Craps is a games that you will fall in love with once you understand how it works. It’s not so difficult to play a game, and there are some easy bets that you can place even if you are a novice.
Let’s start from the beginning.
All players in an online casino or live casino craps game, place a wager on the rolls of two dices. The player that throws a dice is known as a “shooter”, and within a land based casino, each and every player whose playing has the chance to shoot (roll).
After each round, the two dice are rotated anti-clockwise.
As a new round starts, the shooter chooses his or her dice to roll. The shooting player has to make a don’t pass the line or pass the line bet. All other players are able to make bets at this point too.
The shooting player starts the round with a roll of the dice; the dice must roll off the wall on the table at the opposite end. This first roll by the shooter is referred to as the “come-out roll”.
If the shooters first roll, (come out roll) is a seven or an eleven, the pass the line bets are winners, and don’t pass the line bets are losers. If this happens then this would immediately end the round.
If the come out roll is two, three or a twelve or “craps”, then the pass the line bet loses, and usually the don’t pass the line bet wins. However some casinos treat a twelve as a tie, which means your bets are returned to you, the player. This would also end the game.
If the come out roll is four, five, six, eight, nine or ten then that particular number would become the players point. When this happens, the dealer then places a puck over that particular number, whatever it may be.
The shooter carries on rolling their dice, until they roll a seven. This is known as “sevening out”. If the point number is shot out, then all pass the line bets win and don’t pass the line bets would lose. When the seven is rolled pass the line bets would lose, and don’t pass the line bets would win.
Pass the line bet – When you place a pass the line bet, your betting for a seven or eleven to be rolled on the come out roll. If the either of these are rolled, you’d double your cash.
If they roll a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or a 10 then this would be the point number. Once you bet pass the line, your ideal scenario is for that number to roll again (before a seven is rolled). If this number is hit before a seven, you double your money.
If the shooter rolls craps (2, 3 or 12) on the come out roll, your pass the line bet loses. If a seven is rolled prior to the value of the point, this would also be a losing pass the line.
Don’t pass the line – Don’t pass the line bets are essentially the complete opposites of pass the line. By betting on don’t pass the line, your bets are opposing the shooters. Your ideal scenario is for the shooter to crap out on the come out roll (2, 3 or 12).
If a point number is established on the come out roll, then your ideal is for the shooter to roll a seven before their point number.
Come bets: – A come bet is similar to a pass the line bet, however you can place a come bet during a shooters round. Or to be specific, they are placed after the point is established.
If a seven or eleven is rolled after a come bet, then the come bet wins. If they roll a two, three or a twelve after a come bet, the come bet would lose.
Don’t come bets: – A don’t come bet wins if a shooter rolls a two or a three after the point numbers established. However, a twelve would result in a tie, and you get your money back.
If a four, five, six, eight, nine or ten is rolled, then a seven must then be rolled before that number is repeated, otherwise the don’t come bet would lose.
Single roll bets: – A number of single roll bets can be played whenever you want during a round; these are all put on the images on a craps layout. They all look like various dice combinations.
An example of this would be a two rolled with both dice, or “snake eyes” as it’s usually known. Or “hi-lo” which is where a shooter must roll a two or a twelve, and lastly “any seven” where a shooter must roll a seven for the win.
Multi-roll bets: – Alongside the pass the line bets and come wagers, there are also some multi roll bets, one of these are buy and lay bets, which tends to be the most popular.
A buy bet is where you chose a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or a 10. If any of these come up before a seven is rolled by the shooter, than the casino will pay you true odds, which means your pay out = Stake x Odds of winning = pay out amount.
Prior to the casino paying out, five percent is deducted from these winnings.
A lay bet is basically the complete opposite of this; however there is a 5% fee on winnings from them too.
There is another variation of these, known as place win or place lose bets. These are similar to buy and lay bets, only they don’t pay out true odds if you win.
You can learn more of this game by reading all the articles in the Craps section.
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