Intimidated by craps? It looks like a hard game to learn. There is a lot of yelling and a lot of different bets going on. But the basics of craps are very simple. You can learn them in less than 5 minutes, and I’m going to show you how.
The first thing to learn is that most bets in craps are sucker bets. Most of the yelling going on is people throwing their money away. True, all the bets in craps are losing bets (see the end of this article for the possible exception), but some are worse than others.
The basic bet in craps is called the “Pass Line” bet. You place money down on the playing table in the space marked with “Pass Line”.
The Pass Line bet has two simple rules. Each roll of the dice is governed by one of these rules. To know which one to use, look at the buck. 
The buck is a large disc. One side is black with the word “Off”, the other side is white with the word “On”.
The Pass Line bet is placed, and begins, when the buck is Off.
- Rule 1 (Buck is Off): If a 7 or 11 comes up, the pass line bet wins. Every dollar you put down gets another dollar back. If a 2, 3, or 12 comes up, the pass line bet loses. If it’s anything else (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) the number that was rolled is now called “the point”. You haven’t won or lost yet. The buck is flipped to “On”, placed on top of the point, and we move to the Rule 2.
- Rule 2 (Buck is On): Only two numbers matter, the point and the number seven. If a seven comes up before the point, you lose. If the point comes up before the seven, you win. Nothing else matters for the pass line bet, nothing happens if any other number comes up.
That’s it. You know now the basics of craps. Let’s try an example.
- On the first roll (which is also called “The Comeout roll”), a seven comes up. What happens? (You win.)
- On the first roll, a 3 comes up. What happens? (You lose.)
- On the first roll, a 9 comes up. What happens? (We switch to Rule 2. The buck is flipped to On and placed on top of the number 9. 9 is now the point.)
- The point is a 9. A 6 comes up. What happens? (Nothing.)
- The point is a 9. A 10 comes up. What happens? (Nothing.)
- The point is a 9. A 6 comes up. What happens? (Nothing. As you can see, it can take a while to settle the bet under Rule 2. This is part of the appeal, this effectively makes it cheaper to play craps.)
- The point is a 9. A 3 comes up. What happens? (Nothing. A 3 only loses under Rule 1 and we’re operating under Rule 2.)
- The point is a 9. A 9 comes up. What happens? (We win! The buck goes to Off and you can place a new Pass Line bet.)
- The point is a 9. A 7 comes up. What happens? (We lose. This is called “crapping out”. The dice are moved to a new roller. All the fancy bets that have been going on lose also. The buck is flipped to Off.)
That’s it! Congratulations!
But if you want to know more, read on.
The Pass Line bet has an optional feature, called odds behind the line. Odds behind the line is the best bet in the entire casino. To play them, wait until a point has been established. You can now put more chips down behind your pass line bet. The chips should not go in the pass line area, but should be clearly aligned with your original pass line bet. Casinos vary in how much you’re allowed to put down. It is always a minimum of whatever your pass line bet is, and the maximum can be anywhere from twice that to one hundred times your original bet.
How does it work? This bet pays off at true mathematical odds.
If the point is:
- a 4 or a 10: The odds are 2-to-1 against you, and the odds behind the line pay off at 2-to-1.
- a 5 or a 9: The odds are 3-to-2 against you, and the odds behind the line pay off at 3-to-2.
- a 6 or an 8: The odds are 6-to-5 against you, and the odds behind the line pay off at 6-to-5.
Example: You put down $10 on a pass line bet. The come out roll is a 9. You put an addition $20 down behind the line. After a few meaningless rolls the 9 comes up. You win! How much? Your original $10 pass line bet wins an additional $10. The $20 you put down behind the line pays off at 3-to-2, so you get another $30 there. You won $40, on top of your original $30 bet.
Because these pay off at true odds, neither you nor the casino has an advantage. So the casino will let you do something you can’t do anywhere else – you can change your bet after you’ve placed it. As long as the buck is On, you can keep adding and subtracting money from the odds behind the line bet and they won’t get mad. Just don’t touch the original pass line bet!
Why did I say that odds behind the line are a possible exception to every bet being a losing bet? It depends on your viewpoint. The odds behind the line bet pays off at true odds and is not a losing bet. But you can’t place the odds behind the line until you have made a Pass Line bet. The Pass Line bet is close to even, but the edge is with the house.
Want to learn more? Go to Part II. Another simple guide is here.