Craps

Where can you find craps?

A little while back, it was only possible to find the game of craps in certain casinos. Although this is one of the least serious games found in casinos due to its jovial nature, the game still attracts quite an upmarket crowd. If you are in a casino and you hear clapping, cheering and groans, chances are it will be emanating from the craps tables.

Thanks to the rise in high end online gaming software, the game of craps is now available in the online version in a very realistic form. The only thing missing are the crowds of people standing around you – but if you feel like some solitude, online craps is definitely the way to go.

The game of dice

Dice are the most important tools in craps. The game is played with 2 dice and this is perfectly simulated in the online version. Special software has been developed with a random number generator to ensure that the play is fair and accurately reflects the odds of the dice roll. In craps, the numbers 2, 3, 7, 11 and 12 have a certain meaning and rolls of 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and ten are called the “place”. One person rolls both dice simultaneously and this player is called the shooter. If both dice land on the same number (2 + 2 = 4), this is called a hard roll. In this case, it is called a hard 4. If the dice combination does not match (1 + 3 = 4) then this is called a soft roll. In this case, it’s a soft 4. Rolls of 2, 3 or 12 are called craps.

The way the betting works

Now that you know the basics of the dice, you need to know how the betting works. A person must bet that a specific combination will or will not be rolled before 7 is rolled. It’s quite simple. The most basics bets are the “pass line” and the “don’t pass line”. When playing online craps, all you need to do is drag the chip into one of these lines. This betting feature pays even money for a win.

The shooter will makes the first roll. This is called the come out roll. If a 7 or 1 is rolled, the pass line bets win. If a 2 or 3 is rolled, the don’t pass line bets win. If the shooter rolls a 12, the pass line bets lose and the don’t pass line bets are pushed. This means that the bets get returned to the better. When a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 are rolled, the number that is rolled becomes the point and this number has a white puck placed over it marked “ON”.

Once the point has been established, pass line bets will only be paid out if the shooter gets the point again before rolling a 7. If a 7 is rolled before this, the don’t pass line bets will win. The shooter keeps at the dice until either the point of the number 7 is rolled. When the point or craps is hit, the round ends and the dice are handed to the next shooter.

That is the basics of craps. Of course, like all games, the more you play the more you will pick up the other less-played bets. It is recommended that if you are new to craps, you stick to the standard bets and as you become more comfortable you can try out the more intricate bets. These bets are heavily biased towards the house and although the returns are much higher, the chances of winning are obviously much lower.

More complicated craps bets

There are quite a few other bets in craps that you will pick up along the way. These are just a few of the more popular of the more complex bets.

Come/don’t come bets allow you to repeat the pass line & don’t pass line bets after the point has been set by the shooter. Individual come/don’t come bets have their own points set and these are called come points. Once this point has been set, you have the option to bet on the come/don’t come options. If 7 or 11 are rolled, the come bet will win. This follows the same sequence as pass/don’t pass bets where the come point wins on 2 or 3 and the don’t come bets are pushed on 12 while the come bet loses. If anything else is rolled, this will set a new come point and the bets that are down will be moved to the come bar with the corresponding number.

Big six and big 8 bets can be found at the lower left side of the craps table. This allows you to bet on the shooter hitting 6 or 8 before a 7 is rolled. These bets pay out even money.

The field bets can be found a little bit above the don’t pass line betting area. This is if you want to bet on 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12. If you win on 2 or 12, you win double. If 3, 4, 9, 10 or 11 are rolled, you are paid out even money. Hope that the dice do not land on 5, 6, 7 or 8 because then you lose your bet.

Proposition bets are located right in the middle of the craps table. These are single roll bets. An “any 7” bet is ff you bet that the next roll will be a 7. If you are successful, you win 4:1. The “any 11” bet pays out 15:1 because there is only one dice combination (5 & 6) that can achieve this. The “any crap” bet lets you bet on the dice landing on one of the crap numbers (2, 3 or 12) and you could be paid 7:1.

Practice makes perfect

Only some of the craps bets have been covered. This is enough information to give you a good feel for the game. However, it is important to now put this theory into practice. A good way to do this is to play free online craps. Many online casinos offer this feature and once you are more comfortable with the game, you can experiment a bit further and try out a few more intricate betting sequences. Good luck, and have fun.