118 Gambling - Rules of Craps

Rules of Craps

Craps is a casino game played with two dice on a table with special layout. To begin with, there are first of all strict rules about the player’s handling of the dice – with one hand only when rolling them and they must hit the wall of the opposite side of the table.

The person rolling the dice is called a “shooter” and basically all the other players can bet on or against the total of the dice numbers that will come up as a result of his throw. All bets must be placed before the shooter rolls the dice.

There are many types of bets that can be made, let us start with the so-called "pass line” bets. These bets win automatically if the come-out roll (the first roll of the dice in a new game) is 7 or 11 (a “natural”) and they lose automatically if the come-out roll is 2, 3, or 12 (known as “craps”). The other numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10) become the so-called “point” if they come up now. If the shooter (who placed a pass line bet for instance) rolls a point, he must roll this point again before he rolls 7 to win and decide whether to start a new come-out roll. Otherwise the dice are offered to the next player standing at the shooter’s left for a new come-out roll. The payoff on pass line bets is 1:1.

Another type of bets are the “don’t pass line” bets, which are almost the opposite of pass line bets, they win if the come-out roll is 2 or 3 and lose if it is 7 or 11. If the come-out roll is 12, it is a “push” and the players with don’t pass line bets get their money back. Also, these bets win only if 7 comes up before the point, otherwise they lose. Their payoff is 1:1. It is important to remember for don’t pass line bets that they can be removed or reduced before the shooter throws his second roll.

“Come” bets – these are pass line bets placed after a come-out roll, that is after the point is established. The rest is the same as in pass line bets, the only difference is that the point is called a “come point” here.

“Don’t come” bets – the same as don’t pass line bets, but placed after the come-out roll.

“Odds” on pass line bets – placed after a point is rolled by taking odds on a pass line bet – the points 4 or 10 pay 2:1; 5 or 9 pay 3:2, and 6 or 8 pay 6:5. Obviously you win only if the point comes up before 7. These bets cannot be reduced or cancelled.

Odds on come bets – perhaps quite easy for you to figure out now, these are odds bets on a come bet.

“Place” bets – placed only after a point comes up. They win if the point you placed your bet on comes up before the dice total of 7. The payoffs here are: 9:5 for 4 or 10, 7:5 for 5 or 9, 7:6 for 6 or 8. You may cancel this bet anytime.

“Field” Bets – placed for one roll only, they win if 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12 come up, 5, 6, 7 and 8 make them lose. Their payoffs are 2:1 for 2 and 3:1 for 12, the rest pay 1:1.

“Big six”, “big eight” bets – placed anytime, they win if 6 or 8 come up before 7. Both pay 1:1.

“Proposition” bets – various one-roll bets that can be placed anytime.