Craps Strategy, Rules & General Overview

Before you start to play Craps, you should have a basic understanding of the terms that will be used while playing craps and the rules of the game. Below both of these will be explained including some great strategies to help with the game of Craps.  The following terms are used quite often while playing Craps so they are all very useful.  Aces is betting that the next roll of the dice will total the sum of 2.  Any 7 means a bet that the next roll will be a 7.  Big 6 means a bet that a 6 will be rolled before a 7 is.  Big 8 a bet that an 8 will be rolled before a 7 is.  Big Red is when a bet is placed on Any 7.  Bones is another name for the dice.  Boxcars means betting on the 12.  Broke Money is when the casino gives a broke player some money to keep playing on.  Buffalo is placing a bet on each of the Hard Way and Any 7.  Capped Dice means crooked dice.  Cold Table means that the player isn’t making any of their points or money.  Crap is the numbers 2, 3 and 12 and Craps is the game or the dice.

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Craps Quick Facts

▪	Dates back to the Roman times and called "dice"
▪	When the game first came to France, they named it Craps.  It's a derivative of the word "crabs" which means pair of ones
▪	Know the game and the bets before you play
▪	Stay with bets like pass line bets backed-up by odds, come bets backed-up by odds and bets on the six or eight.  These have the best player's edge

Now that some of the terminology has been explained, we should move on to the positions of different people at the table.  You have the Box Man who is the Craps table supervisor who sits in the middle of the one stickman and directly behind the chips (money) that are on hand.  There are two dealers at every Craps table and they are responsible for all of the bets that are made on their half of the table.  The Marker Puck is the little plastic disk that the dealers use to mark the point on the Craps table.  If the puck is turned so the off side is face up, then all free odds bets have no action on the next roll.  The Stickman is the person who calls out the rolls and returns the dice to the shooter.  They are also in charge of placing and calling the payouts.

Types of Craps Bets

Now everything you need to know about the bets and terminology is done, we can get down to the rules on how to play. First of all the main goal of Craps is to establish a point number and roll that number again before rolling a 7 (which is craps).  The only numbers that can be a point are 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10.  The game is played by rolling the dice to see what numbers come up. Payoffs are based on the number that is on the dice when they finally stop moving.  Players take turns rolling the dice, the turns go clockwise around the table, and the player rolling at any given time is called the "shooter". When a new shooter is given the dice, his or her first roll is called the Come Out roll, which begins a new series of rolls by that and lasts as long as the shooter keeps making winning rolls.  Any time a new Craps game starts it begins with the Come Out roll.  A Come Out roll can be made only when the previous shooter does not make a winning roll also known as not making the point or seven out.  A new game then begins with a new shooter.  If the shooter does make the Point, the dice are returned to them and they then start the game with a the new "Come Out" roll.  Now that we have covered the terms, positions and basic rules of the game, it is time to talk strategy.

There are many different strategies for playing the following are a few examples that have been tried and proved to work well.  Classic Regression is a popular strategy where you are trying to make a profit with one hit.  The way to use this is to wait until the shooter has made their point before placing a bet this will give you the advantage over the house and make the possibility of profit increase for you.  Another good strategy is called the Three Point Molly.  The purpose of this is to get three numbers working in your favor at all times.  You should make a pass line bet and two come bets; make a pass line bet, backup your pass line bet with single or double odds, make a come line bet, backup each come bets with single or double odds (two come bets maximum) when one of your come bets wins, place another come bet.  Continue this process until the shooter makes his/her point or seven-out.  The reason that this is such a good way to do this is because each time that you make a come bet, you are guarding the pass line bets and taking full advantage of a hot roller.  This way you are getting the money and not having to work for it.  Another great strategy for playing Craps is trying to win on any number thrown except a seven.  What you do is this - don’t place bets on the don’t pass or pass line, you wait until someone has made a point.  Then you places units on 5, 6 and 8 and one on the Field.  Doing all of this will come into your favor because you can usually keep betting and winning for about 5 times because that is the average number of rolls for a shooter.

Craps is one of the more difficult games to master.  Many people have spent their whole lives playing this game and perfecting these strategies so that you don’t have to.  You can read this and go into a game with more knowledge than the average player.  When you think you are ready to play Craps, this should help you familiarize yourself with the game, the people and the terminology involved which will all help you become a great craps player and have a lot more fun in the long run.

Dice Combination and Probabilities