Buy bet on Bovada

From their website:

Buy Bets
Just like a Place Bet, but with a different payoff. The Player 'buys' any of the points (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10), and bets that that number will be rolled before a 7. When making a buy bet, you pay a 4% commission and are paid fair odds if it wins. Fair odds are 2:1 on the 4 and 10, 3:2 on the 5 and 9, and 6:5 on the 6 and 8. Look at it is as a 48:25 pay out on the 4 and 10, 36:25 on the 5 and 9, and 144:125 on the 6 and 8. The pay out on all bets is rounded down to the nearest quarter.

so they charge a 4% commission immediately? and not when you win?

what's the house edge for 4/10, 5/9, and 6/8?

Quote: 100xOdds

From their website:

Buy Bets
Just like a Place Bet, but with a different payoff. The Player 'buys' any of the points (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10), and bets that that number will be rolled before a 7. When making a buy bet, you pay a 4% commission and are paid fair odds if it wins. Fair odds are 2:1 on the 4 and 10, 3:2 on the 5 and 9, and 6:5 on the 6 and 8. Look at it is as a 48:25 pay out on the 4 and 10, 36:25 on the 5 and 9, and 144:125 on the 6 and 8. The pay out on all bets is rounded down to the nearest quarter.

so they charge a 4% commission immediately? and not when you win?

what's the house edge for 4/10, 5/9, and 6/8?

I take it that you pay 4% on the wager, and not on the winnings.

On the 4/10 you have 26 pays 50 so 2.56%
On the 5/9, you have 52 pays 75 so 2.31%
On the 6/8, you have 26 pays 30 so 2.1%

From the Wizards page about 5% commision buy bets:
https://wizardofodds.com/games/craps/

at 5% commision, the Buy is 4.76% house edge for all #'s if it is taken immediately.

so why at 4% is the house edge different for 6/8, 5/9, 4/10?

ok, just tried Buys on their practice game:

a $10 buy on the 10 gave me $19.50. (Bovada rounds down to the nearest $0.25).
19.5/$20 = 2.5% house edge?

a $25 buy on 10 gave me 48.75.
48.75/$50 = 2.5%


a $10 buy on the 9 gave me $14.50.
14.5/15 = 3.33% house edge

$25 buy on 9 gave me $36.25
36.25/37.5 = 3.33%

It isn't quite that simple.
You can go to the wizard's page on how house edge is calculated
and just replace the values of your bet and payout into the corresponding formula:

Wizard of Odds: Craps Appendix 1

Quote: WongBo

It isn't quite that simple.
You can go to the wizard's page on how house edge is calculated
and just replace the values of your bet and payout into the corresponding formula:

Wizard of Odds: Craps Appendix 1

thx, but no idea how to do the math on the page you linked.


$10 place on 9 gave me $14.
14/15 = 6.67%

but the wizards page says placing the 9 is only a 4% house edge?!

hm.. $6 place on the 6 gives me $7 which is standard across all casinos i've been in.
Yet 7/7.20 = 2.78%???

This should definitely be 1.52%.
WHAT AM I MISSING?!

Quote: 100xOdds

$10 place on 9 gave me $14.
14/15 = 6.67%

but the wizards page says placing the 9 is only a 4% house edge?!

hm.. $6 place on the 6 gives me $7 which is standard across all casinos i've been in.
Yet 7/7.20 = 2.78%???

This should definitely be 1.52%.
WHAT AM I MISSING?!

For the $10 place bet on 9: (10+14)/(10+15)=0.96 ----> 4% HE
For the $6 on 6: (6+7)/(6+6*6/5)=13/13.2=0.9848 -----> 1.52% HE

Think of it this way for the bet on the 9: You put up $10 and the house put up $14, winner take all. If there had not been any house edge, the house would have needed to put up 15. The total money involved is $24 instead of $25 (4% shortfall) with the house getting the edge because they didn't have to put up that other dollar.

Quote: Doc

For the $10 place bet on 9: (10+14)/(10+15)=0.96 ----> 4% HE
For the $6 on 6: (6+7)/(6+6*6/5)=13/13.2=0.9848 -----> 1.52% HE

Think of it this way for the bet on the 9: You put up $10 and the house put up $14, winner take all. If there had not been any house edge, the house would have needed to put up 15. The total money involved is $24 instead of $25 (4% shortfall) with the house getting the edge because they didn't have to put up that other dollar.

ah.. thx!
my calcs now match the place and 5% commision AFTER the win.
but it still doesnt match the 4.76% house edge for all #s for 5% commision immediately?

ie: $5 Buy 4 with 5% commision immediately
$5*.95*2 = 4.75 * 2 = 9.50
(5+9.5)/(5+10)-1 = 14.5/15 - 1 = 3.33%?!

Quote: 100xOdds

ie: $5 Buy 4 with 5% commision immediately
$5*.95*2 = 4.75 * 2 = 9.50
(5+9.5)/(5+10)-1 = 14.5/15 - 1 = 3.33%?!

I don't make buy bets so I may not be thinking this through correctly, but one answer might be:

For 4 & 10: (5.25+9.75)/(5.25+10.5)=.9524 ---> 4.76% HE
For 5 & 9: (5.25+7.25)/(5.25+7.875)=.9524 ---> 4.76% HE
For 6 & 8: (5.25+5.75)/(5.25+6.30)= .9524 ---> 4.76% HE

This assumes that you keep the bet up and that you can pay your commission $.25 each time for the $5 buy bet.

Quote: Doc

I don't make buy bets so I may not be thinking this through correctly, but one answer might be:

For 4 & 10: (5.25+9.75)/(5.25+10.5)=.9524 ---> 4.76% HE
For 5 & 9: (5.25+7.25)/(5.25+7.875)=.9524 ---> 4.76% HE
For 6 & 8: (5.25+5.75)/(5.25+6.30)= .9524 ---> 4.76% HE

This assumes that you keep the bet up and that you can pay your commission $.25 each time for the $5 buy bet.

thx. so at 4% commision at Bovada, the HE for all #'s is:
(5.2+9.8)/(5.2+10.4)-1 = 3.85%?

Quote: 100xOdds

thx. so at 4% commision at Bovada, the HE for all #'s is:
(5.2+9.8)/(5.2+10.4)-1 = 3.85%?

I think so, provided you don't get hurt in the round-offs on commissions.

BTW, I'm not really one of the folks on this forum who do a bunch of these calculations, so it's quite possible I am in error. Someone should post a yea or nay on my calculations before I lead 100xOdds astray.

Quote: 100xOdds

From the Wizards page about 5% commision buy bets:
https://wizardofodds.com/games/craps/
at 5% commision, the Buy is 4.76% house edge for all #'s if it is taken immediately.

The HE is going to be different for the same bet with different amounts and rounding.
(The Wizard's Buy tables assumes one makes a perfect unit bet, say $20 Buy4, not $25 Buy4 vig on win. [1/60 and 1/75]
He could easily expand the tables to show other popular Buy bet amounts... and should)

Quote: 100xOdds

ok, just tried Buys on their practice game:

a $10 buy on the 10 gave me $19.50. (Bovada rounds down to the nearest $0.25).
19.5/$20 = 2.5% house edge?

I get 0.5/30
Just take the amount they short changed you by (0.50) and divide that by the total of the bet and the true total payoff
0.5 / $10 + $20

Quote: 100xOdds

a $25 buy on 10 gave me 48.75.
48.75/$50 = 2.5%

This example don't make sense.
You said 4% vig. $25 * .04 = $1
But they shorted you 1.25
So the HE = 1.25 / $25 + $50

you should be fine to do the others

added:
place bets work the same way (This is John Scarne's method)
Place 6
pays $7 to $6.
True odds is $7.20 to $6
shorted by 0.20

HE = 0.20 / Bet ($6) + true payoff ($7.20)
0.20 /13.2

For Bets with vig paid upfront:
$20 Buy4 + $1 vig
$21 should pay $42 for a total of $63
They paid you your $20 + $40 on the win. You got shorted $3
HE = $3/$63 (1/21)

$25 Buy4 + $1 vig (a little better bet when the casino still charges only $1 vig)
$26 should pay $52 for a total of $78
They paid you your $25 + $50 on the win. You got shorted $3
HE = $3/$78 (1/26)

Enjoy!