Craps is the all-American dice game that rose to prominence during the Second World War, when troops on long sea voyages passed the time playing on this absorbing game.

In Craps you bet on the result of a dice throw that a player makes. You play against the bank. The game is played in rounds, with the first round called the Come Out Roll. On this roll you can either bet on the Pass Line or on Don’t Pass (this bet is not obligatory). The Don’t Pass bet wins if the result of the Craps dice roll is 2, 3 or 12 and it pays out at 1:1. If a 7 or 11 is rolled, the Pass Line bet wins and is paid out at even money – in this case the Don’t Pass bet loses and the game ends immediately. If any other number combination is rolled, a Point is made and the game continues.

At this stage of the game, a white marker is placed on the table where the point was established, and the Craps rolls continue. All existing Pass or Don’t Pass bets are now fixed and cannot be removed or bet on again. You can however now place Odds bets on these. The golden betting rule is the 3-4-5 times odds rule. This means that you can play 3x odds if the point that was made is a 4 or a 10, 4x odds if the point is a 5 or a 9, and 5x odds if the point is a 6 or an 8.

There is also another type of Craps bet you can make, known as a Field bet. This is a bet in the outcome of the immediate next roll – that it will be a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 or 11. If a 3, 4, 9, 10 or 11 is rolled you are paid out at even money. If a 2 is the outcome you receive 2:1 and if the outcome is a 12, you get 3:1. All other outcomes lose you your bet.

Other Craps bets:

• Big 6 - you bet that a 6 will be rolled before a 7. This bet pays at odds of 7:6.
• Big 8 – you bet that an 8 will be rolled before a 7.
• Hardway bets – you can place 4 types of hardway bets in Craps. A hardway roll is where you roll a 4, 6, 8 or 10 with both dice showing the same value (e.g. you roll 10 and each die is a 5). This must also be rolled before a 7 is rolled or before the value you selected is rolled without the dice being the same in order to win. Hardway 4 and 10 pay out at odds of 7:1; Hardway 6 and 8 at odds of 9:1.
• Come and Don’t Come – these can only be placed after a point is made in Craps. If you bet on Come, you win if the dice land up as 7 or 11, and lose if they are 2, 3 or 12 – at even money. If the dice roll lands as 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, then a Come point is established and all chips are moved to that point. Come and Don’t Come therefore work the same as Pass and Don’t Pass bets and have the same paying odds.
• Place To Win – you bet that a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 will be rolled before a 7. This bet can be made at any time in the Craps game. Wins on a 4 or 10 pay 9:5; wins on a 5 0r 9 pay 7:5; wins on a 6 or 8 pay 7:6.
• Place To Lose – the opposite of the above. You bet on the same numbers, but this time you bet that the 7 will be rolled before the number you bet on. Wins on 4 or 10 pay 5:11; on 5 or 9 pay 5:8; on 6 or 8 pay 4:5.
• Buy Bets – the same as place bets, but paying differently – these pay true odds less a 5% commission to the bank.
• Lay Bets – the opposite of a Buy bet. You bet that the 7 is rolled before your Lay bet number.
• Any Seven - a once-off bet paying 4:1 if the next roll of the dice comes up as a 7.
• Any Craps - a once-off bet paying 7:1 if the next of the dice comes up as a 2 or 3.
• Crap 2 - a once-off bet paying 30:1 if the next roll of the dice comes up as a 2.
• Crap 3 - a once-off bet paying 15:1 if the next roll of the dice comes up as a 3.
• Crap 12 - a once-off bet paying 30:1 if the next roll of the dice comes up as a 12.
• Proposition 11 - a once-off bet paying 30:1 if the next roll of the dice comes up as an 11.