The 1-2-3-4-5 Odds Ladder: Free Odds on a 2 Still Pay Fair
Last reviewed: August 2026
Free odds are the one honest bet in any craps game: they pay exactly what the math says they’re worth, and the house makes nothing on them. Crapless craps keeps that promise on all ten of its points, including the strange new ones. What changes is the cap. The Hard Rock Hollywood table we photographed posts a 1-2-3-4-5 ladder, and understanding it is the difference between paying 5.38% and paying 1.33%.
True odds on every point, including the weird ones
Once a point is set, you can back your pass line bet with a separate odds wager. It wins if the point is made and pays true odds: the actual probability, with zero house edge:
| Point | Chance of making it | Odds pay | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 or 12 | 1 in 7 | 6:1 | 0% |
| 3 or 11 | 1 in 4 | 3:1 | 0% |
| 4 or 10 | 1 in 3 | 2:1 | 0% |
| 5 or 9 | 2 in 5 | 3:2 | 0% |
| 6 or 8 | 5 in 11 | 6:5 | 0% |
A 6:1 payout on the 2 sounds like a prop bet. It isn’t: it’s priced exactly fair. One way to make the point, six ways to seven out, 6:1. The casino gives this bet away because it can only be placed behind a line bet it has already taxed.
What “1-2-3-4-5” means
The ladder sets your maximum odds as a multiple of your line bet, by point:
- 1× behind a point of 2 or 12
- 2× behind 3 or 11
- 3× behind 4 or 10
- 4× behind 5 or 9
- 5× behind 6 or 8
Notice the shape: the casino allows the least extra money on the points where the odds payout is largest, and the most on the points closest to a coin flip. That’s not generosity management by accident: the ladder caps the variance the table has to sweat, point by point.
What full odds do to your real price
Free odds don’t change the pass line’s expected loss by a cent, that 5.38% tax on the flat bet is already paid the moment you place it. What odds change is how much total action that fixed loss is spread across.
With a $10 line bet and full ladder odds taken every time a point is set, our solver puts the combined cost at 1.33% of everything you wager (exactly 373/28105). The same discipline at a regular 3-4-5× table gets you to 0.37%, crapless is still roughly 3.6× the price, but 1.33% is a defensible number, in the territory of decent blackjack played imperfectly.
The rule of thumb survives translation from regular craps: bet the table minimum on the line, and put the rest of what you were going to bet behind it as odds. Every dollar you move from the line to the odds is a dollar moved from a 5.38% bet to a 0% bet.
The trap to avoid
The mirror-image mistake is treating the 6:1 odds on the 2 as a reason to want those points. You don’t. The 6:1 is compensation, not opportunity, you’ll still lose that point 6 times in 7, and your flat bet loses with it. The ladder’s 1× cap on those points quietly agrees: even the casino won’t let you get excited about the 2.
The 1-2-3-4-5 ladder is the posting reported from the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood floor (August 2026); caps vary by casino, and the simulator lets you set 2×, 5×, or 10× flat caps instead. All odds prices and the 373/28105 combined figure are computed by our exact solver, methodology here.