How to Play Craps -- Craps 101

Craps is easily the most intimidating game in the casino. The layout looks like some kind of crazy puzzle and there are seemingly dozens of different bets, governed by complicated rules. So we'll do our best in this lesson to make this crash course as painless as possible.

The trick to making it easy

The trick to making craps easy is simple: Learn only what you need to know, and ignore everything else. You can play craps by knowing just one bet, the Pass Line bet, so that's what we'll teach you here. You can certainly learn all the other bets if you want (see our list of bets article), but for now the Pass Line is all you need to know.

Buying Chips

The first thing you'll need is chips. Just put your cash down on the table and the dealer will give you chips for it. They don't make change, so any money you put down will be turned into chips. But you don't have to bet all of it. When you're done playing just take any chips you have left to the cashier booth to turn them back into cash. The minimum bet for the table will be listed on a sign at the table, usually $5 or less.

Shooting the Dice

The players all take turns rolling the dice although everyone's betting on the same roll. You'll win or lose your bets whether you're the one rolling or not. And you don't have to roll the dice if you'd rather not; when it's your turn you can just pass to someone else. Whoever's rolling, they keep rolling until they roll a losing 7, known as "sevening-out". We'll go over that later.

Only the Totals matter

All numbers below refer to the total of both dice. When we talk about rolling a 3, we're never talking about getting a 3 on one of the dice, we're always talking about getting a total of three on both dice. Make sure you're clear on that or it will get confusing....

The main bet: The Pass Line

This is the main bet in craps, and most players make it. (They also make a lot of bad bets in addition to this one, but there's no rule that says you have to bet on anything else.) The Pass Line bet has a house edge (casino profit) of only 1.41%, making it one of the better bets in the casino.

To make the Pass Line bet, first wait until the dealer turns the big hockey puck to "OFF", which means that a new round is about to start. Once the puck goes to OFF, put your chip(s) on the area marked Pass Line. (See the "A" on the picture above.) The shooter then picks up the dice to roll them. The first roll of a round is called the Come Out roll, and here's what happens depending on what (s)he rolls:

7 or 11 You win. The shooter then rolls another Come Out roll.

2, 3, or 12 You lose. The shooter then rolls another Come Out roll.

4,5,6,8,9,10 Enter the Point round. (more on this below)

So you're either going to win, lose, or go to the Point round. If you win the dealer will pay you the amount of your bet. (If you'd bet a $5 chip, they'll give you another $5 chip.) If you lose then they'll take your chip away.

If you didn't win or lose right away then you go to the Point round, and the dealer turns the hockey puck to ON and places it on the number that was rolled (4,5,6,8,9, or 10). That number is called the Point. Now you'll win if the shooter rolls the Point again, and you'll lose if (s)he rolls a 7 first. Rolling a 7 before rolling the point again is called sevening out.

So to summarize:

Win by rolling a 7 or 11 on the Come Out roll, or rolling the point twice.
Lose by rolling a 2, 3, or 12 on the Come Out roll, or rolling a 7 before rolling the point twice.

The Pass Line bet is the only bet you have to know for craps. You could go play craps now with what you've already learned. And in fact, by just making the Pass Line bet you'll have a better chance of winning than most craps players, since most players make sucker bets which are just throwing money away.

But even though you know enough to play craps now, you really should learn just one more bet, which will increase your chances of winning even more. We cover that on our separate page about the Free Odds bet....