The Don't Pass Bet In Craps
Walk up to a craps table on a busy night and watch the action for a while. You will see almost everyone betting the pass line. Almost everyone. But there is usually one or two players standing off to the side, quieter than the rest, with their chips on a thin strip of felt right next to the pass line. They are not cheering when the table cheers. They are not groaning when the table groans. Sometimes they are doing the opposite.
Those are don't pass bettors. Sometimes called wrong way bettors, sometimes called dark side bettors, sometimes called worse things by the players who are losing money while they are winning it. The don't pass bet is the opposite of the pass line. You are betting against the shooter. You win when the table loses, and you lose when the table wins.
This article covers what the don't pass bet is, why some serious players prefer it, and what it costs you in social terms to be the person at the table rooting for the 7. If you have read the pass line article, most of this will look familiar with the signs flipped.
What the don't pass bet is
The don't pass bet is a bet that the shooter is going to lose the round. You are betting against everything the pass line bettors are betting for. When they win, you lose. When they lose, you win.
You make the bet by putting chips on the don't pass bar, which is the thin strip running just inside the pass line on the layout. It is usually labeled "Don't Pass Bar" with either "Bar 12" or "Bar 2" written inside it. We will get to what that means in a minute.
Like the pass line, this is a self-service bet. You drop your own chips, no dealer assistance required. You can only make a fresh don't pass bet during the come out roll, when the puck is showing the off side. Once a point is established, you cannot start a new don't pass bet for that round. You have to wait for the next come out.
How the bet wins and loses
The don't pass plays in two phases just like the pass line, but the rules of winning are flipped.
On the come out roll, the don't pass loses on a 7 or 11. Those are pass line winners. The dealer sweeps your chips off the bar.
The don't pass wins on a 2 or 3 on the come out. These are craps numbers, the same ones that lose pass line bets. You get paid even money.
The 12 on the come out is a special case. It is a push, not a win. A push means neither side wins or loses. Your bet just stays where it is. The dealer does not pay you, but they do not take your chips either. It is like the roll never happened for don't pass purposes. We will get into why this rule exists in the next section.
If the come out is a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, that number becomes the point and the puck flips to on. From here, the don't pass bet wins if a 7 comes before the point is rolled again. The don't pass loses if the point hits before a 7. Pure opposite of the pass line. The 7, which is your enemy as a pass line bettor during the point cycle, is your best friend as a don't pass bettor.
The push on 12 and why it exists
Take a minute on this because it is the whole reason the don't pass bet works the way it does.
If you flipped every result of the pass line bet to make the don't pass, the don't pass bet would actually have a player edge over the casino. The come out roll favors the pass line, with 8 ways to win and 4 ways to lose. So if you reverse it, the don't pass would have 8 ways to win and 4 ways to lose if every result was just flipped. The point cycle math also flips in the don't pass bettor's favor, since the 7 is more likely than any single point. Combine the two and the don't pass would actually be a player-favorable bet.
The casino cannot allow that. They are in the business of having an edge. So they push one of the come out craps numbers to take that edge back. Most casinos push the 12. A few push the 2. Either way, one of the three craps numbers, which would otherwise be a don't pass winner, becomes a push instead. That single rule pushes the math just barely back in the casino's favor.
The label on the bar tells you which number is barred. "Bar 12" means the 12 is the push. "Bar 2" means the 2 is the push. Most American casinos bar the 12. If you ever see a casino that bars the 3 instead, run. That is a worse rule for don't pass bettors and almost nobody offers it anymore. The bar 12 and bar 2 versions are functionally identical in terms of math, since both numbers come up with the same probability.
What it pays
The don't pass pays even money, just like the pass line. If you bet $10 and you win, you get $10 plus your original bet back, for $20 total. The bet stays on the bar for the next round unless you take it down or move it.
The payout structure is the same regardless of how the bet wins. Win on a 2 or 3 on the come out? Even money. Win because the shooter sevened out during a point cycle? Even money. Win on a hard-fought rollercoaster of a 30 minute round? Still even money. The dollar amount you win never changes.
The math: slightly better than the pass line
The don't pass bet has a house edge of about 1.36 percent. The pass line is 1.41 percent. The difference is tiny but real, and the don't pass is technically the better mathematical bet.
Where does this 0.05 percent come from? It is the leftover edge after the bar 12 rule. The casino takes one push that would otherwise be a winner, but the rest of the bet still slightly favors the player. The math works out to 1.36 percent, which is about as low as you will find on any flat bet at a craps table.
So if don't pass has a lower edge than the pass line, why does almost nobody bet it? Three reasons.
The first is social. We will get to that.
The second is that the difference is tiny. We are talking about 5 cents per $100 wagered. Over a session of 200 bets, that is one dollar. Most people do not pick a bet to save a buck a session. The pass line and don't pass are functionally interchangeable from a math perspective.
The third is that the come out roll feels worse on the don't pass. You watch a 7 come up and the table erupts. You just lost. You watch an 11 come up, the table cheers, you lost again. The first roll of every new round is much more likely to lose for don't pass bettors than to win, because there are 8 ways to make a 7 or 11 versus only 3 ways to make a 2 or 3 (since the 12 is barred). It is hard to start every round at an immediate disadvantage, even if the math evens out later.
The math during the point cycle
The interesting thing about the don't pass is that once a point is set, the math actually flips in your favor. This is the opposite of the pass line, which is favorable on the come out and unfavorable during the point cycle.
Let me show you why. If the point is 4, you win on a 7 (6 ways) and lose on a 4 (3 ways). That is 6 wins to 3 losses. You are twice as likely to win as you are to lose. If the point is 5 or 9, you win on a 7 (6 ways) and lose on the point (4 ways each). That is 6 wins to 4 losses, or 60 percent. If the point is 6 or 8, you win on a 7 (6 ways) and lose on the point (5 ways each). That is 6 wins to 5 losses, or about 55 percent.
So once a point is set, you are favored to win every single point cycle. The pass line bettor is not favored. They are, on average, going to lose more often than they win during the point cycle. That difference is exactly why the come out roll is set up to be friendly to pass line bettors. The casino lets you start with an advantage to compensate for the disadvantage that comes later.
For don't pass bettors, it works in reverse. You start at a disadvantage on the come out and then ride a favorable point cycle to win the round. Different shape of bet, similar math at the end.
Don't pass odds
Like the pass line, the don't pass bet lets you take odds once a point has been established. The math is still zero house edge. The mechanics are slightly different.
For pass line odds, you are betting that the point will hit before a 7, which is the harder side of the deal. You take odds, putting up an amount and getting paid more than you bet when you win.
For don't pass odds, you are betting that a 7 will hit before the point, which is the easier side of the deal. You lay odds, putting up more than you stand to win. The math is exactly fair, just inverted.
The payouts on don't pass odds work like this. On a 4 or 10 point, you lay 2 to 1, meaning you put up $20 to win $10. On a 5 or 9, you lay 3 to 2, meaning $15 to win $10. On a 6 or 8, you lay 6 to 5, meaning $12 to win $10.
The amount you can lay is governed by the same odds structure as the pass line, usually 3x-4x-5x. The casino caps the maximum based on what your underlying don't pass bet would win, not what you would have to put up. So at a 3x-4x-5x table with a $10 don't pass bet, you can lay enough odds to win up to your pass line equivalent. On a 4 or 10, you can lay $60 to win $30. On a 5 or 9, you can lay $60 to win $40. On a 6 or 8, you can lay $60 to win $50.
Don't pass odds work just like pass line odds in terms of being mandatory if you actually want to play smart. Always take them. The bet has zero edge and lowers your effective house edge across the combined wager. Skipping odds, on either side of the bet, is leaving money on the table.
For more detail on how odds work in general, our free odds article walks through the full math.
The pull-down rule
Here is one quirk of the don't pass that is worth knowing. Unlike the pass line, the don't pass is not a contract bet. You can take it down or reduce it at any time after a point has been established.
The reason is the math we just walked through. Once a point is set, the don't pass bet has the better of the deal. You are favored to win the round. The casino is willing to let you take your money off the table at this point because they know you would only do it if you were unsure of the math, which costs you. They are not going to insist you stay in a bet that is in your favor.
What this means in practice is that you have an option some inexperienced don't pass bettors use. They wait for a point to be established, then pull their bet. This way they avoid losing on the come out 7s and 11s, since they only had a bet on the bar during the come out, and they pull out before risking the point cycle. The problem is that this strategy strips out exactly the part of the bet that has the player edge. The pull-down strategy gives the casino back their advantage and then some. Do not do this.
The smart play with don't pass is to leave the bet alone and let the math work. You took a hit on the come out by betting don't pass. The point cycle is your reward. Pulling the bet after the come out throws away the reward.
Why pass line bettors hate don't pass bettors
Time to talk about the social side of don't pass. This is a thing in craps circles, and it is worth understanding before you ever step up to bet the dark side.
When everybody at the table is betting the pass line, you have a room full of people all hoping for the same outcome. Shooter rolls a 7 on the come out, everyone wins. Shooter makes their point, everyone wins. The table is one big team rooting for the dice to do the same thing.
Then there is the don't pass bettor. You are rooting for the opposite. You want the shooter to crap out on the come out. You want the shooter to seven out during the point cycle. You are sitting there, in a room of people screaming with joy, with a small private smile because everyone else just lost.
This does not always go over well. Some pass line bettors take it personally. They feel like the don't pass bettor is rooting against the team. They feel jinxed by it, like the don't pass bettor is bad luck. There are players who will openly glare at don't pass bettors. Some will move to a different table. Some, less mature ones, will say things.
None of this affects the math. The dice do not care what anybody thinks. But it does affect the experience. If you bet the don't pass, expect a slightly less friendly atmosphere. The cheering does not include you. The high-fives do not come your way. You are out there alone.
The right way to handle this is to just be quiet about it. Do not celebrate when the shooter sevens out. Do not high-five anyone when other people are losing money. Just collect your chips, keep your face neutral, and move on. Most pass line bettors do not really mind a quiet don't pass bettor. They mind the loud ones who rub it in. We get into more of this in the craps etiquette article.
When the don't pass actually shines
So when does it make sense to bet the don't pass?
One scenario is when you specifically want to extract slightly better math from the table at the cost of the social experience. If you are playing alone, online, or with a group of friends who are all betting different things, the slight math advantage of don't pass over pass line is real and you may as well take it. The 0.05 percent difference is tiny but it is in your favor.
Another scenario is variance. The don't pass tends to produce a smoother experience over a long session. Pass line bettors live and die by long rolls. When a shooter is hot and making points, the table crushes it. When a shooter is sevening out repeatedly, the table bleeds. Don't pass bettors get the inverse. They lose during hot rolls but make money during cold rolls. If you are at a table where shooters are sevening out fast, the don't pass is the only bet that does well, and you can ride it out while the rest of the table goes broke.
A third scenario is contrarian psychology. Some players just like the underdog position. They like being the one bettor in the room rooting against the crowd. They get a thrill out of winning when everyone else loses. This is more of a personality thing than a strategy thing, but it is real.
For most beginners, though, I would recommend sticking with the pass line for at least your first dozen sessions. The don't pass is a fine bet, but the pass line gives you the social experience that is half the fun of craps. Once you are comfortable with the game, you can experiment with don't pass on quieter nights or specific tables. Do not start there.
How to make the bet
The mechanics are simple. Wait for a moment between rolls, with the puck on the off side. Place chips on the don't pass bar in front of you. The dealer will see the bet and acknowledge it. The shooter throws and the bet plays out as we have described.
If a point gets set, you become eligible to lay odds. Hand chips to the dealer, since lay odds usually go on top of your don't pass bet rather than next to it, and tell them how much you want to lay. The dealer will set up the bet and tell you what it can win.
If the bet wins, the dealer pushes your winnings next to your bet. Pick them up. The original bet stays on the bar for the next round.
Online, just click the don't pass bar in the layout, then click the lay odds button or area when a point is set. The software handles all the math.
The bottom line on don't pass
The don't pass is a slightly better mathematical bet than the pass line and a slightly worse social experience. The two effects roughly cancel for most players, which is why the pass line is dominant despite the math saying otherwise. The pass line is friendlier, more fun and more social. The don't pass is mathematically purer, quieter and more isolating.
Both are excellent foundational bets. Both should always be combined with full odds. Both are far better than anything else on the table outside of the come bets.
If you ever want to try the don't pass, do it when the table is mostly empty or when you are playing online. Do not do it on a packed Saturday night when other players are getting frustrated and looking for someone to blame. The dice do not care, but other people might.
The next article gets into the come bet, which is essentially a second pass line bet you can make at any time. Once you have the pass line and odds dialed in, the come bet is the next layer of smart play.
Read next: The Come Bet