How to Play Craps

If you’ve ever walked through a casino and heard the loud cheering going on near the tables, then there’s a very good chance that you are hearing this coming from the craps tables. This is one of the biggest and most popular casino games out there these days, and it’s one that features players playing together in attempts to get hot at the right time and win some serious money at the tables. Craps will without a doubt get the vote as being the most exciting casino game that you can take part in when playing in a casino, and you’ll find that this game moves incredibly fast as well. Checking out a craps table to learn the game can be a bit intimidating, but that’s why we are here today as we are going to take a look at an in-depth description on how to play the game of craps.

As tough as it may seem right off the bat, craps isn’t nearly as tough to figure out as you probably think. The game doesn’t take long to learn, and all you need to do is get the general idea behind the game and also how to make a passline bet right off the bat. You will find that when checking out a craps table that there are close to 40 betting options available, but most of them don’t have great odds, and are bets that you should typically be avoiding. We’ll start off by looking at the passline bet to get things rolling.

What is a Passline Bet?

A passline bet is pretty straight forward. All that you have to do is simply place your bet on the passline before the upcoming shooter begins his or her roll. When the shooter rolls, if they throw a 7 or an 11 then you will win your bet. If the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12, then you will lose your bet. From this point, any other number outside of those listed will become the point number. The shooter now must roll that same number again before rolling a seven. If they are able to do this then you will win even money on your bet, but if a seven is rolled before the point number comes out then you are going to lose.

So if you break this down into an example and say that the player throws the dice to get a total of 6, then that number is now the point. You will see the dealer move the marker onto the number 6 on the table, and in order for you to win your passline bet, the shooter is going to have to roll a 6 before they roll a 7. If the shooter rolls a six, then they will roll again, but if they roll a seven then the bet is lost and the dice will move on to the next shooter at the table.

Odds Bet in Craps

Another interesting spot is the option to make an odds bet. This bet will come AFTER the point has been established, and interestingly is the only bet that will not have a house edge for the casino, due to the fact that it is paid out with the actual odds that it features. You’ll find that casinos may handle the odds bets a bit differently, but that most of them will allow you to double your bet size on this bet, so if your passline bet ends up being $10, then you can make the odds bet $20. As far as the payouts for the odds bets go, you will get 2 to 1 on your bet if the point is set at the number 4 or 10, 3 to 2 if the point is set at 5 or 9, and 6 to 5 if the point is set at 6 or 8.

Playing Notes

You’ll find that at most casinos that you will only be able to place the pass line bet at the start of the play when there is no point established. This is also called the “come out bet” as well. Remember that the same shooter is going to continue to shoot until they “seven out”, which means that they roll a seven when they are attempting to roll a point instead. Shooters are allowed to opt out if they choose to though. As previously mentioned, you’ll find that the reason why you want to focus on the specific bets listed above is because of the odds that come along with the other betting options out there.

Additional Bets in Craps

You will notice that there are boxes that feature the numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 on one side of the table, which are the point numbers and will pay out odds of 9 to 5 (for 4), 7 to 5 (for 5), 7 to 6 (for 6), 7 to 6 (for 8), 7 to 5 (for 9), and 9 to 5 (for 10). There are also going to be boxes on the side and below the Field, which are the “Pass Line” and “Don’t Pass Bar” boxes. If you decide to bet on these boxes then you are placing a bet that the shooter is going to roll any of the numbers listed above, or roll a 7 or 11. If you bet on the “Come” or “Don’t Come Bar” boxes, then you are going to be betting that a point number either will or will not repeat after it is established, and this bet will pay even money. Last but not least is the “Field”, which includes numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, and 12, and you are then betting that one of these numbers is going to hit after the point number is decided.

Essentially what you are going to find in the game of craps is that you are going to want to stick with the standard bets of Pass Line and the Odds Bet. Each of these will give you a good chance to win some money, and still feature an incredible level of excitement as well!