How to Play Craps: Key Rules and Tips For Beginners
Craps is a rather exciting game, popular in casinos around the world. Yet, for beginners that want to play craps, it can be somewhat intimidating as well.
Your odds and luck depend on the shooter. You don’t actively participate in determining your fate. All you have to do is bet on what you think will happen when the shooter rolls the dice.
You can get a turn to be a shooter if you are interested. The dice are passed around the table, and players decide whether they want to shoot.
A typical Craps table looks something like this:
Basic Terms To Know
Shooter: The player who throws the dice.
Natural: When the shooter rolls a 7 or 11. When this happens, you win and get to throw the dice again.
Craps: When you roll a 2, 3, or 12. Here you lose, but you get to throw the dice again. The number you played is marked, and you roll again. If you roll the same number, you win. If not, you lose.
When you roll a 7 on your second roll, you lose, and the betting round ends. They call this a Seven out.
How to Play Craps
- First, you buy your chips.
- A round of craps starts with a come-out roll. This is the first roll of the dice in the game. As you play on, a come-out roll will also represent the first roll of the dice for every new round.
- The shooter takes two dice and throws them on the craps table.
- If the shooter rolls a natural, they win. If they roll craps, they get to go again. The dealer marks a point on the second roll if they do a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10. Here he places a button on the listed numbers on the craps table.
- The shooter continues to roll until they roll a 7, then the round ends. Players prepare for the next round and select a new shooter.
Pass Line and Don’t Pass Line
You make such a bet before the point is determined.
You can place your chips to bet on the PASS LINE or the Don’t Pass line. Betting on the pass line means you are betting that the shooter will win by rolling out a natural or by winning the point before a seven-out. If he does, you win. Otherwise, you lose.
If he wins, he keeps throwing the dice again and again as he continues to win.
When the shooter's first throw is a 7 or 11, whoever bet on the pass line wins. If it’s a 2 or 3 or 12, whoever bet the pass line loses. If the shooter rolls any other number, that number becomes the point.
Betting on the don’t pass line means the opposite of betting on the pass line. If the shooter rolls a 2 or 3, you win. If he rolls a 12, it’s a tie, and you all keep your money.
Come and Don’t Come Fields
You make such bets after the point has been determined.
A come bet wins if the shooter rolls a natural and loses if the shooter rolls craps.
If the shooter rolls a 4, 5, 6, 8,9, or 10, that number becomes the come-point. He then wins if he rolls that come-point before a seven-out.
If the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or sevens out, the “Don’t come” space wins.
Other Bets You Can Make
There are also one-row spaces that players can bet on.
Any craps
Players can bet on the ANY CRAPS space. Here, if the shooter gets a 2, 3, or 12 on the next roll, the players that bet on this space win.
Space bets
Once the point has been established, players can make space bets by betting on 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10. If any of these numbers shows up before the shooter sevens out, any players who bet on it wins.
Place Bets
You can bet on an individual number. If the shooter rolls it before a 7, you win. You get to change this bet as you please anytime within the shooter’s round.
Field Bet
Here, you bet on a range of numbers. For instance, if the shooter rolls 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12, you win. If they roll any other number, you lose.
Conclusively
Craps is a fun yet complex casino game because there are over 40 different bets you can make. Since the odds depend on the results of a dice roll, it’s nearly impossible to give proven strategies for beginners.
The best tip they could use is to learn how to work the dice alongside the rules and what is required to win.
Also, playing craps can get addictive since you would always assume the dice will favor you the next time. So be careful and bet responsibly. It is a game of chance, after all!
