Improper Prop Bets

A good Craps dealer should know how to pay every bet that comes across the table. That does not mean remembering every key to every obscure bet. It definitely does not mean remembering the payouts to every bet either. By the way. If you call the keys "formulas" you should stop.

What it does mean is knowing how to figure out what every bet pays.

Craps students are usually taught, incorrectly, that multi-way bets, such as a Horn Bet, should be bet in proper units. Since a Horn Bet covers the 2, 3, 11 & 12 a Horn "should" be bet in units of four. Wrong.

The truth is, Prop Bets should be bet in an amount which satisfies the table minimum. On most Crap games, take the number of ways a bet is split and follow it with the word "dollar(s)" and that is the minimum amount of the bet. A Horn Bet is a four way bet, therefore, $4 is the minimum Horn. However, the most common Horn Bet is $5. Five dollars is not equally divisible by four units of $1. Yet a $5 Horn is always a bet. The same is true of a $15 and $25 Horn Bet. Not "proper units," but still a bet.

So why then can't a player bet a $5 Three Way Crap? Usually the player won't be allowed to bet it because the dealer or box person doesn't know how to pay it. Weak! A Three Way Crap is a three way bet, so it should be bet at a $3 minimum, not necessarily in units of $3.

When first exposed to such a concept, someone usually asks how an improper three way bet can be paid. The answer is, the same way every other bet is paid, by using the key. The amount of the bet may change, but, the key does not, for the most part.

Back to the Horn Bet. A $4 Horn is $1 on each, the 2, 3, 11 & 12. If the 12 hits it is paid 30 to 1, or $30, minus the $3 which lost to keep the bet up, for a total payout of $27.

The key for the high side of a Horn was developed by asking how to get from a $4 four way bet to a $27 payout. Twenty-seven is very close to 28 and 28 is equally divisible by 4. So, how can we get from $4 to $28? Multiplying 4 by 7 gets us to $28. Now how do we get from $28 to $27? Minus $1? Yes, when the bet is $4, but, what about when the bet is $25? Seven times the bet minus $1 does not work then. A universal key which works for every amount is needed.

What fraction of $4 is $1? One-fourth or a quarter. So the key for the high side of Horn is 7X the bet, minus a quarter of the bet.

A $5 Horn and the high side hits gives us 7 X 5 = 35 - 1.25 = 33.75. Since the seventy-five cents cannot be paid, we round in the house's favor to $33. Rarely will a casino pay a $5 Horn $34. Another way to think of it is, when the key calls for subtracting, round up the portion to be subtracted.

Now we revisit the $5 Three Way Crap. There is more than one key for the low side, Ace-Deuce, of a Three Way Crap. For "proper" three way bets where the winning portion is paid 15 to 1 you can add a zero to 1/3 of the bet and then add the bet. For instance, a $15 Three Way Crap and Ace-Deuce hits we see three nickles, $5, $5, $5. Add a zero to $5 produces $50. Then add the entire $15 bet to $50 which equals the correct payout of $65.

Unfortunately, that key won't work very well for three way bets not divisible by three. So we use another key which works for any amount. Four times the bet, plus 1/3 of the bet. Surely, someone is now thinking, "but 5 isn't equally divisible by 3." Remember the $5 Horn Bet? It isn't equally divisible by 4, yet we can pay it.

Any time there is breakage, the portion of the payout which cannot be paid, coin change, we round in the house's favor. So 4 X $5 = $20 + 1.67 = $21.76, rounded in the house's favor is $21. Another way to think of it is, when the key calls for adding, rounded down the portion to be added.

Let's try another amount. A $25 Hi-Lo-Yo and Yo hits. 4X the bet, plus 1/3 of the bet: 4 X 25 = 100 + 8.33 = 108.33, rounded down is $108. Another way to think of it is when the key calls for adding, round the bet down to the next number equally divisible by 3. In this case, 24. One-third of 24 is 8. Eight plus 100 is 108, the correct answer.

One more. A $100 Three Way 7 and any 7 hits. 4 X 100 = 400 + 33 = 433. Easy!

Another scenario, which is very possible, is a $5 Horn Bet and the high side hits and is parlayed, that is, the entire amount of the winnings are added to the original bet, and hits again on the high side. $5 pays $33. Now $38 gets 7x the bet, minus a quarter of the bet.

Rather than try to multiply 38 by 7 we round 38 up to 40 which is much easier to work with. 40 X 7 = 280. But, we added 2 to 38 to get to 40 and we paid that extra $2 7X, or $14. So we have to take that $14 back. 280 - 14 = 266. Now 266 minus a quarter of 38. Since 38 is not equally divisible by 4 we round up to the next number which is divisible by 4, 40. Now subtract a quarter of 40, 10, from 266, which equals $256. A $5 Horn bet and the high hits and is parlayed and the high side hits again pays $256.

Now you know how to pay improper bets. Like everything else, you must practice if you want to get good at it.

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