Understanding The Craps Table
If you walk through any major casino, you will undoubtedly find one specific table that is significantly louder and crazier than the rest. The crowd is going wild while a single player throws two red dice across a massive table. This loud, complex game is known as Craps. To a complete beginner, the craps table looks like an impossible mathematical nightmare. The felt is covered in weird text, complex jargon being yelled by the dealers. But this is a huge misconception. While it looks complex, craps is fundamentally one of the easiest, and best games in the entire casino. If you just learn the basics, you can join the fun.
The Core Mechanic: How the Game Starts
The absolute best way for a beginner to learn how to play craps is to ignore all the crazy bets in the middle. All those fancy boxes and strange words are mathematically terrible "sucker bets" designed specifically to drain your bankroll. You only care about one line that borders the felt: the famous Pass Line. Placing a chip on the Pass Line is the fundamental core of the entire game. At the start of a round, the player throwing rolls the dice for the first time. With your money on the Pass Line, you win instantly if the Come-Out roll is a 7 or an 11. You lose immediately on a 2, 3, or 12. It is truly that simple: Win on 7/11, lose on craps.
Establishing the Point: Chasing the Point
But what about the other numbers? If the dice land on a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, that number is now the Point. The pit boss takes a marker and places it onto the corresponding box. The rules of the game now completely change. To win your Pass Line bet, the shooter keeps throwing until they hit that exact "Point" number a second time. If they hit the Point, everybody with a Pass Line bet wins. However, there is a catch: if the shooter rolls a 7 prior to the Point, the round ends. All Pass Line bets are swept away, the round completely ends, and a new shooter takes the dice. The entire game of craps is just players cheering praying the shooter hits their Point before rolling a deadly 7.
The Best Bet in the Casino: When the puck is ON, you can back up your bet. This is the Odds bet and it is a mathematical anomaly that pays true mathematical odds. The house has no advantage here.
The Villain Bet: You can play the 'Don't Pass' line. This is betting on the 7, or when the shooter sevens out. It is mathematically slightly better, but the other players will hate you because you are betting with the house.
Ignore the Proposition Bets: The 'Hardways' and 'Any Seven' bets (like 'Any Craps', 'Hard 8', or 'Snake Eyes') have astronomical house edges with huge casino advantages. Never, ever place a chip in the center of the craps table.
Simplifying the Math: A Quick Summary
For a quick reference before you play, to make things easy, memorize this table. It explains the basic rules of the Pass Line bet: how to play the Pass Line.
ActionThe NumbersThe Result
Come-Out RollA NaturalYou instantly WIN even money. The round resets.
The StartShooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12 (Crapping Out).You lose
Establishing the PointShooter rolls a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10.The number becomes the Point. The game moves to the next phase.
The Ongoing GamePoint is hitYou WIN your Pass Line bet (and any Odds bets). Round resets.
Trying to Hit the PointShooter rolls a 7 BEFORE hitting the Point number.Table groans, you lose
To wrap it up, craps is actually incredibly simple. The operators create the board to confuse beginners so that amateur players will make bad bets. By simply walking up, placing your chips exclusively on the Pass Line, avoiding the middle of the table, and completely ignoring the screaming center of the board, you are playing the best games in the entire casino industry. Join the fun, and enjoy the absolute most thrilling, high-energy time in the world.