The Fire Bet in Craps

Craps tables have many betting options, and in many casinos, you can also make side bets when you play craps. But just because there are many betting options and side bets in craps doesn’t mean that you should make these bets.

A popular craps side bet is called the fire bet. The fire bet offers large payouts, but there are also long odds against winning. In this post, you’re going to learn what the fire bet is in craps, how to place the fire bet, the odds of winning the fire bet, and if you should bother with the fire bet.

What Is the Craps Fire Bet?

The fire bet in craps is a bet that wins if you win on four or more points after the come-out roll. The points have to be unique points, which means that if you win on a point of six twice, it only counts as one point for the fire bet.

For example, you only have three points if you roll a six, four, five, five, six, and four. You also must roll an eight, nine, or 10 to have four points to win the fire bet.

I’ve listed the most common paytable and the other possible paytables in the next section. For example, at craps tables with the most common paytable, you have to roll four independent points to win. Though it’s not a common paytable, one paytable pays for rolling three separate points.

If you find the paytable that pays for three points, you win with three points or six, four, and five in the example above.

Don’t make a fire bet in craps until you look at the paytable and use the information in this post.

Craps Fire Bet Pay Tables

The craps fire bet is available with three different paytable variations. The individual casino chooses the paytable used by each casino. You can learn more about the house edge for each paytable in a later section.

The most common craps fire bet paytable pays the following:

• 999 to 1 for six points – sometimes listed as 1,000 for 1
• 249 to 1 for five points – sometimes listed as 250 for 1
• 24 to 1 for four points – sometimes listed as 25 for 1

The second possible paytable pays the following:

• 2,000 to 1 for six points
• 200 to 1 for five points
• 10 to 1 for four points

The third possible paytable pays the following:

• 299 to 1 for six points
• 149 to 1 for five points
• 29 to 1 for four points
• 6 to 1 for three points

How to Place a Fire Bet

Once you find a craps table that offers the fire bet, place your bet on the space for the fire bet when you place your come-out roll wager. If you don’t see a place for the fire bet, ask the casino personnel running the craps game how to place your fire bet.

You have to place the fire bet at the same time you place your pass line wager. If you don’t make a pass line wager, you can’t make a fire bet.

Once you place a fire bet, you don’t need to do anything about the bet except watch the outcome of the rolls after a point gets set. If the shooter, whether you’re the shooter or another player is shooting the dice, rolls four or more points before rolling a seven, you win the amount listed on the paytable.

Fire Bet Odds, House Edge, and Return to Player Percentage

When you compare different bets or games in a casino, there are many ways to do it. The most common ways to compare bets are looking at the odds, the house edge, and the return to player percentage.

The odds alone don’t tell you much, but when you look at the odds of something happening and how much the bet pays, it shows how good or bad it is. The house edge and return to player percentage are better ways to compare bets because they show you exactly how much you’re going to lose, on average.

You learned about what each bet pays earlier, so you can compare the odds of winning each bet with what each bet pays.

As you can see, the odds of winning the fire bet are poor compared to what the bet pays. However, you can see why the fire bet might not be a good option when looking at the house edge and return to player percentages.

The most common fire bet paytable holds a house edge of 20.8% and a return to player of 79.2%. The second paytable listed earlier has a house edge of 24.9% and a return to player of 75.1%. The final pay table listed earlier has a house edge of 20.7% and a return to player of 79.3%.

These numbers don’t mean much if you don’t know the house edge or return percentages for other bets. But you can find the house edge and return percentages for other bets so you can compare them.

For example, the house edge for the pass line bet is 1.4%, and the return to player is 98.6%. All of the craps wagers available for the standard game, which means bets that aren’t side bets, have a lower house edge and higher return percentage than the fire bet.

Should You Make the Fire Bet in Craps?

Now that you know what the fire bet is, how it works, and the odds, house edge, and return percentages are, you can make your own decision about whether or not you should make the wager. However, every other bet at the craps table has better odds, a lower house edge, and a better rate of return.

With such a large house edge, you’re losing over 20 cents of every dollar you bet on average. I try to avoid any bet that costs me over $20 for every $100 that I bet, and you should too if you want to make your bankroll last for very long.

If you like playing craps, the best bets as far as the house edge and return numbers are the come-out roll bets and the odds bet when a point is set after a come-out roll. If you’re willing to play a game other than craps, you can find even better odds and returns in some blackjack games and on some video poker machines.

Conclusion

The amount you can win on the fire bet in craps looks good, but the odds are against you. Just because a bet pays 999 to 1 or 1,000 for 1, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to win any time soon. So if it costs $2,000 to win $1,000, is it winning?

If you can bet $1 on the fire bet, you can put a buck down every once in a while, but don’t make it a habit. If you do make it a habit, it will be a costly habit.

The best strategy when you play craps is to act like the fire bet, and every other side bet option doesn’t exist.