Much like in variant games like Blackjack Lucky Ladies, the fire bet in craps is a way to win big payouts on a novel side bet. It’s not an overly common side bet in craps, but when you find it, you’re hoping that the shooter gets flaming hot so you can cash in on long odds. So, if you’re a player who likes to wait on the big potential payouts at long odds, finding the Fire Bet in craps might be your next move.
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In craps, the main bets are to back the Pass Line or the Don’t Pass Line, which lean on the shooter’s Come Out Roll and their subsequent attempts to hit their Point Number before rolling a seven. As well as these, you can place a Come Bet after the opening roll or individual numbers to come up with a Place Bet.
The Fire Bet in craps is a form of additional side bet on the shooter. As a bettor, you’ll be betting that the shooter will hit the Points on the Pass Line at least four times before hitting a seven to end their hot streak. What makes the Fire Bet appealing is that it greatly expands on the potential returns in craps and expands the Proposition Bets zone.
Before the Come Out Roll, you place your bet on the Fire Bet side bet. Its placement can vary from table to table, but usually, it takes the form of a tracker above the Proposition Bets box. On the Come Out Roll, a seven, 11, two, three, or 12 won’t affect your Fire Bet. Instead, it can stay in play – which is your choice – until the first Point is set.
Should the dealer hit that Point before losing on Pass Bets, your Fire Bet will check one of the numbers on the tracker – the same number as the Point. You then need the shooter to make a Point in the next round that’s a different number. Securing a Point that’s the same number as what you have won’t result in extra progress.
You keep your Fire Bet in craps alive until the shooter sevens out. When this happens, you’ll need four or more Point numbers checked off of the tracker to secure a win with the side bet. You can get increasingly large returns on four, five, and six Point wins. So, the whole bet relies on the shooter’s hot streak.
As the returns on the Fire Bet in craps can hit 999:1, most casinos put a cap on the side bet’s maximum wager. As a side bet, you can also expect to need to bet at least one unit at a minimum. The Fire Bet isn’t connected to any other bets on the table, but a Fire Bet win streak is also good for Pass Line bettors.
Once the shooter hits a streak of four successful Point wins on different numbers, your Fire Bet will hit a 24:1 payout. Five numbers vaults that payout to 249:1. Get to six with a Fire Bet, and you’ll return 999:1. Importantly, you need multiple different Points to win more, and there are six Point numbers available in total. The next highest payout on a standard craps table is 30:1, which is for Two Craps or Twelve Craps.
As an example scenario, let’s say that the shooter gets a seven on their Come On Roll. That’ll keep the Fire Bet in play, but not progress the bet. Next, they get nine as their Point, roll two more times, and get a nine without hitting a seven. That gives you one Point on the Fire Bet. Over the next two rounds, they succeed with Points of four and eight. However, in the next round, trying to get 10, they throw a seven, ending the Fire Bet at three without a payout.
On another day, the shooter will have landed that 10 to get to four Points. If they then fail to get a winning Point, Fire Bets still win, paying out at 24:1. Were they to add the Points of five and six with a continued hot streak, a Fire Bet would pay out at 999:1.
Due to the need to Point on different numbers and the continued presence of the seven, the calculation for getting each Point on a run varies quite a lot with each streak. However, it has been calculated that the chance of securing four Points on the Fire Bet run sits at 0.88 percent.
Five in a row is said to have a 0.17 percent chance, and six extends to 0.02 percent. To calculate your potential payout, simply multiply your bet size by the number to the left of the odds – such as a two-coin bet getting to four Points at 24:1 paying 48 coins and the two-coin bet for 50 coins.
The house edge of the Fire Bet in craps is among the highest in the game. It stands at 20.8 percent. The Pass Line bet, for comparison, has a house edge of 1.41 percent, and a bet on any seven is at 16.67 percent.
The best strategy for winning a Fire Bet in craps is to play small bets and to keep doing so as its likelihood of success is low.
You can’t place a Fire Bet after the shooter has started. You need to do it before the Come On Roll.
Casinos ensure fairness in Fire Bets by offering hefty payouts for long streaks, using non-rigged dice, and hiring professional croupiers who will keep track of the progress.
The maximum payout for a Fire Bet is 999:1.
The Fire Bets that offer 999:1 for six Points are the pinnacle of odds on offer for the craps side bet.