Hardways: what “hard 8” means and what it really costs

Somebody at the table yells “hard eight!” and the dealer slides them $45. Here is what they bet, why it paid what it paid, and why the hardways are the one part of the center of the table you can play without feeling foolish.

Hard versus easy

Four totals can be rolled as a pair: 4 (2-2), 6 (3-3), 8 (4-4), and 10 (5-5). Rolling one of those totals as doubles is called rolling it the hard way. Rolling the same total with two different dice, like 3-5 for an 8, is the easy way.

A hardway bet is a wager that a specific number rolls as a pair before it rolls the easy way and before a 7. Bet the hard 8 and you're waiting for 4-4. If 4-4 shows, you win. If any 7 shows, you lose. If an easy 8 shows (2-6, 6-2, 3-5, or 5-3), you lose. Any other roll, a 5 or a 12 or a 3, changes nothing; your bet stays up and waits.

The four hardway boxes sit in the middle of the layout with the other proposition bets, handled by the stickman. Unlike most props, though, a hardway is not a one-roll bet. It can sit through dozens of rolls. That's the first reason it's cheaper than its neighbors.

Counting the ways for the 8

There are 36 dice combinations. The 8 comes up five ways: 2-6, 3-5, 4-4, 5-3, 6-2. Exactly one of those five is the pair. The other four are easy.

Ignore the 25 rolls that don't matter. When the bet finally resolves, there's 1 winning way against 10 losing ways. The true odds against a hard 8 are 10 to 1. The casino pays 9 to 1. That dollar it keeps is the edge.

Over 11 resolutions on average, you win once for $9 and lose ten times for $1 each. Down $1 on $11 bet: 9.09%. The hard 6 (3-3 against 2-4, 4-2, 1-5, 5-1 and the six sevens) is the same story with the same numbers.

The 4 and 10 are worse

The 4 has only three ways to roll: 1-3, 2-2, 3-1. One hard, two easy. So a hard 4 bet faces 2 easy ways plus 6 sevens, which is 8 losing ways against 1 winner. True odds are 8 to 1. The casino pays 7 to 1. Over 9 resolutions you win once for $7 and lose eight times for $8. Down $1 on $9: 11.11%. Same for the hard 10 (5-5 against 4-6 and 6-4).

Notice the pattern that runs through the whole game: the casino shaves exactly one unit off the true odds. On 10 to 1 that's a tenth of the payout. On 8 to 1 it's an eighth. Lower true odds, bigger bite. It's the same reason placing the 4 costs more than placing the 6, and the house edge list shows the same effect on every bet.

In dollars: $1 on the hard 8 pays $9. $5 pays $45. $1 on the hard 4 pays $7, and $5 pays $35. These are the cleanest payouts in the prop box, which is part of why beginners gravitate to them.

Off on the comeout

Hardway bets are off on the comeout by default. When the shooter is rolling for a new point, your hardways are asleep: a 7 doesn't take them and a hard 8 doesn't pay them. The moment a point is set, they wake up and work on every roll until a 7 or the easy way ends them.

You can ask for them “working” on the comeout, and some players do because they don't want to miss a hard number that happens to show on that roll. The trade is that the comeout is the most likely time for a 7 to hurt you, since the shooter needs the 7 to win the pass line. On PointPuck the hover tip on each hardway shows whether it's on or off, and the comeout rules article covers the decision in more detail. When a hardway bet is knocked off by a seven-out, it's gone with everything else, but a hardway that's still standing when the shooter makes the point simply goes off for the next comeout and keeps waiting.

“Gimme the hardways”

At a live table, tossing four $1 chips to the stickman and saying “hardways” or “gimme the hardways” puts $1 on each of the four: hard 4, hard 6, hard 8, hard 10. $4 total. You'll also hear “$5 hardways” for $5 on each, or “hard eight and hard six, two dollars each.”

PointPuck has a one-tap version: the “all the hardways” quick bet drops a unit on each of the four boxes at once, the same way the $32 across and $22 inside buttons spread place bets. It's the fastest way to see how the bets behave. Load the four, set a point, and watch: most rolls do nothing, an easy 6 or 8 quietly takes one of your dollars, and every so often doubles come up and $9 or $7 lands in your rail.

All four together face a combined pull from the 7, because one seven-out takes all of them. With $4 up, the 7 costs you $4 in one shot while each winner pays $7 or $9 individually. Over a long enough session the mix comes out to roughly 10% of everything you put on the boxes.

Hopping hard versus a standing hardway

There's a second way to bet on doubles, and it's easy to confuse with the first. A hop bet is a one-roll bet on an exact dice combination. Tell the stickman “hop the hard eight” or “four-four hopping” and you're betting that the very next roll is 4-4. Nothing else matters: if the next roll is anything but 4-4, the bet loses immediately.

Hopping a pair pays 30 to 1. That looks like a much bigger payout than the standing hardway's 9 to 1, and it is, but the chance is far smaller. One way out of 36 wins; 35 lose. True odds are 35 to 1, so 30 to 1 leaves an edge of $5 on $36, or 13.89%. Compare the standing hard 8 at 9.09%. Same dice, same pair, half again the cost, because a standing hardway only counts the rolls that decide it while a hop counts every roll.

If you want the pair, make the standing bet. Hop it only if you specifically want a one-roll thrill on the next throw and understand the price. The proposition bets article ranks hops against the rest of the center.

The least-bad prop

Every bet in the center of the table carries a house edge in the double digits or close to it. The any-seven is 16.67%. Aces and boxcars are 13.89%. The horn is 12.50%. Any craps, ace-deuce, and yo are 11.11%. Against that crowd, the hard 6 and hard 8 at 9.09% are the cheapest thing the stickman handles, and the hard 4 and 10 at 11.11% are merely average.

That doesn't make them good. A 9.09% edge is six times the pass line's 1.41% and roughly 25 times the pass line with 3-4-5x odds. $1 on the hard 8 costs you about 9 cents in expectation every time it resolves; a $1 bet on the pass line costs about a penny and a half. Nobody should fund a session with hardways, and the strategies article shows what a few dollars of props per hand does to a bankroll over time.

But if you're going to play something in the middle, and most people eventually do, the hard 6 and 8 are the least expensive way to buy the sweat. Keep them at $1, keep them off the comeout, let them ride while the shooter is hot, and treat a $9 hit as a bonus, not a plan.