Craps Guide

Guide to playing craps at a beginners level.

At the center of a casino is the craps table where people are rolling dice, yelling out bets, cheering on numbers and counting on luck. One's first time at the craps can be very confusing. Just looking at that long table with its different colors and numbers can turn one off from playing this exciting game. And with the crowd surrounding these tables, one will surely opt to go to a less frantic area of a casino.

But all a craps beginner really needs to know is a simple explanation of this dice game. It seems that rules have come to sound so complicated that a newbie cannot help but shy away from it, but it's actually pretty easy to understand. For the craps newcomer, here is a brief guide to this fast-paced game.

Knowing Your Main Men
Any first timer would be daunted by the large crowd surrounding the table, but there are several friendly faces that can help in this game. The four key people at any craps table are the boxman, stickman and two dealers. The boxman keeps an eye on the chips of the players, the dealers collect the bets, and the stickman calls out the results and drags the dice back with his stick.

Rolling With the Punches
When one speaks of craps, the numbers a player will get from rolling the dice immediately comes to mind. A round of craps begins with the first roll, or the come out roll, and this determines a player's stay in a game. If a player rolls a 2, 3, or 12, then he or she loses immediately. This number is known as craps. The round is over if this happens, but if a player instead rolls a 7 or an 11 then that is instant win. These numbers are called natural numbers and a player may call it quits once some cash has been won, or he or she can start with another round.

What happens if a player doesn't roll those numbers? If he or she should get a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 instead, it's an entirely different story. These are called point numbers. From that moment on, he or she must keep on shooting until that number comes out. If this doesn't happen and the player instead rolls a seven, then the round is over and he or she has to start with a new come out roll.

Don't Take Crap at the Craps Table
For a beginner to succeed at his or her first time at craps, smart bets should be made. There exists many types of bets at any table, but for the newcomer, the simplest bet that he or she can make is the pass-line bet. It's easy. If a 7 or 11 is rolled, then that bet is instantly won. If a 2, 3, or 12 is the result of a roll, then a bettor automatically loses.

There are other kinds of bets possible at a craps table, but for a craps novice, the pass-line bet is the easiest to remember and to make.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 December 2007 )

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