.2. Come bets are lesson 5.5. The bet on this page is only an example, not a table minimum.
Sources. Every rule and every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. Craps is played against the house. Knowing how the pass line is settled and what it costs lets you check every payment and plan every hour; nothing on this page makes the pass line cheaper, and nothing here says how an evening at the table would end.
The pass line on the come-out roll
Para ganar un pase tiene que obtener 7 u 11 en el primer lanzamiento, caso en el cual gana la mano.Free translation: To win a pass bet, the player has to obtain 7 or 11 on the first throw, in which case the player wins the hand.
Si obtiene 2, 3 ó 12, pierde, sin que ello implique perder la opción de lanzar los dados.Free translation: If the player obtains 2, 3 or 12, the player loses, without this meaning losing the option of throwing the dice.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
A contract bet
Las apuestas colocadas sobre la línea de pase no pueden ser retiradas si ya existe un punto establecido y deben jugar hasta que se hayan ganado o perdido.Free translation: Bets placed on the pass line cannot be removed if a point has already been established and must stay in play until they have been won or lost.
Estas apuestas no se pueden reducir después que se ha establecido un puntoFree translation: These bets cannot be reduced after a point has been established
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
What the pass line pays
Línea de pase o Pass Line o WinFree translation: Pass line or Pass Line or Win
Paga 1:1 1:1 1:1Free translation: Pays 1:1 1:1 1:1
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
A contract bet
Las apuestas colocadas sobre la línea de pase no pueden ser retiradas si ya existe un punto establecido y deben jugar hasta que se hayan ganado o perdido.Free translation: Bets placed on the pass line cannot be removed if a point has already been established and must stay in play until they have been won or lost.
Estas apuestas no se pueden reducir después que se ha establecido un puntoFree translation: These bets cannot be reduced after a point has been established
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The pass line on the come-out roll
Para ganar un pase tiene que obtener 7 u 11 en el primer lanzamiento, caso en el cual gana la mano.Free translation: To win a pass bet, the player has to obtain 7 or 11 on the first throw, in which case the player wins the hand.
Si obtiene 2, 3 ó 12, pierde, sin que ello implique perder la opción de lanzar los dados.Free translation: If the player obtains 2, 3 or 12, the player loses, without this meaning losing the option of throwing the dice.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The point
si obtiene un número diferente a los ya mencionados, es decir, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 ó 10, a este número se le llamará “punto”; caso en el cual el jugador para ganar debe volver a obtener este mismo número antes de obtener 7. De obtener 7 antes de obtener el punto, el jugador pierde.Free translation: if the player obtains a number different from those already mentioned, that is, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, this number will be called the "point"; in which case, to win, the player must obtain this same number again before obtaining 7. If the player obtains 7 before obtaining the point, the player loses.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
Point made, or a 7 first
si obtiene un número diferente a los ya mencionados, es decir, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 ó 10, a este número se le llamará “punto”; caso en el cual el jugador para ganar debe volver a obtener este mismo número antes de obtener 7. De obtener 7 antes de obtener el punto, el jugador pierde.Free translation: if the player obtains a number different from those already mentioned, that is, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, this number will be called the "point"; in which case, to win, the player must obtain this same number again before obtaining 7. If the player obtains 7 before obtaining the point, the player loses.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps