Craps
Craps is the most exciting game in the casino. Sadly, the majority of craps players give the casinos huge edges by their awful betting choices. That doesn’t have to be, because at its purest, craps is a very simple game with a very small house edge on its better bets.
Craps: The Basics
The Dice A die has six sides, with 36 possible combinations of two dice: 6 x 6 = 36 combinations. Each side (or face) of a die will have pips: 1 pip, 2 pips, 3 pips, 4 pips, 5 pips and 6 pips. The lowest number that can be rolled is a 2 (1 pip + 1 pip); the highest number is a 12 (6 pips + 6 pips). If you look at a set of casino dice, you will find that the front and backsides of each add up to 7.
The Personnel Craps tables usually have three dealers and a box person. One dealer, the stickman, stands on the players’ side of the table. He has a long stick and moves the dice to the shooter or brings the dice to the middle of the table between rolls; he also announces the payoffs of the winning bets in the center of the table. Two dealers stand on the opposite side of the table from the stickman; one on the left side of the table; one on the right side. The dealers pay off winning bets and take the losing bets. At the center of the table across from the stickman is the box person who supervises the game.
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The Table There are different types of craps tables with some minor changes in their layouts and sometimes in the payoffs of their bets.
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The left and right sides of the layout offer the same bets. You have the Pass Line (a good bet), which goes in front of all players; above that bet is the Don’t Pass (a good bet). Note the word bar the 12; that means the 12 is a push or tie if it appears for those players betting the Don’t Pass. These players are betting against the shooter, even if they are the shooter! Above the Don’t Pass line is the Field (a bad bet), which combines the numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Above that is the Come bet, which is a good bet. At the top are the Point Numbers, also called Box Numbers—4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10. In the upper corners of the layout are the Don’t Come boxes.
The Pass Line is also called rightside. “Don’t” players or wrongside player s are bet ting against the shooter. The shooter now rolls the dice to the back wall composed of foam rubber pyramids. These Frank Scoblete pyramids are used to make the game random, which it is except for Golden Touch’s controlled shooters. This roll is called the Come-Out roll. If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11, the Pass Line bet wins; if he rolls a 2, 3 or 12, the Pass Line bet loses. He has eight ways to win his ComeOut roll; he has four ways to lose. So on this Come-Out roll the rightside players have a two-to-one edge over the casino. This edge reverses itself when the Come-Out is over and the Point Cycle begins. On the Come-Out roll, the Don’t players will lose on the 7 and 11 giving them eight ways to lose; but will win on the 2 and 3, giving them three ways to win; while pushing (tying) on the 12. There are 24 point or box number combinations that can be rolled—the 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10—and if one of these numbers is rolled it becomes the shooter’s Point. The dealer then puts a puck on that number; white side facing up with the “on” word showing. When the Come-Out roll is taking place, the puck will be over on the side of the table on its black/off side. The shooter has to roll the Point number before he rolls a 7 in order to win. If the 7 appears before the Point, all players who bet the Pass Line lose. The dice are passed to the next shooter. When that 7 appears ending a roll, it is called sevening-out.
At the center of the table sit the very worst ploppy bets known as Crazy Crapper or Proposition Bets. Ignore them.
Craps Crash Course 1. The Come-Out roll: the 7-11 wins for the Pass Line player 2. The 2-3-12 loses for the Pass Line player 3. The Don’t player loses on 7-11 4. The Don’t player wins on 2 and 3 but pushes on 12 5. The Point is established, which is one of these numbers: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 6. The Point must be hit again before the 7 to win for the Pass Line bettor and lose for the Don’t Pass bettor 7. If the 7 comes up before the Point, the Pass Line loses, and the Don’t Pass wins, and the dice are passed to the next shooter
How Craps Is Played The game begins with the stickman pushing several dice to the player, who chooses two. The remaining dice will be put into a bowl on the stickman’s side of the table. The shooter must have a bet on the Pass Line or Don’t Pass line.
The house edge on the Pass Line is 1.41 percent. That means for every $10 on the Pass Line, the expectation is a loss of 14 cents. The house wins 251 decisions; the player wins 244 decisions on the Pass Line. The Don’t Pass has a slightly lower house edge of 1.36. Now you know the game of craps!
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