Craps is a table game played by several players at once. It is believed that Craps started with the Arabs who used numbered cubes or azzahr. It was then taken over to France, where the French modified it and renamed it hasard, before it crossed the English Channel. The English renamed it hazard and the French, trying to be amiable, adopted that term from the English but spelling it 'crabes'. In the early 1700s, the game was brought to North America to the French colony of Acadia; which is now eastern Canada. When the English defeated the French, the French moved to New Orleans and renamed it again to creps, their version of the French 'crabes'. By 1843, the game had become Anglosized and was renamed Craps.

The Player who rolls the dice is called the Shooter. The other Players bet on the outcome of the dice before the Shooter throws the dice. They can either bet for the outcome or against it. The Come-Out roll is the first roll of the dice. After the Come-Out roll, a Point is established. Once the Point is established, you must re-throw that same number before a 7 is rolled. First and foremost, Craps is exciting and lots of fun, especially when you're winning and it is one of the few online casino games that affords you a chance of winning. It is important to understand that, while you can, in fact, INcrease your odds of winning, there is no guarantee that you WILL win, because the roll of the dice cannot be predetermined and is as random as the spin of the wheel in Roulette. So, does this mean that you can't win? Well, if you follow some very simple and easy to understand strategies, then, YES, you can win.

Craps Odds

Craps is a purely mathematical game. Working out the mathematics and calculating the odds is not as difficult as it may seem. You start with two dice. Each dice has six sides, numbered 1 - 6. The opposite sides of the dice always had up to the Number 7. So, wherever you see the Number 1, the opposite side is 6 (total 7). Wherever you see a 2, the opposite side is 5 (total 7). Wherever you see a 3, the opposite side is 4 (total 7); and so on. This means that there are 36 possible dice combinations. If you have two 1s (i.e. 1,1), they can only land once out of 36 possible combinations. The same is true for the number 12. The only two combinations for the number 12 is a 6,6 so the number 12 can only land once out of 36 possible combinations.

Take a look at the dice outcome probabilities chart below for a better understanding.



The number 7 has the highest probability of being rolled. There are 6 possible dice combinations that will give you the number 7. Therefore, the chances of rolling the number 7 are 6/36 (5 to 1 or 16.67%). As explained previously, the numbers 2 and 12 have the rarest outcomes - only 1/36 (35 to 1 or 2.78%).

The chances of rolling either a 7 or 11 are what are used to calculate the Odds of winning the Come-Out roll. Your chances of rolling these numbers is 8/36. Your odds of losing the Come-Out roll is double that of losing the Come-Out roll; meaning 4/36. How did we arrive at this calculation. Well, simply add the odds of rolling a 2 (1/36), a 3 (2/36), or a 12 (1/36) altogether and you get 4/36 (1 + 2 + 1 = 4); which is half of the chances of winning.

The odds of winning or losing the Pass-Line bet are 12/36 (8/36 + 4/36) or 33.33...%. These percentages are very important to consider especially as the game continues. They are especially useful in helping you make the right decision. But before we go further into the percentages, let's take a look at the different types of Craps Bets.

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Craps Bets

Here is a rundown of the different types of bets you can make in Craps. You can use the table layout as a guide to understanding where the bets are actually placed on the Craps table.

Line Bets

Each round of shooting is structured around the Line Bet. Whenever you want to shoot the dice, you must eitehr place a Pass Line Bet or a Don't Pass Bet.

A) Pass Line bet - If the Come-Out roll is a 7 or 11, the Pass Line Bet wins automatically. If the Come-Out roll is a 2, 3, or 12, the Pass Line bet loses immediately. If any other number is rolled i.e. a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10; then a Point is established. The Shooter continues rolling to determine the outcome of the bet. If the Point is rolled again before a 7 is rolled, the Pass Line bet wins. If the 7 is rolled first, then the bet loses. The Pass Line bet is one of the best bets you can make. It has a house edge of only 1.41%. If you want to play simply, then you can continue to use this bet throughout your game session and ignore all the other bets. The Payout on this bet is 1:1.

B) Field bet - This can only be used for the very next roll of the dice. You win even money if a 3, 4, 9, 10, or 11 is rolled and lose if a 5, 6, 7, or 8 is rolled. The house edge on this bet is 2.77%.

C) Come bet - Come bets are similar to Pass Line bets with a small difference; it can be made only after the Come-Out roll. If a 7 or 11 is rolled, the Come bet wins and, if 2, 3, or 12 is rolled, it loses. If any other number is rolled, then that number becomes the Come-Point. If the Come-Point is rolled again before a 7, the Come bet wins. If the opposite happens, the Come bet loses.

D) Place bet - This bet is usually made after a Point number is established. You must roll the Place number before a 7 is rolled in order to win the bet. The relevant payouts are as follows:



You can also make "Buy" bets, which are essentially the same as Place bets, with the exception of the payouts. When you buy a point, you pay a 5% commission and receive true odds if the bet wins; i.e. 2:1 on the 4 and 10; 3:2 on the 5 and 9; and 6:5 on the 6 and 8. The house edge becomes 4.76% which makes this bet a bad play if you bet on any numbers except the 4 and 10. A bet on the 4 or 10 is actually a better payoff than on the Place bet of 4 or 10. If the casino takes the commission on the win only, then the house edge for Buying the 4 or 10 is only 1.67%.

E) Proposition bet - These bets can be made on any roll of the dice. The House edge varies with the lowest being 11.1% and the highest being 16.67%. The payouts are as follows:



F) Free Odds on the Pass Line bet - When the Point is established, you have the option of "taking odds". You place your bet behind the Pass Line bet and, depending on the outcome, you are paid according to the true odds of the dice. The term "Free" odds comes from the fact that the bets do not carry a House Edge. It is the only bet where the odds are not against you. As you can see from the table below, each Point number pays differently.



G) Free Odds on the Come bet - These bets are made exactly the same as odds on the Pass Line bets, with the exception that they are placed on top of the original flat bet. These bets carry no House Edge.

H) Don't Pass Line bet - This is the opposite of the Pass Line bet. This bet loses if the Come-Out roll is a 7 or 11 and wins if the Come-Out roll is a 2 or 3. If a 12 is rolled, the bet is a Push and the money is returned. If another number is rolled, that number the Point. If a 7 is rolled before the 'Point', the Don't Pass bet wins. It loses if the Point is rolled again. It is almost an exact replica of the Pass Line bet. The Payout on the Don't Pass Line bet is 1:1 and the House Edge is 1.36%. Although the Don't Pass Line bet has a lower house edge than the Pass Line bet, it is not very popular and is sometimes considered to be in bad taste as it goes against the Shooter.

I) Don't Come Bet - The opposite of the Come bet, the Don't Come bet is equivalent to the Don't Pass bet. They are placed after the Come-Out roll and win if a 2 or 3 is rolled and lose when a 7 or 11 is rolled. The bet is considered a Push when a 12 is rolled. A Come-Point is established if any other number is rolled. If a 7 appears before the come-point does - the bet wins, and if not, the bet loses. The House Edge, Odds, and Payouts are the same as the Don't Pass bet.

Another type of bet is the Hardaway bet. This bet wins if a 4, 6, 8. or 10 is rolled in pairs as shown in the Craps Table Layout and loses if a 7 is rolled first OR if the number rolled is not a pair.



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