1. Don't Pass Odds Payout
2. Don't Pass Odds Bet
3. Don't Pass Odds In Craps

The Biden administration on Thursday ruled out splitting its $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan into two, heightening the odds that Democrats would pass their package through a party-line. Say you bet on Don’t Pass or Don’t Come at craps. Your chances are 47.9 percent of ecstasy and 49.3 percent of agony; the remaining 2.8 percent is the probability of pushing. Although the come-out involves just one roll, it’s the dark underbelly of Don’t Pass and Don’t Come wagers.

The 4th installment of the Craps Strategy Guide series covers the Don’t Pass bet, otherwise known as The Pass Line’s evil twin. Why does betting on Don’t Pass get such a bad rap? Read on and find out!

How to Bet on Don’t Pass

Simply place your wager in the area of the craps table highlighted below in orange:

A bet on Don’t Pass looks like this:

When to Bet on Don’t Pass

The way a bet is placed on Don’t Pass is very similar to the way it is played on the Pass Line. Bets can only be placed on Don’t Pass before the first roll of a turn. After it is placed, it will remain in play until the end of the turn.

What is a Don’t Pass Bet?

By placing a wager on Don’t Pass , you are betting that the roller will roll craps (2, 3, or 12) on the first roll of the turn or that he will roll a 7 after a point is established. In effect, betting on Don’t Pass is equivalent to betting that any wagers on the Pass Line will LOSE.

Lets go through a full turn to make it a little more clear how this works. After placing a bet on Don’t Pass , one of four things can happen on the first roll of the turn:

1. You WIN if a 2 or 3 is rolled (the roller “craps out”)
2. You LOSE if a 7 or 11 is rolled
3. You PUSH (ties) if a 12 is rolled
4. You GO TO THE NEXT STAGE if anything else is rolled (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10)

The Next Stage

If a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 is rolled, a point is established, and the game continues. As an example, lets say the first roll of the game is a 10:

In this situation, one of 2 things can happen:

1. You WIN if a 7 is rolled before a 10
2. You LOSE if a 10 is rolled before a 7

As you can see, a Don’t Pass bet WIN whenever a wager on the Pass Line would LOSE, hence the name.

Why Make Don’t Pass Bets

Don’t Pass bets are one of the highest odds bets in craps. Once a point is established, the odds are in favor of the Don’t Pass bets over bets on the Pass Line. No matter which point is established, it is more likely that a 7 will be rolled before the number which is “ON”.

For example, lets say a 10 comes up on the first roll of a new turn, as in the example above. The number of ways a 7 can be rolled outweigh the number of ways a 10 can be rolled. Specifically, there are 6 different number combinations that can be rolled to total 7 (1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1), while there are only 3 ways the dice can come up with a 10 (4-6, 5-5, 6-4).

Other than a 7, rolling either a 6 or an 8 are the next most likely. There are 5 ways to roll either a 6 or an 8, which is still less likely than rolling a 7. As you can see, even with the point “ON” a 6 or an 8, the odds are still in favor of a Don’t Pass bet over a wager on the Pass Line.

Don’t Pass Odds

Odds can be placed on a Don’t Pass bet any time after a point has been established. Just like all other Odds Bets, odds put on a Don’t Pass wager have no advantage to the casino. As always, if you can afford it, put as much money as possible on odds bets for the highest payouts.

To put an odds bet on your Don’t Pass wager, simply place a chip in the area highlighted below:

Final Thoughts

As always, I recommend downloading a free craps game to gain some confidence betting on Don’t Pass before trying the real thing.

Going back to the introduction, I said that the Don’t Pass bet is like the Pass Line’s evil twin. I say this because more often than not, people playing craps in a casino will place bets exclusively on the Pass Line and will be rooting for the shooter to not roll a 7 once a point has been established. If you choose to bet on Don’t Pass, you will be forced to root for the shooter to roll a 7 and everyone to lose on their Pass Line bets.

Don’t expect to make any friends betting on Don’t Pass in a casino. The advantage of playing online is that you can throw as many bets as you want on a high odds Don’t Pass bet without fear of being booed out of the casino. If you have a story about playing Don’t Pass bets in a casino, make a comment and share!

Have any questions about making Don’t Pass bets? Ask your question in the comments below!

Jeff White

Jeff has been an active gambler from the age of 18 when he won a small local poker tournament in San Jose, CA. He moved on to playing other casino games shortly thereafter, with a great interest in the statistics and mathematics involved. He has studied the historical gambling systems of nearly every popular casino game played today, and has written strategy books for several of them including blackjack, slot machines, craps, and roulette. Jeff has been a daily contributor to the Silver Oak Casino blog since the beginning of 2009.

Once the shooter has established a point, the advantage favors those of you that have bet the don’t pass. To capitalize on your good fortune of having successfully run the gauntlet of sevens and elevens, you should consider “laying” (betting) odds against the point. Odds may be laid on don’t pass bets any time there is a point for the pass line and can be picked up at any time.

From the dealer’s and boxman’s standpoint, the worst thing you can do is to set checks (chips) on top of your don’t pass bet. Making or increasing a don’t pass bet when there is a point for the pass line is considered “past posting” and is a form of cheating. When laying odds it is the player’s responsibility to set the checks on the layout in a manner that indicates it is an odds bet and not another don’t pass bet.

Players indicate they are laying odds by using one of two methods: “heeling” or “bridging.” To heel a stack of checks for your odds you merely drop the bottom check from the stack in your hand on either side of your flat bet (original don’t pass bet). You then set the remaining stack on the outer edge of the one you dropped, so the stack now leans away from your flat bet. Refrain from trying in enhance the lean by spreading the checks, all that is required is that you set the stack of checks on the edge of the bottom check.

Players have a tendency to overcomplicate heeling; just drop the bottom check and set the stack on the edge.

Bridging is an often-misunderstood technique that dealers use under the following conditions:

Don't Pass Odds Payout

The payoff for the lay is the same amount as the flat bet.

The two stacks that are being bridged are the same color of checks.

By bridging the dealer will be able to pay the flat bet and odds by sizing into either of the bottom stacks twice.

The player has laid $40 to win $20 against the four. Since his flat bet is $20 he can bridge the lay.

In order to know whether you should heel or bridge your lay you first have to know how much your lay pays in order to know if that amount is the same as the flat bet.

If the point for the pass line is four or ten, the pass line bettors are paid 2 to 1 for any odds they take. Since laying odds on the don’t pass is the opposite of taking odds on the pass line you win $1 for every $2 you lay against a point of four or ten. This means you have to lay an even dollar amount (2, 4, 6, 8 etc.) against a point of four or ten to in order to win half the amount that you lay.

If the point is five or nine, odds on pass line bets are paid 3 to 2 ($3 for every $2 bet). Don’t pass bettors need to lay their odds in units of three dollars (3, 6, 9, 12 etc.) so they can be paid $2 for every $3 they lay.

If the point is six or eight, the odds on pass line bets are paid 6 to 5 ($6 for every $5 bet). Don’t pass bettors must lay odds in units of $6 (6, 12, 18, 24, 30 etc.) so they can be paid $5 for every $6 they lay.

The term “full odds” is used to describe the maximum amount of odds a player can take on a pass line or come bet. A “full lay” is the maximum amount of odds a player can lay on a don’t pass or don’t come bet. A full lay will always be equal to the amount that full odds would pay on a flat bet of equal size on the pass line.

Don't Pass Odds Bet

For instance: in a double odds house, the player with five dollars bet on the pass line can take $10 odds to win $20, if the point is four or ten. That means the player with $5 on the don’t pass can lay $20 to win ten, if the point is four or ten.

Don't Pass Odds In Craps

In casinos that offer “3x, 4x, 5x odds,” a full lay is always six times the flat bet because the payoff for full odds on a pass line bet is always six times the flat bet.

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(Dale S. Yeazel is the author of “Precision Crap Dealing” and “Dealing Mini-Baccarat.” They are E-books on CD-Rom available for only $20 each (plus tax) at Gamblers Book Shop and Gamblers General Store in Las Vegas. www.geocities.com/lump450).