Craps is a fun game to play but a tough game to learn. What you may not realize is there are a ton of rules, terms, and ways to play that can affect the way you get paid when you play the game.
So just like every other casino game, you can have a horrible day at the Craps tables.
That’s why we’re here to give you tips that will minimize your losses.
Know the Pass Line
In Craps, players bet against the casino on the result of one roll, or a series of rolls of two dice.
What can make the game confusing is that there are tons of different types of bets and the outcome of your wager is not always decided on you first roll.
The bet players should use the most to minimize their losses is the “Pass Line” and the “Don’t Pass Line.”
To start a round a player must bet on one of these lines. Once you choose which line you want to bet on you can roll the dice for the first round (known as the “Come Out Roll”).
If the come out roll is a 2, 3 or 12 it’s called “Craps” and the round ends with players losing their pass line bets. However, if you were smart enough to bet the “Don’t Pass Line” you’ll actually win.
A come out roll of 7 or 11 is called a “natural,” resulting in a win for pass line bets (and a loss for don’t pass bets). This is the style about a million movies like to use.
But things change if you don’t roll any of the numbers above. If numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 are rolled on the come out, this number becomes the “Point” and the first round is now over. In this situation players need to roll the point number again for the pass line to win (obviously this ends up a loss for those who bet on the “Don’t Pass” line).
Obviously, this makes betting on the Pass Line the best bet to avoid big losses.
Know What the Other Bets Pay
This sounds trivial but knowing all the bets in the game and what they pay will go a long way to stretch out your casino dollar. For example, bets like Hard Way (a hard way bet is when you roll a pair of numbers like two 2s and two 4s before 7 comes up) can pay between 7-1 and 9-1, Lay bets (a lay bet is when you roll a 7 before 4,5,6,7,8,9,10) pay 12-25 and 16-25, and Buy bets (a buy bet is when you roll 4,5,6,7,8,9,10 before 7) can pay anywhere from 148-125 and 38-25.