How To Play Craps Table
Craps is easily the most intimidating game inthe casino. The layout looks like some kind of crazy puzzle and thereare seemingly dozens of different bets, governed by complicated rules. So we’lldo our best in this lesson to make this crash course as painless as possible. Stick With the Pass, Come, and Free Odds Bets. The pass line bet is the basic bet when playing. What have we learned is the first thing to do when playing a casino table game? With Craps, the only Player who must place a bet prior to the first roll of the game is the Shooter (or person who wants to roll the dice). To become eligible to become a Shooter, place a. Get Familiar with Playing Craps for Free. Now that you’ve read our breakdown of craps odds and payouts, it’s time to play the game using your newfound knowledge. If you are not ready to deposit and play for real, you can play craps for free while you learn the ropes. That way you can get a true feel for all the different type of bets.
Craps is one of the best games for the player in an online or live casino. It has the lowest house edge of any table game beside blackjack. Learning how to win at craps will put more money in your pocket when you play at an online casino for real money. We have put together seven winning strategies that are regularly used by online craps players.
Craps 101
Craps is easily the most intimidating game inthe casino. The layout looks like some kind of crazy puzzle and thereare seemingly dozens of different bets, governed by complicated rules. So we’lldo our best in this lesson to make this crash course as painless as possible.
The trick to making it easy
The trick to making craps easy is simple: Learn only what you need to know,and ignore everything else. You can play craps by knowing just one bet, the PassLine bet, so that’s what we’ll teach you here. You can certainly learn all the otherbets if you want (see our list of bets article), but fornow the Pass Line is all you need to know.
Buying Chips
The first thing you’ll need is chips. Just put your cash down on the table andthe dealer will give you chips for it. They don’t make change, so any money youput down will be turned into chips. But you don’t have to bet all of it. When you’redone playing just take any chips you have left to the cashier booth to turn themback into cash. The minimum bet for the table will be listed on a sign at the table,usually $5 or less.
Shooting the Dice
The players all take turns rolling the dice although everyone’s betting on the sameroll. You’ll win or lose your bets whether you’re the one rolling or not. And youdon’t have to roll the dice if you’d rather not; when it’s your turn you can justpass to someone else. Whoever’s rolling, they keep rolling until they roll a losing7, known as “sevening-out”. We’ll go over that later.
Only the Totals matter
All numbers below refer to the total of both dice. When we talk about rollinga 3, we’re never talking about getting a 3 on one of the dice, we’re alwaystalking about getting a total of three on both dice. Make sure you’re clearon that or it will get confusing….
The main bet: The Pass Line
This is the main bet in craps, and most players make it. (They also make a lot ofbad bets in addition to this one, but there’s no rule that says you have to beton anything else.) The Pass Line bet has a house edge (casino profit) of only 1.41%,making it one of the better bets in the casino.
To make the Pass Line bet, first wait until the dealer turns the big hockey puckto “OFF”, which means that a new round is about to start. Once the puck goes toOFF, put your chip(s) on the area marked Pass Line. (See the “A” on the pictureabove.) The shooter then picks up the dice to roll them. The first roll of a roundis called the Come Out roll, and here’s what happens depending on what (s)herolls:
7 or 11You win. The shooter then rolls another Come Out roll. 2, 3, or 12You lose. The shooter then rolls another Come Out roll. 4,5,6,8,9,10Enter the Point round. (more on this below) So you’re either going to win,lose, or go to the Point round. If you win the dealer will pay you the amount ofyour bet. (If you’d bet a $5 chip, they’ll give you another $5 chip.) If you losethen they’ll take your chip away.If you didn’t win or lose right away then you go to the Point round, and the dealerturns the hockey puck to ON and places it on the number that was rolled (4,5,6,8,9,or 10). That number is called the Point. Now you’ll win if the shooter rolls thePoint again, and you’ll lose if (s)he rolls a 7 first. Rolling a 7 before rollingthe point again is called sevening out.
So to summarize:
- Win by rolling a 7 or 11 on the Come Out roll, or rolling the point twice.
- Loseby rolling a 2, 3, or 12 on the Come Out roll, or rolling a 7 before rolling thepoint twice.
The Pass Line bet is the only bet you have to know for craps. You could go playcraps now with what you’ve already learned. And in fact, by just making the PassLine bet you’ll have a better chance of winning than most craps players, since mostplayers make sucker bets which are just throwing money away.
But even though you know enough to play craps now, you really should learn justone more bet, which will increase your chances of winning even more. We cover thaton our separate page about the Free Odds bet….
Table Of Contents
- Craps rolls are one of the most interesting events that happen on the Casino floor.
- This Craps strategy guide for beginners helps you understand the ins and outs of the pass or come bet.
- Read it before your round begins to understand your chances to win playing online Craps.
Craps is one of the most exciting gambling games since the Middle Age. If you don’t know how to play Craps and you haven’t played online yet, now it's your chance.
What you see here is the only craps for dummies guide you'll ever need to learn the game.
This is an all-in-one Craps for beginners resource where you find the best Craps strategies, the best Craps Casinos to play online, and all the proposition bets you should avoid.
Also, I added the basics of Craps etiquette because placing one or two winning bets doesn't authorize you to do everything you want or behave like Will Ferrel, Amy Poehler, and Jason Mantzoukas in The House.
Although it's one of the most popular and played games at land-based casinos, the game of craps not one of the top favorites of online players.
Some believe craps is a complicated game with rules and bets that do not fit the speed of online gambling. They get confused by concepts like odds bets, betting on the pass line, comeout roll, snake eyes, and lay odds- and that’s why they often skip this table game.
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Play NowHow To Play Craps Table For Beginners
How to Play Craps for Dummies
How to Play Craps for Beginners?
Beginners are often so intimidated by the numbers, the terms, and all the different bets available in a game of craps. Also, complicated tables like the ones you find on Wizard of Odds might push you away from the craps tables and not play the game.
Playing craps is easy. You don’t need anything more than a guide for Dummies like this one to move from beginner to expert.
If you don’t know how to play craps, make sure you read the part that follows carefully enough to pay attention to all the different elements that compose a game of craps.
When you are done with my Craps for Dummies guide, you are ready to play the game.
Once you pass the learning part, the game is simple. So, let’s not beat around the bush and get to the good part – craps rules for dummies, that is.
Learning Craps Rules for Dummies in 3 Minutes or Less
Why three minutes? Because there are three main rules to learn to know how to play craps. This is a guide for dummies - meaning we like to keep things short and simple.
That’s why three minutes is more than enough to learn how to play craps.
Craps betting round starts with a come-out roll.
That’s the first term beginners need to learn and add to their vocabulary.
The come-out roll is the first roll of the dice or the first one after the previous betting round has finished.
The player who throws the dice is called the 'shooter'.
A game of craps plays as follows: you, 'shooter', take two dice and throw them on the craps table - or press 'roll' button if we are talking about online craps.
Once the number rolled is on your screen, there are three possible outcomes:
1. Natural
Here’s when things get really good. A 'Natural' means that the result of your roll is a 7 or an 11. When this happens, you win and get to roll the dice again.
2. Craps
You roll a 2 (also known as the Snake Eyes), 3, or 12. Here’s when you lose.
BUT the round is not over, and you get to roll again.
3. Point
You roll a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10.
In a live casino, a dealer would mark your Point (the rolled number) on the table.
In online craps games, there is a small button that appears once the Point is established. It’s white and says 'On'.
What you need to do now is to roll the dice once more and hope you’ll hit the same number again. It doesn’t have to be the same combination of dice as you had before. As long as it’s the same sum – you win.
Do you know why the sequence above misses a seven?
The number 7 is not a very lucky one in this case since if you roll a 7, you 'seven out' – you lose and end the betting round.
Once you learn this part by heart, you can move on to the betting options.
That’s the fun part. Because that’s the one that can make you win a lot.
Playing Craps for Dummies: Betting Rules
If you take a look at the craps table, both online and offline, you can see that it’s not only dice and numbers.
Now that you know how to shoot craps and how to evaluate the result of your roll let’s have a look at how to bet in a game of craps.
Remember: this is a craps guide for dummies, so I am going to analyze everything looking at a game of craps as a beginner would do.
The layout has a handful of areas for different betting options.
Pass or Don’t Pass Bets
First, you can bet either on the 'Pass Line' or the 'Don't Pass Line'.
The Pass Line bet means you bet that the shooter will pass (win) by rolling out a natural or by winning the point before seven-ing out.
The Don’t Pass Line corresponds to the opposite bet. In this case, you bet that the shooter will not pass (lose). It can happen if the player shoots to get a 2 or 3, or fails to roll the point again before a 7 shows up its ugly head.
And then there is a 12. If it’s rolled now, your bet is a Push – meaning nothing happens. You don’t win, but you don’t lose either.
You can make these bets only before the point has been established on the table. Once the point has been rolled out and the shooter needs to roll the sum again, you can make a come or don’t come bet.
How To Play Las Vegas Craps Table
Come or Don’t Come Bets
These bets can only be made after the point has been determined.
The Come Bet wins if a natural is rolled out and loses if the craps are.
If the point is rolled out, it becomes the Come-Bet point.
It works just like the Pass line one: if the come-bet point rolls out again before 7 does, you win. If not, it’s not your lucky round, pal.
Don’t come bet is just like the Don’t pass one. You’re in luck if the shooter rolls a 2 or 3, not so much if it's a 7 or 11. A 12 here is a push again.
Once the point is made, you should hope for 7 before the shooter rolls out the point again.
Neither Pass nor Come bets can be turned off. You bet and wait until it plays itself out. But you can make additional bets on the come-bet point, too. And those you can withhold or increase at any time.
Proposition Bets in Craps
These are one-roll bets (with one exception, as you can see in the table below) that you can place on any roll.
| Bet | Wins if |
|---|---|
| Any Seven | The shooter rolls a 7 |
| Any Craps | The shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12 |
| Ace Deuce | The shooter rolls a 3 |
| Aces | The shooter rolls a 2 |
| Boxcars | The shooter rolls a 12 |
| Horn | The shooter rolls a 2, 3, 11, or 12 |
The exception I mentioned earlier is called Hard ways. In this case, you win if you roll a 4, 6, 8, or 10 (depends on which one you bet) with the pair of same numbers (2 and 2, 3 and 3, and so on) before any other combination that makes that sum or a 7
Other Possible Bets in a Game of Craps
Place Bets:Once you know the point, you can bet on any number on the table. You win if it’s rolled out before a 7, you lose if it isn’t.
Field Bets: This type of bet is only active for one dice roll. You win if a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12 is rolled. A 5, 6, 7, or 8 makes you lose.
Big 6 and Big 8 bets: If you want to bet that 6 or 8 will be rolled before 7, These are the two bets for you.
These bets only pay 1:1.
Practice Craps Online: Where Beginners Should Play Craps
The best way to learn craps online is to practice craps online.
Now that you know about the different bets and outcomes of a roll, you should be ready to move from asking how to shoot craps to playing craps online.
And if you don’t want to risk your cash on real money games until you are 100 per cent sure that you know how to win at craps - that’s not a problem.
The best online craps sites for beginners five you the chance to play and practice craps online for free for as long as you need.
You can also use the Casino bonuses you receive on most sites when you sign up but, given the house edge of this game, you should start for free.
The best site to play craps online for free and get a hang of the game is this one.
I suggest you open a free account on this page to find the best Craps tables online and play the game. That’s the best way to learn craps if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar casino next door to go to.
That’s what I did when I first played Craps.
It all will look a lot easier once you practice craps online.
And once you feel that online, free practice has made it perfect, you can move to real money craps games.
The game of craps has really good odds with the house edge of only 1,41%.
That beats roulette and even blackjack when it's played with the basic strategy. There’re many betting rules to remember at first but they come naturally later on. And they actually make the game even more exciting.
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