The Rules of Craps

How, you may ask, does one bet when playing craps? The following rules will teach you how to play and bet effectively when playing the game of craps.

The Odds: The odds of rolling a five and a nine are 3 to 2. The odds of rolling a four and ten are 2 to 1. The odds of rolling a six or eight are 6 to 5. These are the odds that apply when a player is rolling to make a point. In the event that the point is not made but the player has been is betting against it, the odds are identical.

Any Craps Bet: To roll this the player needs to roll a twelve, three or two. The house’s odds for this bet is 11.11%

The Field Bet: For this bet to succeed, the player must roll a twelve or two. The odds held by the house for this bet are 5.55%

Horn Bet: Although this bet is thought to be highly unfavorable for the player, it does give the player the opportunity to bet on all four numbers simultaneously  (the numbers twelve, eleven, three and two) and at the same time, each number individually. The house odds for this bet are 16.66%

Pass Line Bet: One of the best bets that a player can make is the pass line bet. It pays even money but the house odds are small at 1.402%

Don’t Pass Line Bet: In this case the payout is also one of even money and the house odds are 1.414%

Come Bets and Don’t Come Bets: The house odds covering these bets are identical with those for Pass Line bets and Don’t Pass Line bets (1.402% and 1.414%). Here again the payout is for even money.

Hard Ways Bets: To be successful in this bet a player must roll a four, six, eight or ten. In this case the house odds are 9.09% on the six and eight. On the four and ten, the house odds are 11.11%. You can see from these odds that the hard ways bet is a fairly bad one. On the six and eight bet the payout is 9 to 1. On the four and eight bet it is 7 to 1.

Buy Bets: The player can effectively reduce the house odds to 4.76% by electing to make a buy bet. In this type of bet the player pays the house a commission and then receives the true odds for the numbers being rolled. Because of the possible payouts, when a player rolls a ten or a four, this bet is worthwhile.

Eleven Bet: By rolling an eleven, the player can win and receive a payout of 14 to 1. In this case, the house odds are 16.66%

Place Bets: These are bets that are made up of a series of bets with regard to rolling particular numbers. For instance, if you were to roll a six or an eight, you would receive a payout of 7 to 6, while the house edge would be 1.51%. If on the other hand, you were to roll a five or a nine, you would receive a payout of 7 to 5 and the house edge would be 4%. If you were to roll a four or a ten, you would receive a payout of 10 to 5 and the house edge would be 6.66%.

Seven Bet: Like with the eleven bet, with one roll of a seven a player wins this bet and is paid out at 4 to 1. The odds for the house on this bet are 16.66%.

The Pass and Don’t Pass bets and the Line and Come bets are the most favorable bets to make in a game of craps. This is because of their more favorable odds, both bets provide the player with the best opportunities for winning.

Here are several more craps rules to bear in mind:

To reach ‘box point’ a player must first roll a ten, nine, eight, six, five or four during his or her initial roll. With this the player has established the box point. Now when the player again rolls the dice and gets the same number, he is a winner. If however, he were to roll a seven before rolling his number again, he loses.

If a player throws ‘craps’ he immediately loses the game. Craps occurs when on his first turn, he throws a twelve, three or two.

The game of craps includes the work of four casino employees. There are the two dealers whose responsibility it is to monitor winnings and chips. Then there is the ‘boxman’ whose job it is to oversee the entire game. It is the ‘stickman’ who takes charge of the dice and in this way is able to control the pace of the game and the game action. In a game of craps, the stickman begins the play by having the player select his/her dice. If on the first roll, the dice come up as a seven or an eleven, the player immediately wins. This is referred to as a ‘natural.’