Every casino game has traps — flashy bets with big payouts and brutal odds. These are the ones to avoid, ranked by house edge from worst to merely bad, with what to play instead.
| Bet | Game | House Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Any Seven | Craps | 16.67% |
| Tie | Baccarat | 14.36% |
| Horn | Craps | 12.50% |
| Hard 4 / Hard 10 | Craps | 11.11% |
| Any Craps / Yo | Craps | 11.11% |
| Big 6 / Big 8 | Craps | 9.09% |
| Insurance | Blackjack | ~7% |
| Any single bet | Roulette (American) | 5.26% |
| 6/5 "short pay" machine | Video Poker | ~5% |
| Pair Plus | Three Card Poker | 2.32% |
Craps Any Seven (16.67%) — the single worst bet on a craps table. A one-roll bet that a 7 shows; the payout doesn't come close to the real odds. See the full proposition bets breakdown.
Baccarat Tie (14.36%) — the 8:1 payout looks juicy, but ties are rare enough that this is one of the worst bets in the building. Bet Banker instead.
Craps hardways and Big 6/8 (9–11%) — fun long shots, terrible value. Placing the 6 or 8 (1.52%) beats Big 6/8 (9.09%) for the exact same win condition.
Blackjack insurance (~7%) — a side bet dressed up as protection. Basic strategy says never take it.
Short-pay video poker (up to ~5%) — the sneakiest trap, because the machine looks identical to a great one. A full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better returns 99.54%, but a 6/5 machine — same screen, same buttons, just a smaller full-house and flush payout — drops to about 95%. Always read the full-house/flush rows before you sit, and bet max coins so a royal pays the full 800-for-1.
Three Card Poker Pair Plus (2.32%) — not a disaster, but the side bet carries more than double the edge of playing the Ante-Play game well (~2% element of risk). Fun in small doses; don't make it your main bet.
Swap the traps for the lowest-edge bets in each game:
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Among table games, the craps Any Seven at 16.67%, followed by the baccarat Tie at 14.36%. Slots and Keno can be worse, but these are the biggest table-game traps.
They dangle flashy payouts, but the true odds of winning are far worse than the payout reflects. That gap is the house edge — 9% to 17% on these.
Low-edge bets: 9/6 video poker played perfectly at max coins (~0.46%), blackjack basic strategy (~0.5%), craps Pass Line with odds (under 1%), or baccarat Banker (1.06%).