Craps 101, Part 1: The Basics
The Pass line, Yo, Craps, Point and Coming Out – What are these things that you hear at a craps table and what do they all mean?
By Ace Cummins
Without a doubt, the best table game to play in Las Vegas is craps. This is for many reasons, but mainly because you get the best odds of any gaming venture and it’s a helluva a lot of fun. Some of my earliest and best gambling memories came at a craps table. Who could forget being 19 years old and turning 20 bucks into 350 in under an hour? However, many people are intimidated by craps because they don’t understand the rules, the lingo or how to play. In reality, craps is a very simple game that anyone who can count to 12 and understands high school algebra can grasp in 15 minutes. (Wikipedia was used to help present this information in a coherent manner.)
The Basics
Craps is a dice game played with two regulation dice, and can be played by as few as one or as many as a dozen gamblers. The more the merrier, because when the game is going well, it’s a party time. When you hear a group of people cheering loudly in a casino, chances are they’re at a craps table.
The key number in craps is 7. The entire game revolves around rolling or not rolling 7. Players take turns rolling two dice in rounds. The roller, known as the shooter, will roll a minimum of one complete round until he or she loses or craps out. This can be as few as two rolls or go on infinitely if the shooter never craps out. If you hear about somebody rolling for half an hour or longer at a craps table, that person and the people around them probably made a lot of money and blew it on strippers. After a shooter craps out, the dice are passed clockwise around the table to the next player. Players have the option to pass on their turn as the shooter – shooting is not required – but you should know that chicks dig shooters.
The Coming Out Roll
The basic bet in craps is the pass line. A pass line bet is a bet that the shooter will win the round. That being said, a don’t pass bet is… you guessed it: a bet that the shooter will lose or crap out in the upcoming round. This is what I refer to as the dark side. A bet on the dark side (or don’t pass line) means you are betting against the shooter (and likely most of the table). You will garner strange looks and stares, but if you can hack it, money can be made.
The first roll of any round is the coming out roll. The shooter must lay the table minimum bet on the pass or don’t pass line while rolling. Three things can happen on the first roll. First and best is that the player wins on a pass line bet (or loses a don’t pass bet) by rolling 7 or 11. This is known as winner seven or yo eleven (yo for short). If a bettor places five bucks on the pass line and the shooter rolls a winner seven or yo, the bettor just won five bucks. Sweet! Second possibility on the coming out roll is that the shooter loses a pass line bet (or wins a don’t pass bet) by rolling a 2, 3 or 12. These rolls are commonly referred to as snake eyes (1 and 1), acey deucey (1 and 2) and boxcars (6 and 6). These numbers are all known as craps. If a bettor places five bucks on the pass line and the shooter rolls a 2, 3 or 12, the bettor just lost five bucks. Boo! The third and most common thing that will happen on the coming out roll is that the shooter will establish the point. Rolling a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 on a coming out roll establishes that roll as the point. If a bettor places a pass line bet and the coming out roll is one of those numbers, then the round begins. If a 2, 3, 7, 11 or 12 is rolled, the pass and don’t pass bets are paid or removed from the table and the next roll is again a coming out roll. A point must be established for a round to begin.
The Point
When a point is established, the table’s two dealers will mark the point by flipping over a large round black marker (about the size of a coaster) to its white side and placing it on that number in front of them. This indicates that a point has been established and what the point is. Now the game gets cooking and this is where most people get lost. However, the basics here are also simple. If you have a pass line bet down and a point is established, in order for you to win that pass line bet, the shooter must roll the established point before rolling a 7. If the shooter rolls a 7 before the established point, the shooter has crapped out and the player to the left of the losing shooter has the option to be the new shooter. However, if the shooter hits the point prior to rolling a 7, all pass line bets are winners and are paid even money.
Behind the Line
Winning on the pass line when the shooter hits his point is all well and good, but the real money is made behind the line. If you have a bet down on the pass or don’t pass lines, when a point is established the bettor has the option to place a bet backing up the original bet. For instance, if the point is 6, the player can place up to two times his line bet behind the line, betting that a 6 will or will not be rolled before a 7 is rolled (depending on whether you bet the pass or don’t pass line). Rather than getting even money on this bet, when a bettor backs up the pass line on a point of 6, he gets 6:5 odds, meaning that for every five bucks he bets, he will win six. The behind the pass line odds of 6:5 apply to points of 6 or 8. If the point is 5 or 7, the odds are 3:2. And if the point is 4 or 10, the odds are 2:1. For behind the line bets on the don’t pass line, just flip the odds (example: 1:2 against 4 or 10). The thing to note here is that these are the best odds in Vegas. The house edge is literally 0%. Yes, that’s right, 0%! The house has about a 1.4% edge on the pass and don’t pass lines (almost the same as a good Blackjack player) and up to a 16% edge on some single roll bets in craps. Basically, if you’re playing craps, you’re playing to make behind the line bets, so you better lay that money down behind that line.
Odds Breakdown
Pass - 1:1
Don’t Pass - 1:1
BTL Pass - 2:1 on 4 or 10, 3:2 on 5 or 9, 6:5 on 6 or 8
BTL Don’t Pass - 1:2 against 4 or 10, 2:3 against 5 or 9, 5:6 against 6 or 8
Those are the craps basics. If you want to learn, grab a set of dice and practice betting on yourself, taking the pass or don’t pass line many times in a row, and backing up each bet BTL. See how much money you can make. Once you get this down, you can go on to Part 2 next week, when we unlock the mystery of the come bet, playing the numbers, single roll bets, the hardaways and sucker bets. And, of course, taking care of the boys.
“Seven and eleven and I’m takin’ [people’s] money.” - Ice Cube
And now for Easy Money
NBA Refs are homers. I just can’t take a road team in a game 6. I just can’t.
Tonight’s Picks:
Cavs @ Nets (-3)
Kidd and Co.
Suns @ Spurs (-3)
Eva’s dude and Co.
Ace Cummins: 10-3-1 overall, 4-0 on 5-star picks
