- Pays
- 4 points 24 to 1
- House edge
- 20.76%
- Decided by
- Whole shooter
- Can be made
- Any roll
What is the fire bet in craps?
The fire bet is a wager on one shooter’s hot hand. You make it before a new shooter’s first come-out roll, and it counts how many different point numbers that shooter makes before rolling a seven-out. There are six possible points: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10. Make four or more distinct ones and the bet pays.
A point only counts once. If the shooter makes the 6 three times, the fire bet still has one point. Dealers usually mark each made point so the table can follow. A 7 on a come-out roll wins the pass line and does not end the hand, so it leaves the fire bet alive.
How the fire bet works, hand by hand
The bet stays up through every pass line decision the shooter plays. Naturals, craps rolls and new points come and go. Nothing changes until the shooter makes a point for the first time, which adds that number to the count, or sevens out, which ends the count and settles the fire bet on however many points were reached.
That makes it a whole-hand bet, in the same sense that a pass line bet is a single decision. You get one result per shooter. At a busy table a shooter might last two minutes or forty, and the fire bet has no way to cash out early. It either reaches four different points or it loses.
Fire bet craps payout table and real odds
The most common pay table is 24 to 1 for four points, 249 to 1 for five points and 999 to 1 for all six. Pay tables vary by casino, and some rooms pay less on the lower rungs, so read the placard at the table. The chance of each outcome comes straight from the math of making points.
| Points made before seven-out | Chance per shooter | Common payout |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 59.39% | loses |
| 1 | 26.08% | loses |
| 2 | 10.13% | loses |
| 3 | 3.34% | loses |
| 4 | 0.88% | 24 to 1 |
| 5 | 0.164% | 249 to 1 |
| 6 | 0.0162% | 999 to 1 |
Add the losing rows and 98.94% of fire bets lose. Four points arrive in about one shooter in 114, five points in about one in 610, and six in about one in 6,200. The payouts look enormous, but each one sits well below its true odds. That is where the 20.76% house edge comes from.
What the 20.76% edge means at the rail
Multiply each payout by its chance and add them up. For every $100 bet, the four-point rung returns about $21, the five-point rung about $41 and the six-point rung about $16 in winnings. Against that, $98.94 is lost on the shooters who fall short. The net is roughly $20.76 gone per $100 wagered.
For comparison, Any Seven costs 16.67% and the Horn about 12.5%, and both are famous as poor bets. The fire bet is worse than either. It gets away with the price because it is a small, one-chip wager per shooter, and because a single 999 to 1 story travels around a casino faster than a thousand quiet losses.
Craps all tall small: three bets in one box
All Tall Small is three side bets built on rolling a set of totals before a 7. All Small covers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. All Tall covers 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Make ‘Em All covers all ten. Each total has to show at least once, in any order, before the dice show a 7.
Unlike the fire bet, All Tall Small ignores the pass line entirely. Points, naturals and come-out rolls make no difference. The only question is whether each required total has appeared, and any 7, including one on a come-out roll, ends the bet. The dealer tracks which numbers have rolled, usually with markers on the layout.
- Pays
- 34 to 1
- House edge
- 7.76%
- Decided by
- Whole shooter
- Can be made
- Any roll
All tall small craps payouts and make em all craps odds
A common pay table gives 34 to 1 on All Small, 34 to 1 on All Tall and 175 to 1 on Make ‘Em All. Pay tables vary by casino, and some state the price as “for one”, which includes your stake and pays one unit less. The placard or rules screen settles it.
| Bet | Chance of winning | Common payout | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Small (2 to 6 before 7) | 2.635% | 34 to 1 | 7.76% |
| All Tall (8 to 12 before 7) | 2.635% | 34 to 1 | 7.76% |
| Make ‘Em All (all ten before 7) | 0.526% | 175 to 1 | 7.46% |
All Small and All Tall are mirror images, since 2 through 6 roll exactly as often as 12 through 8. Each wins about once in 38 attempts. Make ‘Em All needs both sets together and hits about once in 190. At roughly 7.5% to 7.8%, the group costs far less than the fire bet, though still well above the line.
Craps side bets against the line bets
The table below puts the side bets next to the pass line, a place 6 and the most expensive single-roll bet. The spread is wide. The pass line keeps 1.41% of each bet decided, while the fire bet keeps more than twenty times that, and the odds bet you can add behind the line keeps nothing at all.
| Bet | Pays | House edge | Per roll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass Line | 1 to 1 | 1.41% | 0.42% |
| Place 6 | 7 to 6 | 1.52% | 0.46% |
| All Small | 34 to 1 | 7.76% | — |
| Make ’Em All | 175 to 1 | 7.46% | — |
| Any Seven | 4 to 1 | 16.67% | 16.67% |
| Fire Bet | 4 points 24 to 1; 5 points 249 to 1; 6 points 999 to 1 | 20.76% | — |
The side bets are cheaper per roll than they look, because one bet lasts a whole shooter. A $1 fire bet over a long hand costs less in dollars than a $5 proposition bet made on every roll. That is the honest case for them: small stakes, one decision per shooter, and a rare large payout.
A sensible way to play the fire bet
If you like the fire bet, treat it as a fixed cost of the session. Put the table minimum on each new shooter, count it in your bankroll plan as money spent, and never raise it to chase a hot hand. The price does not improve when a shooter is on a roll, since only new shooters can be bet.
Keep the rest on the line with odds. A $10 pass line bet costs about 14 cents per decision over time, a $1 fire bet about 21 cents per shooter, and the line pays on something that happens every few rolls. Our guide to craps odds shows the chance of each point being made, the math behind this bet.
Online, the rules screen is your placard. Licensed games in New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, overseen by regulators such as the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement, show their pay tables before you bet, and side bets appear on some layouts only. If gambling stops being fun, call 1-800-GAMBLER, or 1-800-270-7117 in Michigan.
At the table, ask one question before your chip goes in the fire bet circle: does four points pay 24 to 1 here? If the placard shows less, the edge is already above 20.76%, and the bet you are about to make is the most expensive one on the felt.