CRAPS Rules

Craps, one of the oldest and most popular dice games ever, continues to be extremely popular in casinos all around the world. More recently, craps expanded even more with the introduction of online gambling. Most people have played craps at least once or twice in their lifetimes, and most people at least know what the game consists of, even if they have not yet played it. Playing craps is a fun, easy and exhilarating way to spend some time.

Discovering the game

The game is relatively simple. The player throws a pair of dice onto a long table to establish a Point. This initial throw is called the Come Out roll, and establishes the Point, which is the number that is aimed for the rest of the round. The intial throw is pretty open-ended and determines where the game will go from there. With the exception of snake eyes (1 and 1), cross eyes (3 total) and box cars (12 total) which are called Craps, and 7 and 11 which are called Natural, any rolled number will be called a Point. That “Point” becomes the target for the rest of the round, and the shooter will continue rolling in the hopes of landing on the Point again.

The game starts with the “Come Out” roll. If a Natural or Craps is rolled during this time, it ends the game. If a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 are rolled, then a Point is defined and the round continues. At this point, players move on to the mid-game part, in which the shooter continues to roll until the Point is rolled again, or until a total of 7 is reached. As you can probably tell, there is no set length for Craps games, so they can be very long or very short. When you're the shooter, you could lose instantly by rolling a Craps (deemed “crapping out”), or you could set a Point, and be up there for several rolls trying to match that Point. If you roll a Natural during the Come Out, you will re-roll to determine the Point.

If a 7 comes before the Point, the shooter "sevens out" and the next round will start, with the dices passed to another player. If the shooter hits the Point, he can keep rolling the dices for the next round. A shooter who hits a 2, 3 or 12 on the Come Out roll "craps out" and passes the dices to the next player. If a player hits a natural (7 or 11) during the Come Out he keeps the dice for another Come Out roll.

There are a high number of bets that can be made on each throw, some bets are conditional and some others are against a specific result. Some bets can stay on the table for the entire round, some others for a single throw only. This is a very interesting and exciting casino game, very fascinating to play.

The best way to start playing Craps is to bet a Pass Line during the Come Out roll. A natural during the Come Out will make a winning round, paying 1-to-1. When a Point is established, then the Pass Line bet will pay 1-to-1 if the Point is repeated before to reach a 7.

Considerations

Craps is unique in that there are tons of different ways to bet. Some bets are conditional, while others are against some specific results. There are bets that last only a single round, then there are bets that will be on the table for the entire game, until the better decides to remove the bet, or it's all lost. All these different elements make Craps a very intricate game, that some people have a hard time understanding. If you're just beginning the game of Craps, start out slow and try to learn as you go. There's not an overwhelming amount of information to learn, but there is a decent amount of rules and terminology that should be learned before you begin to play.