what bet size is one unit?

I was playing craps and was betting $135 across. I had been pressing by $25 or $30 on the inside numbers, and pressing the 4/10 by much more. I had been doing this for quite a while, and since I was betting money across for the dealers, they should have known how I was betting. How this one dealer didn't is unknown to me, but in any event the following happened.

I am the new shooter, set the point, and I bet $135 across. I hit the 5. I say press a unit. Dealer ships me some remainder if chips, I pick up the dice, and hit the 5 again. Now I am expecting there is $50 on the 5, so I would get paid $70, but it turns out the 5 only has $30 on it, for a $42 pay.

There was no big scene as it was clearly my fault for not watching what the dealer was doing. I was a bit miffed that with as much tipping as I was doing that a dealer would make that kind of mistake when I had not made a $5 press EVER in this game, but it was purely an internal emotion. I did not even consider asking the box for a correction, as it truly was my fault to not have caught it.

However, the question that came up is, "What bet size is one unit?"

I said since I bet $135 across, that my unit size is obviously $25, therefore a raise one unit would mean the 5 goes from $25 to $50. The dealer said no way. One unit is always $5.

I'd like to hear from our members here as to what you think. I know a good dealer would have known to press $25, because that is the pattern I had been doing for quite some time, so there is no question in my mind that the dealer messed up. But is the dealer right by insisting one unit is always going to be $5?

For the sake of this discussion, let's forget about $3 craps games, since we already know that would be a deviation.

Duplicate.

Raleigh, I have to side with your dealer on this one. Except a unit is $6 on the 6 or 8.

My understanding is a unit can be whatever you want it to be. The dealer doesn't know what your unit is unless you work it out with them prior. So not having that discussion with your dealer, I agree with Doc. A unit would be whatever leap it takes to get paid odds. So a unit on the 4/10 is 5 paying 9 for 5, a unit on the 5 & 9 similarly would be a 5 dollar unit which makes the odds pay evenly for the dealers at 7 for 5 and like Doc said a unit on the 6/8 is 6 dollars or yen or pounds or rubles or whatever currency is being used.

If you had just told the dealer to press it, that would have given you the 25 dollar increase in pressure you wanted but when you added "unit" to your instruction I can see where the dealer assumed you were speaking of one odds/pay unit?

So if you were betting $500 on the 5 and you said press 1 unit, the person would make it a $505 bet? That just sounds ridiculous. However if it is a new dealer I think it falls on both the player and dealer to come to an understanding of what is being done. If you catch it and say hey I want 1 unit which is $25 then they would know what you want the entire session.

I would expect to get paid $73 on a $50 five, so there's your first mistake, don't go to casinos where they don't let you buy the five!

Quote: DeMango

... don't go to casinos where they don't let you buy the five!

If the casino lets you buy the 5 and charges the vig on the buy, would you make it a buy bet or a place bet, DeMango?

Quote: Doc

If the casino lets you buy the 5 and charges the vig on the buy, would you make it a buy bet or a place bet, DeMango?

Doc,
DeMango is another one of our MS brethern who gets the benefit of the best craps game east of the Mississippi. So getting $73 on a $50 5 and 9 is exactly what you get paid. They don't even make you say Buy. They give it to you automatically. And they don't seem to be losing money down there. Too bad other casinos aren't paying attention.......

I've always seen it to mean "up one multiple of whatever the base bet is"... but craps has always been so prone to errors and misinterpretations, in my experience, that I watch my bets obsessively.

A unit is either 5, 25, 100, 500, 1000, etc. Depends on your initial bet. On the although hand, a unit is a bit ambiguous. In this case I'd say a unit is $25, but "press" and "press a unit" tend to mean different things.

For example, player has a $6 six. It hits. Player says "press 1 unit". That doesn't make sense because " press" means double the bet, but "press one unit" implies you aren't doubling. So....???

I believe a unit is the base bet of what ever you are betting....135 across, would mean a 25 unit, to me. Press it a unit meaning go to 50.
I have had issues like you mentioned, since then I always toss a number out, such as go to 50, go to 75, whatever the case may be. My presses depend on where I am in my personal progression, they get more aggressive as the bet goes up, so I try to always clue my dealer in to what I want. I'm a 6/8 place bettor, and it gets odd, so I help em out.
Keeps me from betting more or less than I wanted on a particular bet.

May I take this opportunity to urge you to drop the word "unit" from your dice jargon.

He was not a neophyte dealer but did not know what you meant. Was this a five dollar table? Then one unit is five dollars and has nothing to do with your style of betting.

What this really translates to is "Recall my personal unique betting strategy and press by one of MY units". He is tired, its the end of his shift, he is thinking about cigarette smoke and his date with the porcelain, he ain't thinking about every player's unique pattern.

Say what you mean. Press my BLANK-BET by so many DOLLARS. Ends the confusion completely. The dealer is not a mind reader and you should not be asking him to be a mind reader. A transcript of your statements should stand or fall based on what was SAID without regard to anything else.

You've been doing 25 dollar presses all night long? Then say PRESS by 25. "Or make my 5 action look like 50" or anything that if HEARD by someone passing behind you would be just as clear as if heard by someone whose been at the table for hours.

this was lost somewhere over the years but a unit used to be $5 (6) on a 5,10 or 15 dollar game and $25 (30) on a 25,50 or 100 dollar game.


also lost was on a 5,10 or 15 dollar game the min unit in the center was a buck......on a 25,50 dollar game the min in the center was $5.

with all the new casino's opening all over the place and people who had no idea what they were dong or talking about these things 'got lost'

Quote: FleaStiff

Was this a five dollar table? Then one unit is five dollars and has nothing to do with your style of betting.

Quote: ontariodealer

this was lost somewhere over the years but a unit used to be $5 (6) on a 5,10 or 15 dollar game and $25 (30) on a 25,50 or 100 dollar game.

I guess this suggests I should modify/clarify my earlier response. I have only extremely rarely played on a $25 table and never higher. On a $5 or $10 table, I often place the 6 or 8 for $12 after the point is set. On a $15 table, I place it for $18. If it hits, I generally say, "press it one unit" or "up one unit", and the dealers have always increased the place bet by $6, regardless of the table minimum. I make the same statement after each hit, and the bet increments by $6 each time. If it reaches $30 and hits again, I typically leave it the same but usually place/buy another number.

If a bet hits and I want to increase it by some other amount, I say "full pressure" or "take it to $xx". Since I am such a low roller and never start a place bet out at $25/$30, I have never been in precisely the situation that RaleighCraps described, so I don't know how the dealers would typically respond.

I agree that a unit is $5/$6. Also, the highest minimum I'll play is $15 tables.

Back when Joker's Wild still used 25¢ chips, I would often say "Up a quarter" meaning up a quarter unit ($1.25/$1.50). Then again, it was obvious what I meant because I didn't have $25 out there.

Quote: Doc

If it reaches $30 and hits again, I typically leave it the same but usually place/buy another number.

Really? When my 6/8 gets to $30, I bump it two units, to $42, and then leave it THERE for a few hits. It pays $49. There's something cool and sexy about dropping a white and picking up two greens. :)

Quote: DJTeddyBear

When my 6/8 gets to $30, I bump it two units, to $42, and then leave it THERE for a few hits. It pays $49. There's something cool and sexy about dropping a white and picking up two greens. :)

I don't bet "across" as RaleighCraps does. My place bet numbers are influenced by what the point number is. If I have pressed my $12 place 8 all the way to $30 and it hits, I become inconsistent. Sometimes I will just collect the $35 one time. Then next hit, I will keep it at $30 but either place the 6 for some amount or maybe buy the 10 for $25. Doing that last option and having it hit gives me a similar rush to your dropping a white and picking up two greens. I have had such a hit, pressed it to a buy $50 and had that hit. It takes a bit of a monster roll for my $12 place bet to grow to such levels, and I hate it even more when that nasty number eventually shows up. In such cases, as I watch them gather in my chips, I console myself that most of what I had on the table didn't come directly out of my rack.

Understood. Whatever work for ya is good. ;)

Luckily at £3 tables you get the full payouts, so sometimes I start with "15 across" or build it up from 6s and 8s.

Personally I prefer the "Press" or "Press by x" or "Press to x"; I've never heard of a "Unit". If I have £3 on the 6 or 8, "Press" invariably means double my bet and give me 50p. However on the other numbers it isn't so clear, so I might say "Press to 5" from a £3 bet which pays £5.70. A subsequent "Press" would imply £5 goes to £10.

If you wanted the dealer to press you to $50 on the five you should have simply said "press", meaning you wanted to double your bet. By saying "press one unit" you needlessly confused him. Generally when you tell a dealer to press one unit it means you wish to raise your bet by the size of the minimum of that place bet, ( at a $10 game, where the minimum place 6 is $12 and you wanted to press your $30 bet one unit it would go to $42). A "unit" refers to the various table minimums.

Quote: rudeboy99

... at a $10 game, where the minimum place 6 is $12 and you wanted to press your $30 bet one unit it would go to $42. A "unit" refers to the various table minimums.

That's not been my experience.

The unit is the smallest size that can correctly be paid off. Therefore, a $30 six up one unit goes to $36.

It's your fault for not looking, but a good dealer would have confirmed with you like "up to 30" so you didn't have to think about it. Unless it's too much of an inconvenience, I'd just tell them the new total bet you want in all situations, that's how I do it now.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

The unit is the smallest size that can correctly be paid off.

Would this notion also apply to "correct vig" being imposed? So that a Buy Bet unit would be 20 bucks/pounds/euros/pesos?

Quote: indignant99

Would this notion also apply to "correct vig" being imposed? So that a Buy Bet unit would be 20 bucks/pounds/euros/pesos?

No; a $5 4/10 that goes up one unit goes to $10, paying $19 as a buy bet. A $20 4/10 would be a buy bet with a $1 vig - a better value. DJ is right. "One unit" is the smallest full unit a bet can be raised. A $500 place-6 up a unit is $505, and oddball amount;

Safest way is for the player to say "Take it to $50" or "Make it look like $50," etc., specifying the desired bet size every time. I used to say "your 6 looks like $50" to prevent confusion.

Well I know it's a $6 press on a $5 min. game. You explained it more succinctly. Thanx.

Quote: RaleighCraps

<snip>I hit the 5. I say press a unit.

so you want to go from a $25 bet to a $50 bet

why not just say "press" an be done

i do not make place bets but have asked what "press" means to many (over 5) craps dealers (in Las Vegas because they know)
and they all tell the same story...

"press"
by itself
means to double the last amount bet
easy says Sally

so what you said and wanted were the same thing

you think because you bet $25 on the 5
is

"press" = "press a unit"

haha only

nice
try again
and listen and watch your bets (you place bettors) as the dealer books that new bet 4U

i see many times the cry-babies at the craps tables always have something to cry about (?)
i guess for them it is what it IS

not that you are a cry baby

but many love babies too
so
yahoo!
Mully

Quote: DJTeddyBear

That's not been my experience.

The unit is the smallest size that can correctly be paid off. Therefore, a $30 six up one unit goes to $36.

That is exactly my experience--whether the table minimum is $5, $10, $15, or $25 (I've only ever played at those levels and the $25 table was a happy accident...I actually won on it but it was out of my comfort zone), the "press one unit" request is always pressed as either $5 or $6. If I want it pressed more than that, I have to request it.

I avoid the press=double problem by saying "up one unit."

Quote: ahiromu

It's your fault for not looking, but a good dealer would have confirmed with you like "up to 30" so you didn't have to think about it. Unless it's too much of an inconvenience, I'd just tell them the new total bet you want in all situations, that's how I do it now.

Agree 100%. The only thing I tell my dealer if I have a place bet is either "same bet" or "go to $X".

You are responsible to watch your bets and your pays.

A unit can be the table minimum or the player's bet.

Were you betting $25 at a $5 table?

About a year or so ago I was the shooter with $130 across. Point was 8. I threw a six. My dealer was new. I said "up one unit." He added $6 to my bet and gave me the change. The dice were passed to me but I stood there looking around. The floorman asks "Alan are you okay?"

I answered "is this still Caesars Palace? Since when is going up one unit at a green chip table $6?"

The floorman laughed.

IMO, a unit is is one chip (2 for 6/8) -- $5, $25, or $100. For 6/8 it's $6, $30, or $120/$150. There are no $10, $15, or $20 units. No $50 or $75 units. No $200-400 units.


Alan, if you say "press 1 unit" when you have 1 unit out there ($30), then dealer is going to assume your unit is not $30, but $6.....why else would you say "press 1 unit"? Just say press. If you're at $60 and going to $90, then OK, say press 1 unit -- and if the dealer goes to $66, then that would be funny. But I think you're in the wrong when you start at $30, want to go to $60, but say "press 1 unit".

On a side-tangent regarding "press 1 unit" // annoying players:

RS I've been playing craps at Caesars Palace for 20+ years and only once was "one unit" at a $25 interpreted to be $6.