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:
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.
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.
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).