- Create your own unique greeting on a Craps card from Zazzle. Choose from thousands of customizable templates or create your own from scratch!
- Card Craps Introduction. According to the constitution of the state of California, dice alone may not determine the outcome in craps. So what the casinos usually do is use some combination of dice and playing cards, or playing cards alone, to simulate the roll of two dice. My craps appendix 6 goes into detail about how several different casinos do it.
Craps Payout Chart and Odds For Each Craps Bet. The craps payout chart below shows various payout statistics such as what kind of craps bets, true odds, payout odds and the total house edge after everything has been calculated through. Note that these payout odds in the chart listed below are not the same in every casino or on all craps tables.
How to Play Craps
Craps is one of the most exciting Casino games around as it is high in Player involvement. You will regularly hear yelling and shouting at one of the tables in a land-based casino. It is played on a purpose-built table using two dice.
Like most Casino games, you play against the House (Casino) as opposed to other players and as there are lots of different betting options you can bet on when guessing what numbers will come up when the dice are rolled, there is plenty of choices to make too.
In this article we discuss how to play craps giving you a break down of craps rules and everything you need to win at the game. This is part 1 of a two part article. After learning the basics of craps rules, the second part is about more advanced strategies and tips.
Craps Rules
Craps rules can be more difficult than in other casino games, but once learned this can be a very social and enjoyable game with some terrific betting odds.
The Objective of the game
Players need to guess the outcome of 2 standard, 6-sided dice being rolled and what the total of the 2 dice will be.
Dice Values
The game is played with a set of two perfectly balanced dice with each die having six white dots numbered 1 through 6. There is an equal chance of each number being rolled.
Possible Dice Combinations:
| Number | Combination | Ways To Roll |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1-1 | One |
| 3 | 1-2, 2-1 | Two |
| 4 | 1-3, 3-1, 2-2 | Three |
| 5 | 1-4, 4-1, 2-3, 3-2 | Four |
| 6 | 1-5, 5-1, 2-4, 4-2, 3-3 | Five |
| 7 | 1-6, 6-1, 2-5, 5-2, 3-4, 4-3 | Six |
| 8 | 2-6, 6-2, 3-5, 5-3, 4-4 | Five |
| 9 | 3-6, 6-3, 4-5, 5-4 | Four |
| 10 | 4-6, 6-4, 5-5 | Three |
| 11 | 5-6, 6-5 | Two |
| 12 | 6-6 | One |
Names of Dice Rolls
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
1 | Snake Eyes | Loose Deuce | Easy Four | Fever Five | Easy Six | Natural |
2 | Loose Deuce | Hard Four | Fever Five | Easy Six | Natural | Easy Eight |
3 | Easy Four | Fever Five | Hard Six | Natural | Easy Eight | Nina |
4 | Fever Five | Easy Six | Natural | Hard Eight | Nina | Easy Ten |
5 | Easy Six | Natural | Easy Eight | Nina | Hard Ten | Yo |
6 | Natural | Easy Eight | Nina | Easy Ten | Yo | Boxcars |
Game Session Preparations:
Set your budget – As a general rule, you need enough for 50 bets when playing table games.
Choose your table – All will have a minimum and maximum amount you can place on all different bets, choose one where each of your favourites is no more than one-fiftieth of your budget. i.e. if you have a bankroll of $/€/£200, you should be looking at betting no more than $/€/£4 per time
Find a space at the table – Unlike many Casino games, players always stand and do not have a specific area where they place bets – there are many different types of bets that all players can use. This is irrelevant when playing online.
Decide how much you would like to change up and play with – You will be given chips, the sizes of which depend on how much you change up and the limits of the tables.
Game Progression
To begin, the Shooter (one of the Players) needs to bet at least the table minimum on either the Pass Line or the Don’t Pass Line
The game is played in Rounds, with the right to roll the dice by each player moving clockwise around the table at the end of each round. A player may choose not to roll but can continue to bet.
Once all players have made their desired bets, the Round begins. Each round has two phases: Come Out and Point. To start a round, the shooter makes one or more Come Out rolls.
Payouts are sometimes made after each roll, and sometimes made after several rolls; see the individual Bet descriptions for details.
Craps Table Layout
We will delve more into the table layout features below in the Placing Bets section. On the Craps table there are two Dealers, a Stickman, and a Boxman.
The Stickman uses a long flexible stick to push the dice around the table, gathering the dice after rolls and pushing them to the player.
The Boxman is the person in charge of the game and has final decision-making authority.
The Dealers cash chips and ensure that bets are placed on the table correctly.
Placing Bets in Craps
Out of 990 decisions at the craps table, you can expect to lose 14 decisions more than you win.
As with any Casino game, there will invariably be swings, both large and small, either way when it comes to winning or losing. In the relatively short time you will be playing, there will be fluctuations in this house edge, so at times things will be going in your favor.
You can place bets at any time, the best time to start doing this is when a new Shooter starts. The first thing he needs to do is Establish a Point.
If a Shooter rolls a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 on his/her first roll, all other bets below can be made.
If a 2, 3 or 12 are rolled, all Players will win they are Come Out bets and the Shooter will continue rolling to establish a new Point.
If a 7 or 11 are rolled, all Players will lose their Come Out bets and a new Shooter will be designated.
Pass Line/Don’t Pass Line
When it is your turn to throw the dice, you must determine whether to bet the Pass line or the Don’t Pass line. Most Shooters, as well as most of the other players at the table, will bet the Pass line, as it is the basic bet in Craps.
The Pass line bet is an even-money bet that wins if you either roll a total of 7 or 11 on the Come-Out roll or if you throw a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 on the Come-Out roll and repeat that number before you roll a 7. The Pass line bet loses if the Come-Out roll is a 2, 3, or 12 (known as “craps”) or when a 7 is rolled before the established Point Number is repeated.
A Pass Line bet can be made at any time during a Shooter’s roll, even after he has established a Point. However, a bet placed on the Pass Line after a Point has been established is a very poor bet, since you have missed the opportunity to win on the Come-Out roll when the shooter throws a 7 or an 11. The only way you can now win is if the shooter repeats his point before he Sevens-Out.
Come Bets
A Come bet is identical to a Pass line bet, with one exception: A Come bet may be made on every throw of the dice once the Shooter has established a Point. A Come bet is made by placing the number of chips you wish to wager in the designated Come area of the table.
Once you place a Come bet, the very next roll of the dice becomes the Come-out roll for that bet. Therefore, if the Shooter rolls a 7, you will win even though Pass line betters will lose. If an 11 is rolled, you will win while the Line bets will not be affected. However, should one of the Craps numbers come up (2, 3 or 12) you will lose, but the Line bets will be unaffected.
If the Shooter throws one of the Box numbers on the first roll of the dice after you’ve made a Come bet, this number becomes an established Point for your Come bet. To win this bet, your Come point must be repeated before a 7 is rolled.
Once a Point has been established for your Come bet, the Dealer will move the chips you have bet to the corresponding numbered box on the layout to await a decision for that Point. When you win a Come bet, the Dealer will pay you off by placing your original bet, along with your winnings, in the Come section of the layout. If you do not immediately retrieve your chips, they will be in action on the next roll of the dice as a new Come bet (this is collected for you automatically when playing online).
The Don’t-Pass Line Bet
We know that a Pass line bet is simply a wager that the Shooter will win. But you also can bet that the shooter will fail to make a pass and thus lose.
The Don’t Pass line bet wins when the Shooter throws a Craps of 2 or 3, but not 12, on the Come-Out roll, or when he rolls a 7 before repeating his established Point number. This bet loses when the Come-Out roll is a 7 or 11, or when the Shooter repeats his Point number before rolling a 7.
The Don’t Pass line bet is the exact opposite of a pass line with one exception: Although a roll of 12 on the Come out loses for Pass line betters, it is not a winning number for Don’t Pass betters. It is a stand-off and neither wins nor loses. This is because if Don’t Pass betters were permitted to win in this situation, they would have an advantage over the house. So by barring (disallowing) the number 12 on the Come-Out roll, the casinos retain a small edge. Some casinos bar the number 2, but the effect is exactly the same.
Unlike a Pass line bet, a Don’t Pass bet can be removed after a Point number has been established on the Come-Out roll. Once a Point is established you have an advantage over the house, thus the casino has no objections to your taking down the bet. Of course, you should never do this. After going up against an 8 to 3 house edge on the Come-Out roll, you will have an overall average advantage of 18.8% after a Point has been established.
Laying the Odds
When the Shooter establishes a Point number on the Come-Out roll, players who have made Don’t Pass line bets are permitted to Lay the Odds. In the same way, Don’t Come bets are the exact opposite of Come bets (with the exception of a 12 is rolled on the Come bet), the Laying the Odds bet is the exact opposite of an Odds bet (which no exceptions).
Correct payoffs for Lay Odds bets are as follows:
Points 4 and 10 pay 1-to-2
Points 5 and 9 pay 2-to-3
Points 6 and 8 pay 5-to 6
How Does Card Craps Work
Don’t Come Bets
Don’t Come bets can be placed on every throw of the dice after a Point has been established. After you have placed a Don’t Come bet, the very next throw of the dice becomes the Come-Out roll for that bet. If the Shooter rolls a Craps number of 2 or 3, you will win while Don’t Pass line betters will not be affected. If a 7 is rolled, you will lose and bets on the Don’t Pass will win. You also will lose if an 11 is thrown, although this number will not have a bearing on Don’t Pass bets. A roll of 12 is a stand-off.
Place bets on 6 and 8
A Place bet can be made on any of the Point numbers (4,5,6,8,9,10) at any time during a game and is simply a bet that one of these numbers will be rolled before the Shooter throws a 7. You cannot Take the Odds on Place bets.
Place bets on the 6 and 8 are paid off at 7-to-6 on correct odds of 6-to-5, which gives the casino an advantage of 1.51% on these numbers. To ensure that you receive the full 7-to-6 payoff on the 6 and 8, you must make your bet in multiples of six, such as $6, $12, $18, and so forth (this isn’t the case when playing online)
Place bets on the 5 and 9 carry a house advantage of 4%, and Place bets on 4 and 10 carry a house advantage of 6.6%.
Field Bets
This is a bet on the next number to be rolled. There are seven numbers inside the field area that if rolled, will result in a win. The numbers are 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12. If you make a wager in the field and any of the above numbers show on the next roll you will win. In many Casinos and some online sites, you win double or even treble your bet if a 2 or a 12 are rolled.
Proposition Bets
These bets can be made at any time and, they are all one roll bets.
Craps Strategy Card
Any Craps: Wins if a 2, 3 or 12 is thrown. Payoff 7:1
Any Seven: Wins if a 7 is rolled. Payoff 4:1
Eleven: Wins if a 11 is thrown. Payoff 15:1
Ace Duece: Wins if a 3 is rolled. Payoff 15:1
Horn Bet
: it acts as the bets on 2, 3, 11 and 12 all at once. Wins if one of these numbers is rolled. The payoff is determined according to the number rolled. The other three bets are lost.
Hardways Bets
This is a bet on a specific double coming out on the next roll. For example, if a player is putting money on the hard 6 the player is betting that the shooter will roll a 3,3. You can only bet on 2:2, 3:3, 4:4 or 5:5, and you are betting on a specific double to appear and not covering all of them.
Best Craps Bets
The best craps bets are the following:
Taking the Odds
When the Shooter establishes a Point on the Come-Out roll, any player who has made a Pass line bet is allowed to “take the Odds.” A single Odds bet is an additional bet, up to the amount of your original bet, that the Point number will be repeated before a 7 is rolled.
*Important* The “Odds Bet” is the best one you can make in the game because the house has no built-in advantage.
The Odds bet not only hasn’t any house edge associated with it, but also has no official designated space on the table. Therefore, to take the Odds, you must place the appropriate amount of chips behind your Pass line bet in the open area of the Craps layout (this is also the same when playing online).
The correct payoff for Odds bets varies from Point number to Point number, depending on the odds of a 7 being rolled before a particular point is repeated. Correct odds payoffs are as follows:
Points 4 and 10 pay 2-to-1
Points 5 and 9 pay 3-to-2
Points 6 and 8 pay 6-to-5
Craps Payouts
| Bet | True Odds | Payout | House Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass Line/Come Bet | 251 to 244 | 1 to 1 | 1.414 |
| Don’t Pass/Don’t Come Bet | 976 to 949 | 1 to 1 | 1.402 |
| Pass Line Odds/Come Bet Odds/Buy Bets (5% commission) | |||
| Numbers 4 or 10 | 2 to 1 | 2 to 1 | 4.76 |
| Numbers 5 or 9 | 3 to 2 | 3 to 2 | 4.76 |
| Numbers 6 or 8 | 6 to 5 | 6 to 5 | 4.76 |
| Don’t Pass Odds/Don’t Come Bet Odds/Lay Bets (5% commission) | |||
| Numbers 4 or 10 | 1 to 2 | 1 to 2 | 2.44 |
| Numbers 5 or 9 | 2 to 3 | 2 to 3 | 3.23 |
| Numbers 6 or 8 | 5 to 6 | 5 to 6 | 4.0 |
| Field Bets | |||
| 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 | 18 to 7 | 1 to 1 | 5.5 |
| 2, 12 | 18 to 1 | 2 to 1 | 5.5 |
| Place Bets | |||
| Numbers 4 or 10 | 2 to 1 | 9 to 5 | 6.7 |
| Numbers 5 or 9 | 3 to 2 | 7 to 5 | 4.0 |
| Numbers 6 or 8 | 6 to 5 | 7 to 6 | 1.52 |
| Hardways | |||
| 6 or 8 | 10 to 1 | 9 to 1 | 9.09 |
| 4 or 10 | 8 to 1 | 7 to 1 | 11.1 |
| One Roll Bets | |||
| Any 7 | 5 to 1 | 4 to 1 | 16.9 |
| Any craps | 8 to 1 | 7 to 1 | 11.1 |
| 2 craps or 12 craps | 35 to 1 | 30 to 1 | 13.9 |
| 3 craps or 11 | 17 to 1 | 15 to 1 | 11.1 |
| Horn Bet (3 or 11) | 9 to 1 | 3.75 to 1 | |
| Horn Bet (2 or 12) | 18 to 1 | 7.5 to 1 | |
| Big 6 or 8 | 3.6 to 1 | 1 to 1 | 9.09 |
You can find a bet summary here.
Continue to Part II – Advanced Craps Strategy & Tips
Related Articles:
Play Craps for Real Money
US Players and Credit Card, BitCoin Deposits Accepted!
6 To 1 Craps Strategy
Learning the basic craps strategy can have great benefits in your betting game. Some of them minimize the house edge to almost nothing. There are no casino games other that craps that can offer better odds except for blackjack with card counting strategy. There really isn't any way to improve your edge over the house edge, but you can make it nearly zero. The dice control concept is theoretically a way to actually cheat at craps, but it's extremely hard to do and it's advanced. Dice control strategy will be discussed in another craps article.
Tips and Strategies
When beginning a game of craps, it's essential to know the game and all the basic rules first so that you understand the bets. When playing at the local casino, you'll usually find everyone using unfamiliar terminology as well. So the best things to do are read about the game and learn a little bit about different bets that can be played and the table layout. A great way to practice this game is to play at an online casino with less distractions first. This way you can learn the game before you end up losing your money to bad betting strategies.
Best Craps Bets
I should tell you right away that the best craps bet is the 'don't pass' bet with the free odds bet. This combination can ultimately lower the house edge to 0.01%, which is ridiculously low at a casino. You can use this strategy and make a ton of money, or at least keep playing for a very long time without losing your bankroll. Because of this fact, this is why craps is such a wild and spectacular experience.
Another good craps bet is the pass line bet. This bet is the second best bet on the craps table and the house has a slightly greater edge. People like to bet for the shooter, usually due to peer pressure in a casino and will take this bet rather than the 'don't pass' bet, which is actually a better wager. This is where online casinos have a huge advantage over land based casinos because there is no peer pressure or anyone pressuring you to make a slightly worse bet.
These two bets are the best ones to take before the come out roll. After a point number has been made, then these two bets go into a second phase and the strategy gets a little more interesting. During the second phase of these bets, you can make an odds bet. You are essentially betting that a point number will be rolled before a seven, and we all know that the seven is the most probable roll out of any other number.
Once the point has been determined after the come out roll, you can make your free odds bet. Usually this is a multiple of your original bet such as 2x, 3x and even as high up as 100x at Las Vegas craps. This multiple is usually limited, but the craps strategy says that the higher multiple that you choose, the lower the house edge gets overall. Free odds always pay true odds and the house has no edge. Your total odds is an average of this free odds bet and the pass line or don't pass bet, so your absolute odds are not exactly zero, but almost.
Worst Craps Bets
Card Craps In California
There are also some bad bets out there as well. These are sometimes known as proposition bets and these have a huge house edge. Normally the people who fall for these bad bets are uneducated about the craps strategy or they don't really know the mathematics behind the bets. Other players may not even know about the free odds bet to begin with because the bet itself isn't displayed on the craps table! This is why the odds bets are sometimes known as the secret craps bets because many people easily pass them up, even if they are intelligent and understand the game.
Some of these bad proposition bets are the big six bet or the big eight bet. You win when a 6 or 8 is rolled and you are paid even money. This is a very bad bet because as you can see from our odds and probabilities page, this is less likely to be rolled than a 7. When you get down to it, the house has a 9.1% edge, which is a huge disadvantage for you because the casino makes lots of money from this bet and you lose lots of money. This is bad craps strategy.
Card Craps
These aren't even the worst craps bets. There are far worse ones than that. Hard 4 and hard 10 are both bets that have a house edge of more than 11%. If you want a good craps tip, stay away from these. The casino is robbing you here!
Even worse are the proposition bets. These are displayed on the craps tables as images of dice in a smaller box in the middle. Also, these kinds of bets only last for one roll at a time unlike most of the bets that stay until the end of the round when a seven is rolled. This means if you are betting on snake eyes or box cards (2 or 12), you have a 1 in 36 chance that they will be rolled, but the dealer pays you 30 to 1 odds, which is a terrible craps bet. The house edge is almost 15% and is one of the worst in the casino. This is just proof that if you don't know the craps strategy or don't follow the tips, you could end up losing a lot of money really quick.
Advice on Craps Bets
My advice is to just stick with the good bets mentioned above and don't play the bad ones unless you have money to burn, just want to entertain the people at the table, or just have a gut instinct that a lucky roll is about to come out. For another tip, don't get intimidated by how complicated the craps table is. The casino only wants people to lose concentration and make bad bets this way, but the basic betting concept is actually quite simple if you stick to just the few good bets.