Odds Shark aims to become the global authority for online sports betting odds, whether it be in sports betting, poker, casino games or horse racing. To that end, it continues to add new football betting lines for NFL fans and new college football odds on all games for players who bet more on Saturdays than Sundays. Before you even begin to place a bet, you need to know what the odds are of the particular bet you want to make. This easy-to-read chart explains exactly what the payout would be on a $2 winning bet at various odds: Odds $ Payout Odds $2 Payout Odds $2 Payout; 1/9: $2.20: 8/5: $5.20: 7/1: $16.00: 1/5: $2.40: 9/5: $5.60: 8/1: $18.00: 2/5: $2.80. If we use the Win odds to as a yardstick, we would expect that the #1 would have about 10% of the Place pool bet on him, or $1,000 of the $10,000 Place pool. However, we can see that #1 has only $622 bet to place, or closer to 6% of the pool. This means that the #1 is paying better odds in the Place pool.

I recently discussed the Free Odds bet. https://roadgambler.com/craps/craps-simple-beginners-guide-free-odds-bet/ Let’s now discuss the cousin of the Free Odds bet, the place bet.

Place bets are one of the most popular bets in the game of craps.

The chips that are straddling the lines in the picture below are place bets. The green chips, resting on top of the red chips, are come bet odds.

The place bets above are identified by their placement in the middle of the box lines, whereas the come bet + odds are entirely inside the box.

WHAT ARE PLACE BETS?

Place bets are wagers that a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 will roll before the number 7 rolls. The 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 are known as ‘box numbers’. They’re called box numbers because on the craps layout, the numbers are literally in an area that is box-shaped as seen in the pic above.

The player may wager on any, all, or any assortment of the box numbers.

Betting on all the box numbers is known as betting ‘across’.

Betting on the 5, 6, 8, and 9 is known as betting ‘inside’.

Betting on the 4, 5, 9, and 10 is known as betting ‘outside’.

A lesser known place bet assortment is betting on ‘even’, which is 4, 6, 8, and 10.

Generally, while some players say ‘even’ to signify betting on the 4, 6, 8, and 10, players generally do NOT say ‘odd’ to bet on the 5 and 9. They just say, ‘5 and 9’. The reason is that the term ‘odd’ has the meaning of the free odds bet.

Unlike the odds bet, however, a place bet does not need to be accompanied by a pass or come bet; in other words, there is no ‘flat’ bet requirement. A bettor can wager a place bet by itself, with no other bets on the table. As a matter of fact, many players play place bets and nothing else.

WIN-LOSS CONDITIONS OF THE PLACE BETS

The place bets have exactly the same win-loss conditions as the odds bet. The place bet will win if the point assigned to that odds bet rolls before the 7 rolls.

For example, if the place bet is on the 8, and the 8 rolls before the 7 rolls, then the place bet on the 8 will win.

If the 7 rolls before the 8 rolls, then the place bet on the 8 (and any other ‘working’ place bet) will lose.

Place bets can also be wagered and made live at any time. Be warned that typically if the bettor has a place bet, and the next roll is a come out roll, then the place bet will NOT be working unless the bettor tells the dealer that the place bet is working. Place bets, unless declared otherwise, are always presumed to be off on the come out roll.

PROPER BETTING INCREMENTS

You must be aware of proper betting increments on the place bets. Warning: betting increments on the place bets are different from the proper betting increments on the odds bets.

The following are the payouts for each point…

Place bet on 4 or 10

• Any increment of $5
• If the bettor is going to bet $20 or more on the place bet of 4 or 10, the bettor is better of ‘buying’ the 4 or 10.

Place bet on 5 or 9

• Any betting increment of $5
• If the bettor is going to bet $20 or more on the place bet of 4 or 10, the bettor is better off ‘buying’ the 5 or 9.

Point is 6 or 8

• Any increment of $6.
• Do not confuse the place bet increment of the 6 or 8 with the odds bet, which has a proper increment of $5.

PAYOFF ON THE PLACE BETS

Place bet on 4 or 10

• Every $5 increment will pay $9
• For example, if the bettor bets $10, the payout will be $18.
• The reason why the ‘buy’ is better is because if the place bet on the 4 or 10 is $20, then the payout will be $36; however, a buy bet of $20+1 will pay $40. Just think of it this way: for one extra dollar, you obtain an extra $4.

Place bet on 5 or 9

• Every $5 increment will pay $7
• For example, if the bettor bets $10, then the payout will be $14.

Point is 6 or 8

• Every $6 increment will pay $7.
• For example, if the bettor bets $12, then the payout will be $14.
• The penalty for confusing the place bet increment with the odds bet increment is that the casino will round down. For example, if the bettor bets $10 on the place bet, the casino will pay $11. The breakdown is that the first $6 will pay $7, and then the remaining $4 will pay even money $4. Thus, $7+$4=$11. If the player had bet an extra $2, instead of $10 place bet on the 6 or 8, the player would have gained an extra $4.

CONCLUSION

Place betting is one of the best bets at the craps table. While not as good mathematically as the odds bet, the place bet has the advantage over most other bets in that the place bets take, on average, 4 rolls of the dice to resolve. Imagine how much longer you could play, and how long your bankroll would last if on a game, such as blackjack, where you had to play four hands to win or lose one wager. Or if you had to spin the reel on a slot machine four times to determine a win or lose.

Most players are not fans of waiting out the protracted time it takes to resolve a single place bet. For those players, myself included, I prefer to make multiple bets, which is a viable option.

TEST YOUR MIGHT!

So now that you’ve read this article and you can identify the place bets on the layout, let’s take a little pop quiz.

In the pic below, identify the bets that are NOT place bets…

Answer below…

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Bonus question…

Of the chips in the pic directly above, with the four arrows, how many bets are NOT place bets? In other words, identify the bets that are NOT place bets…

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Answer:

There are five bets that are not place bets.

The bets that are NOT place bets are the following:

Remember, the odds bet cannot be made without a come bet, so there is a come bet hiding under the odds bet.

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Place - Your horse must come in first or second.

Next to the win bet, the Place wager is one of the oldest and most traditional. With a place wager, your horse must finish first or second. The wager pays the same whether your horse wins or not.

Place and Show bets are much more conservative , as you are giving yourself room for error since your horse can finish first or second, or first, second or third in case of show. However this means that the payoffs are a bit lower since you are sharing the place payoff with another horse or two. They are are most commonly used along with other wagers, such as 'win and place', 'across the board' or 'win, place, and show', or 'place and show'.

Place payoffs and results
Place payoffs typically pay between $3.00 and $10.00, but can pay more with longshots and less with overwhelming favorites. Since the money you win in a place bet is generated by all of the money bet on the losing horses, the more horses in the race the greater your chances for a larger place payoff.

Reading the Tote Board
One important distinction is that the Place pool is an entirely different pool than Win. This means that horses may be bet differently in each of the pools. In a place wager, because you don't know which other horse will place, it is difficult to predict your potential place payoffs. But, by comparing the place dollars to the win dollars, you can check the percentage of dollars on your horse to place.

For example, looking at the #1 horse below, we can see that he has approximately 10% of the win pool, with $2,011/$20,000 = 10%. If we use the Win odds to as a yardstick, we would expect that the #1 would have about 10% of the Place pool bet on him, or $1,000 of the $10,000 Place pool. However, we can see that #1 has only $622 bet to place, or closer to 6% of the pool. This means that the #1 is paying better odds in the Place pool. The #1 is 8-1 to Win, but he is being bet like a 14-1 in the Place pool and will pay more accordingly.

Place Bet Odds

This is like bargain shopping, when we get the value of a larger payoff when it 'should' offer a lesser payoff. The 'should' is based on the assumption that the Win odds are more correct that the Place odds. This is a logical assumption, however, since the Win odds are easier to see and more attention is paid to them, it is more likely that the Win odds are a truer reflection of the horse's chances. Keep in mind that if the #1 wins he will still pay more to win than to place (because Place has to be divided with another horse), but the #1 is a good value in the Place pool. In this case, it might make sense to bet the #1 only to Place.

Crapless Craps Place Bet Odds