Craps Rules

Craps is a game played with dice, in which players bet on the results of a roll or a series of rolls of two dice. Players may either play against each other (street craps) or a bank (casino craps). Craps requires a little equipment so it can be easily played in informal settings.

Craps rules

In craps, players roll two dice. The player rolling the dice is called the shooter. The remaining players place wagers on the shooter’s dice rolls. The game consists of rounds. The first roll of each round is called the come-out roll. The round resolves when a point or a seven is rolled.

A player, who agrees to be the shooter, has to bet at least the table minimum either on the Pass or the Don’t pass line (also called Win or Right and Don’t Win or Wrong). The shooter position rotates clockwise around the table. A player may refuse to be the shooter and will still be able to bet on the shooter’s rolls, made by the next player to his left (if he agrees).

The first roll, a come-out roll, is made with the intention of establishing a point. If this roll is a 2, 3 or 12, it is called craps and the round is finished. Players lose their pass line bets. If the come-out roll is 7 or 11, it is called a natural and players win their pass line bets.

The same player continues to make come-out rolls until a point is established, which takes place when a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 are rolled. Then the come-out roll is over.

The shooter continues rolling for either the point number or a seven. If he rolls the point number, the pass line bets win. If he rolls a seven (called a seven-out), they lose. Then the round is finished and the shooter position moves clockwise to the next player who agrees to become the new shooter.

Beginning players can get confused with the number of possible bets they can place in craps. In fact, they are easy to understand and you will quickly learn them by simply playing and experimenting. The best way is to start with the practice mode, where you do not risk money.

Craps rolls names

To make the game more attractive, every roll in craps has its name. They are listed below:

 Snake Eyes: 1-1
 Ace Deuce: 1-2
 Easy Four: 1-3
 Hard Four: 2-2
 Five (Fever Five): 1-4, 2-3
 Easy Six: 1-5, 2-4
 Hard Six: 3-3
 Natural (Seven-Out): 1-6, 2-5, 3-4
 Easy Eight: 2-6, 3-5
 Hard Eight: 4-4
 Nine (Nina): 3-6, 4-5
 Easy Ten: 4-6
 Hard Ten: 5-5
 Yo (Yo-leven): 5-6
 Boxcars: 6-6

Craps payout rate

Every bet type in craps has a different payout rate. Generally the rates vary from 83.33% to 98.64%. Some casinos employ different rules that may change the payout rates. Bets with the highest payouts are Pass/Come, Don’t Pass/Don’t Come, and Place 6/Place 8.

It means that, in the long run, you can expect to win back up to 98.64% of the money wagered on a single craps bet.

The only exceptions, where the payout rate is 100%, are Pass Odds/Come Odds and Don’t Pass Odds/Don’t Come Odds. However, you cannot place them without placing other bets so you will never be able to get a 100% payout rate.

Craps history

Craps comes from a simplification of the Old English game hazard. The latter was invented during the crusades. In 1125, William of Tyre was the leader of crusaders, who besieged a castle called Asart or Hazarth. Their favorite pastime was a dice game and later it was named after the besieged castle.

Some scholars say hazard was developed from an Arabic dice game Al Zar that means dice in Arabic. They believe the game migrated to Europe with merchants even before the crusades.

Craps became famous during the World War II. Soldiers on both sides used to play craps between battles. With the help of U.S. troops the game spread to distant places in the world and today you will find it hard to meet a person, who has never heard of this game. Craps has also appeared in multiple movies.

Craps lost some of its popularity to slots in early 1990’s. However, as online casinos emerged, the game regained their honor and today thousands of people play online craps every day.

Where to play online craps?

You can find roulette at every casino we present in the online casino reviews section. We found playing craps most pleasant at the Supro Casino. Their 100% up to $/€/₤1,200 welcome bonus will make that experience even sweeter for you.

More casino articles:

 Quick start
 Baccarat rules
 Blackjack rules
 Roulette rules
 Slots rules
 Betting systems
 Basic blackjack strategy

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