The Basics

When you walk up to a Craps table be sure to check the table limit placard.  If the dice are in play and you need cheques, wait until the shooter (player throwing the dice) throws before exchanging your money.  Do not hand your money to the dealer; lay it on the table in front of you.  If you want to bet on the roll that is about to take place tell the dealer, “(dollar amount) action on the Pass Line (or whatever bet you want, if available at this point in the game).” 

He will announce: “That’s a bet” and slide your cheques towards you when the dice are not in play and then place the bet you announced in the appropriate betting area.  There are two rows of rails on top of the table for placement of your cheques.  Keep an eye on these at all times, even with the vast casino security, thieves are possibly lurking, especially to those not paying attention to their stake. 

A Crap table will accommodate approximately 16 players, eight per side depending on the girth of some people.  The table’s felt layout looks complicated, but one end of table layout mirrors the other.  There are two dealers (one per side) who pay and collect wagers, are in charge of handling your money, and making sure your bets are recognized, known as booking the wager.  Another dealer is called the stickman. The stickman handles a long flexible stick that pushes the dice around and “calls” the game, kind of like a carnival barker or an auctioneer.  It is also the stickman’s responsibility to remind or talk players’ into making the “sucker bets” located in the center of the table.  This bet section is actually called the Proposition bet area and the stickman is in charge of placing players’ bets and pointing out the winners of these bets to the pay-out dealers.  Proposition bets are not really advisable to take; however they can make the game more interesting if a player does not go overboard.  Another casino person at a craps table is the Boxman, who sits in the middle with his hands covering the thousands of dollars’ worth of cheques.  He is in charge of the whole game.  His responsibilities include making sure wagers are paid correctly, counting your money before the dealer makes the chip exchange, and resolving any disputes.  And believe me, disputes can and do occur quite often. 

Craps has two segments within the game—the Come-Out roll segment and the Point segment.  A black/white disk, called a buck or puck, indicates what segment is taking place.  On the Come Out roll the buck will be black in color with an inscription of OFF on its face and will be located in a box on the layout called DON’T COME.  The buck remains “off” until the shooter establishes what is called a point.  The game starts when the stickman offers a player five dice.  The player takes two and becomes the shooter.  Every player gets a chance to shoot and can pass the dice if they choose. 

The Come-Out segment (the initial roll): if the shooter rolls a seven or eleven, the DO bettors, who placed a wager on what is called the Pass Line, win even money on their bet.  The DON’T bettors, with a wager on the Don’t Pass, lose.  If the shooter rolls a two, three, or twelve (these numbers are referred to as Craps numbers), the DOs lose.  The DON’Ts only win if a two or three are rolled.  A twelve is considered a “push” for the DON’Ts and no money is exchanged.  The shooter continues the Come-Out segment until one of the other numbers appears. 

The Point segment: if the shooter rolls a four, five, six, eight, nine, or ten (establishing the point) the game now goes to the point segment.  The dealer places flips the buck over to the white inscribed with ON and places it in the point box.  For the DOs to now win, the shooter ­must roll that point again before rolling a seven.  If the seven comes up before the point, the DOs lose their pass line bets and the DON’Ts win their don’t pass line bets. 

If the point is rolled again before the seven, the DOs win their pass line bets and DON’Ts lose their don’t pass line bets.  It is that simple.  If the shooter rolls a seven (called sevening out), his shoot ends and the player to his left is offered the dice.

If the shooter makes the point before rolling a seven, the game returns to another Come-Out roll and everything starts over.  The shooter keeps the dice until he “sevens-out” during the Point segment. 

The players can make a multitude of bets for other numbers to appear.  There are Come bets, Place bets, Field bets, Odds bets, and Proposition (Prop) bets that will be explain later, but first you must understand the dice combinations. 

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