Transcript
Hey, guys. I just wanted to go over the hard ways bets in craps. You come up to the table and see a whole bunch of different numbers and things going on in the center of the table. Now, that part of the table actually makes the game a little intimidating for newcomers. It’s really not that difficult. I just wanted to explain exactly how this works. For purposes of this demonstration, I’ll just say that we’ve got a pass line bettor, and he’s out on the 5. Hard ways are the same concept as the place bets, where you’re betting that a certain thing is going to happen before a 7 comes up. But the difference between a place bet and the hard way is that a hard way has what a lot of board game player would refer to as ‘doubles’.
Hard ways are called ‘hard ways’ because for, say, a 4, there are three ways a 4 can come up. Two of them are 1 and 3, and the other one is 2-2, which would be considered the hard way to make a 4. Or in the case of a 6, you’ve got 1-5, 2-4, 3-3, and then you have 4-2 and 5-1. So, that one hard way a 6 can come up is 3-3. So, you’re betting on that to come up before 7 comes up.
So, what happens is that you roll the dice. I’ve got all the hard ways covered so that in this case here we have a 10, which is considered coming up easy with the 6 and 4. So now, the bet on the hard 10 would come down. A lot of times a player will take the option to just give the dealer another five dollars to put him back up to try again, but that’s entirely up to you. And then, as the game goes on, if you were to get a hard 6, the hard way here pays $10 for 1, which you may see on the casino layout as 9 to 1. It’s really just the language thing. It’s the exact same payout you’re going to get, which is $45. And then you would have the option if you wanted to add another hard way, if you wanted to pile up your money and get more out there. But, the second a 7 comes up, not only do you lose your pass line, all of your hard ways go as well. That is the hard ways bet in craps.
