- Learn To Play Craps
- Craps Game How To Play
- I Want To Play Free Craps
- Play Free Craps
- How Do I Play Craps At The Casino
For decades, craps was the most popular table game in any casino. Its popularity was usurped by blackjack in the 1960s with the rise of both basic strategy and card counting, but craps remains one of the big 3 table games in any casino:
Craps is undoubtedly the most fascinating and complex of the dice games, and many would say it’s probably the most fun. If you have ever been the casino, you’ll have to do it’s always the loudest with laughter and whoops. It undoubtedly challenge young kids to study all the variations inside a craps game and think on the differing odds. 5 – Online Casino Craps Bonus Use. When you play craps in a live casino the only kind of promotion you can usually get is the comps you earn from the player’s club. I cover this in the next section. But if you’re willing to play craps on your mobile device or on your computer, you might be able to find an online casino bonus. If you want to get in on that action, it’s essential to learn the ins and outs of how to play craps. Craps is one of the only games in the casino where the player is in charge of the action with their own hand. You can literally grab the dice, give it a blow for good luck and roll it on down.
- Blackjack
- Craps
- Roulette
Baccarat the game. But in Oklahoma, casinos aren’t allowed to use dice to power games of chance. The laws restrict table games to the use of playing cards to generate random results. Someone somewhere figured out how to create a craps game that uses cards instead of dice and maintains the same bets and probability.
The playing cards determine the results, which are then displayed using animated dice on a television monitor above the craps table. It would be easy to think that a random number generator computer program is creating those results, like it would with an online casino, but if you pay attention, you can watch the dealers actually drawing and manipulating the cards.
They use a scanner to read the cards, and that scanner converts those cards into the corresponding dice totals.
The purpose of this post is to explain how to play craps with playing cards in Oklahoma.
The Basics of Craps in General
Whether you’re playing street craps or casino craps, the basics of the game are the same. You start with a “shooter,” someone who rolls the dice. The game is played in “rounds,” and each round begins with a roll of the dice called the “come-out roll.”
Most people bet “with the shooter” or “with the dice.” This is an even-money bet called the “pass line bet.” It wins if the dice succeed, and it loses if the dice lose. Winning and losing are defined as follows:
On the come-out roll, if the shooter rolls a 7 or an 11, the dice immediately succeed, and the pass line bet pays off at even money.
But if the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12, the dice immediately fail, and the pass line bet loses. A new shooter starts a new round after this.
If the shooter rolls any other possible total, a “point” is “set”. The possible points are:
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 8
- 9
- 10
The shooter’s goal on subsequent rolls is to roll the point number again before rolling a 7. If he achieves this goal, the pass line bet pays off at even money. If he rolls a 7 first, he fails, and the pass line bet loses.
That’s the basic game in a nutshell. I know it seems more complicated than that when you’re watching, but that’s because there are so many possible bets you can make. Most of the bets at the craps table are awful for the player, though. You should just skip them.
One of the bets, though—the odds bet—is special. It deserves its own section:
The Odds Bet in Craps
The house has a mathematical advantage on every bet in the casino. The pass line in craps is no different. In fact, we know the exact mathematical edge the casino enjoys on this bet—it’s 1.41%.
When a point is set during a round of craps, though, another bet becomes available that has no house edge. This bet pays off at the same odds as of winning. It’s called the odds bet.
The odds bet is placed behind your original pass line bet. The amount is a multiple of your original bet. Casinos place a maximum amount on this bet as a multiple of your initial bet.
2X is as common a max as you’ll see, which means if you bet $5 on the pass line, you can make up to a $10 bet on the odds bet. If you placed a $10 pass line bet, you can bet $20 on the odds, and so on.
In casinos with higher maximum odds, you might be able to bet 10X or even 100X the size of your pass line bet. So if you bet $5 on pass at a 10X max table, you could bet $50 on the odds bet.
The payoff on this bet is based on the point that’s been set. Plenty of jackpots. And the payoff odds are the same as the odds of winning the bet.
- If the point is 4 or 10, the payoff is 2 to 1. The odds of winning are also 2 to 1.
- If the point is 5 or 9, the payoff is 3 to 2. The odds of winning are also 3 to 2.
- If the point is 6 or 8, the payoff is 6 to 5. The odds of winning are also 6 to 5.
Of course, the net effect of having a pass line bet and an odds bet in play at the same time is to reduce your overall house edge on the 2 bets. Here’s what the house edge looks like on the combined bet at various multiples:
- 2X Odds – 0.85%
- 3X Odds – 0.47%
- 5X Odds – 0.33%
- 10X Odds – 0.18%
- 100X Odds – 0.02%
Keep in mind, this is the house edge for the 2 bets combined. No matter how much you bet on the odds, you can never reduce the house edge to 0 or less in craps. The initial pass line bet always gives the casino an edge.
Also keep in mind that at least 1/3 of the time, the pass line bet will be resolved on the come out roll anyway. You’ll be able to take an odds bet most (2/3) of the time. But that’s not the same as being able to take the odds bet every time.
But How Do You Play a Dice Game with Playing Cards?
If I were designing a card game based version of craps, I’d just use 2 tiny decks of cards with an ace through 6 in each deck. You’d draw one card from each stack. This would give you the same potential combinations that you have in a regular craps game. There are 36 possible combinations, even though there are only 11 possible totals:
- 2 – One possible combination: 1, 1
- 3 – 2 possible combinations: 1, 2 or 2, 1
- 4 – 3 possible combinations: 1, 3 or 2, 2, or 3, 1
- 5 – 4 possible combinations: 1, 4 or 2, 3 or 3, 2 or 4, 1
- 6 – 5 possible combinations: 1, 5 or 2, 4 or 3,3 or 4, 2 or 5, 1
- 7 – 6 possible combinations: 1, 6 or 2, 5 or 3, 4 or 4, 3 or 5, 2 or 6, 1
- 8 – 5 possible combinations: 2, 6, or 3, 5 or 4, 4 or 5, 3 or 6, 2
- 9 – 4 possible combinations: 3, 6 or 4, 5 or 5, 4, or 6, 3
- 10 – 3 possible combinations: 4, 6 or 5, 5 or 6, 4
- 11 – 2 possible combinations: 5, 6 or 6, 5
- 12 – One possible combination: 6, 6
The problem with using my solution of 2 decks of 6 cards is that such a deck would be hard to shuffle. You’d also need to keep the 2 tiny decks separate from each other. That wouldn’t be impossible, but both of these challenges would require more finesse than you might be expected to need.
The casino’s solution is to use a deck of cards with 36 cards in it. Each of those cards corresponds to a specific combination of dice. This duplicates the probability you’d have with a standard craps game.
The cards used for this purpose are the ace through 9 of each of the 4 suits. The table has a card reader with a camera in it. This device recognizes the card and compares it to see which combination that card corresponds to. The boxman is the person at the craps table who handles the cards and the card reader.
The cards are dealt using a shuffling machine. Once the cards are shuffled, the boxman spreads them out across the table and uses the middle card as the determining card. Once it’s been scanned, the television screen above the table displays the animation and the result. The stickman also announces the result at the table.
All the other rules for the game are the same as for a standard craps game. I’ll cover the rest of the basics below, but if you already know how to play craps with dice, you can just skip that section and go play.
The Only Other Craps Bets Worth Making
The only craps bets I’ve covered until this point were the pass line bet and the odds bet.
But you have another good bet you can make before the come out roll. It’s called the “don’t pass” bet.
This is a bet that the shooter will fail.
It wins even money on the come out roll if the shooter fails, although a roll of 12 on the come out roll is treated as a tie (or a “push.”) A push is a situation where the bettor gets his initial bet back, but he doesn’t get any winnings.
The house edge for this bet is 1.36%.
You can lay odds on the don’t pass bet, too, but the payouts are reversed. Instead of getting 2 to 1 for the odds bet on a 4 or 10, you get 1 to 2. Instead of getting 3 to 2 for the odds bet on a 5 or 9, you get 2 to 3. And instead of getting 6 to 5 for a 6 or 8, you get 5 to 6.
Combining the don’t pass bet with the odds bet has the same effect on your house edge as combining the pass line bet with the odds bet. It reduces it dramatically.
If you bet on the pass line, you’re called a “right bettor,” but if you bet “don’t pass,” you’re called a “wrong bettor.” Most craps players prefer to bet with the shooter and the dice. Most of the other bettors at the table are doing so, and this gives you all the opportunity to root for the same result.
Also, most gamblers prefer to place bets where their payoffs are greater than the amount they bet. When laying odds, your payoff is always less than the amount you’re risking. That’s just plain uncomfortable for a lot of gamblers.
The difference of 0.05% in house edge is so negligible that it’s probably worth it to be a right bettor if you enjoy the camaraderie provided by that situation.
Those aren’t the only bets worth making, though.
You can also place bets called “come” and “don’t come” after a point has been established. These are bets that treat a roll later in the round as a new come out roll. The “come” bet is the same concept as the “pass” bet. It just comes at a different point in the round. The “don’t come” bet is the same concept as the “don’t pass” bet, too.
And you can place or lay odds with either of those bets just like you would with a pass line or don’t pass bet. The house edge for these bets are the same, too.
Those are the best bets at the craps table:
- Pass
- Don’t pass
- Come
- Don’t come
- Odds
Most of the other bets at the craps table have a much higher house edge. There’s not much point in making any of those bets, because the odds favor the house so much.
I’ll look at a random set of those bets below so you can see just how much they benefit the house.
Sucker Bets at the Craps Table
To understand why so many of the bets at the craps table are such a bad deal for the player, you need to understand a little about how the odds of winning such a bet are determined. You also need to understand that the difference between the odds of winning and the payout odds are what create the edge for the house.
“Odds” in probability are just a way of expressing how likely something is to happen. It compares the number of ways something can’t happen with the number of ways something can happen. For example, if you say the odds of winning a bet are 2 to 1, that means there are 2 ways to lose for every one way to win.
Let’s look at a real example from the craps table, though. All the bets being promoted by the stickman are proposition bets. The house edge on these bets is terrible.
One of the bets he’ll try to convince you to place is a bet on hard 8. (It could be a bet on a hard 6 or 10, either. They’re all terrible bets.)
This is a bet that the shooter will roll a total of 8 using the combination of 4, 4 (a pair) before rolling a 7. It’s a multi-roll bet. It doesn’t pay off until one of those 2 outcomes happens, regardless of how many rolls it takes for it to happen.
The odds of rolling a hard 8 before rolling a 7 are 10 to 1.
The bet pays off at 9 to 1.
To calculate the house edge, you just assume a perfect set of 11 bets. You win this bet once, and you lose it 10 times. You also assume that you’re betting $100 every time.
You’ll win $900 on the one roll where you win. And you’ll lose $1000 on the other 10 bets. That’s a net loss of $100 on 11 spins.
The average amount you’ve lost per spin is $100/11 spins or $9.09/spin.
Since we were dealing with an amount of $100, it’s easy to convert that $9.09 to a percentage. It’s obviously 9.09%.
Compare that to a house edge of 1.36%. The difference is huge.
It means that every time you bet $100 on that bet, you’ll lose an average of $9.09. Compared to losing an average or $1.41, the superiority of one bet over the other is clear.
This huge difference between the payout odds and the odds of winning is what makes all these other bets at the craps table such a great deal for the casino. It’s also what makes them such a bad deal for the player.
If you stick with the 5 bets I suggested in the previous section, and place or lay the maximum amount on the odds bet, you’ll have more fun and more winning streaks at the craps table than you can possibly imagine.
It’s still a negative expectation game for the player, so eventually, you’ll be a net loser. It will just take longer to get there, and you’ll be likelier to have the occasional winning streak.
Conclusion
Learning how to play craps with playing cards in Oklahoma casinos isn’t any harder than learning to play craps with dice in a Las Vegas casino. In fact, if you already know how to play craps with dice, you just need to understand how the results are generated using playing cards.
If you’re new to craps, you should still consider learning how to play. The game is too good to not play, even if the learning curve is slightly steeper because of the difference between using cards and using dice to generate results.
If you stick with the 5 bets I mentioned earlier in this post, you’ll be facing some of the best odds in the casino.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.It’s one of the most exciting games around, but many causal gamblers have no idea know how to play craps. The age-old dice game has been played worldwide for several centuries and counting.
Head out to explore any casino floor and you’ll invariably come across a packed craps table. The scene here is usually straight out of a Hollywood depiction of the gambling world.
Instead of the silent, robotic play you’ll find on the slot machines or blackjack tables, a craps game is almost always loud, boisterous, and tons of fun.
Don’t be surprised to see strangers high-fiving and hugging. The group celebration is part of what makes craps so popular. The communal spirit of camaraderie blossoms at the right table.
As popular as the game is, craps can have beginners learning the game swimming in slang terms and rigid rules. Recreational players report craps to be the most intimidating from the outside looking in.
On that note, if you’re looking to learn the game of craps quickly and easily, this page is for you. You’ll find a full primer on the basic rules and gameplay, followed by a strategy section designed to keep your bets behind the best wagers only.
From there, you’ll be prepared to take your spot at the next crowded craps table you happen to come across. By knowing how to play craps, you’ll be ready to win.
How Do You Play Craps?
Take one look at the craps table layout and you’ll immediately understand why novices can be scared off the game.
The felt is a veritable maze of numbers between 2 and 12, oddly shaped betting boxes, and cryptic commands like “Come” and “Don’t Come”. You’ll see areas labeled “Pass Line,” “Don’t Pass,” and “Field,” and even little dice graphics that spell out various combinations.
All in all, this is one of the busiest layouts in casino gaming, and unless you know your way around the table it’s quite easy to get lost.
But for beginners, the main area to focus on is the Pass Line and the Don’t Pass Line.
These are essentially ante bets in craps. You need to place a wager on either the Pass Line or Don’t Pass Line in order to have the dice handed over.
Both the Pass Line and the Don’t Pass Line are great bets in terms of the house edge, offering 1.41% and 1.36%, respectively. While that Don’t Pass Line wager is slightly better for the player, you won’t see many folks out there putting their bucks behind it.
Casino
Rating
What is Better: Betting on the Pass Line or the Don’t Pass Line?
Here’s why: when you bet on the Pass Line, you’re betting with the shooter – or the person assigned to roll the dice on that particular round.
Every round of craps begins with an initial roll, which is called the “come out” roll in craps lingo. When the shooter rolls a 7 or 11 total on the come out roll, Pass Line bettors win even money on their wager. Any 2, 3, or 12, on the other hand, causes Pass Line bettors to lose.
Conversely, those who bet on the Don’t Pass Line are hoping to see that 2, 3, or 12 arrive on the come out roll. They get an even-money payout when that happens, but lose on any 7 or 11.
Most players – whether they’re experts or newbies – choose to back the Pass Line with their first bet. There’s a mathematical justification for that, as you’ll learn in the next section, but it’s also a matter of common sense. If most players at the table are hoping to see the come out roll produce a favorable total, those odd Don’t Pass Line bettors are wagering against the crowd.
For this reason, backing the Don’t Pass Line is often referred to as “wrong way” or “dark side” betting among those that know how to play craps.
So let’s say you’ve plunked down a $5 chip on the Pass Line to get started… now what?
Well, that all depends on the result of the come out roll.
Learn To Play Craps
As you know by now, Pass Line bettors hope to see a 7 or 11 hit to score an immediate even-money payout. Fortunately for you, the 7 is the most likely combination to arrive whenever a pair of dice get tumbled – as you can see in the table below:
Probability of Hitting Any Two-Dice Totals
Total | Combinations | Probability |
---|---|---|
2 | 1 (1+1) | 2.78% |
3 | 2 (1+2, 2+1) | 5.56% |
4 | 3 (1+3, 2+2, 3+1) | 8.33% |
5 | 4 (1+4, 2+3, 3+2, 4+1) | 11.11% |
6 | 5 (1+5, 2+4, 3+3, 4+2, 5+1) | 13.89% |
7 | 6 (1+6, 2+5, 3+4, 4+3, 5+2, 6+1) | 16.67% |
8 | 5 (2+6, 3+5, 4+4, 5+3, 6+2) | 13.89% |
9 | 4 (3+6, 4+5, 5+4, 6+3) | 11.11% |
10 | 3 (4+6, 5+5, 6+4) | 8.3% |
11 | 2 (5+6, 6+5) | 5.56% |
12 | 1 (6+6) | 2.78% |
And if the come out roll drops a 2, 3, or 12 on the table, your Pass Line bet is toast straight away. Thankfully, as the table above shows, those numbers offer the worst chances of coming up.
But what about all the other numbers that can arrive on board? Good question.
What are Point Numbers?
Whenever the come-out roll produces a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, this number becomes the “point.” You’ll see the dealer turn a big white button over to read “ON,” and that’ll get slid directly under the new point number’s space on the betting grid.
Point numbers are where craps really gets interesting.
After a point has been set, the shooter must continue to roll until either one of two scenarios occur. If they roll the point number again before landing a 7, all Pass Line bettors earn an even-money reward. And if a 7 shows up before the point number, this “seven out” ends the roll and causes almost all bets on the board to lose.
With a point now established – in the case of your example roll, the point will be 6 – Pass Line and Don’t Pass Line bettors alike have a full menu of wagering choices awaiting them.
At this point, Pass Line players have the option to place a secondary bet known as Odds. To make an Odds bet, you simply slide a chip (or stack of chips, up to the table limit) directly behind your Pass Line bet.
From there, you’re hoping to see the shooter hit that point number for a second time before finding a 7. If they do, you’ll be paid out according to the true odds against that happening, as shown below:
Odds Bet Payouts by Point Number
Point | Payout |
---|---|
4 or 10 | 2 to 1 |
5 or 9 | 3 to 2 |
6 or 8 | 6 to 5 |
You’ve got a 6-point number established, and $5 on the Pass Line – so what’s the play? In this spot, you can bet anywhere from $5 to the table limit on the Odds, and that limit is typically 5x your initial bet. After sliding out a stack of $25 on the Odds, you look expectantly at the shooter and hope to see another 6 arrive on board.
This time, however, the shooter rolls a 4 – so you lose that $25, right?
Nope, not in craps. You’ll only lose your Odds bet when the shooter sevens out. Any roll that doesn’t hit the point is simply neutral – for Pass Line and Odds bettors; other players may be backing exotic wagers that do involve the other numbers – meaning it doesn’t produce a win or a loss.
On the third roll, however, you see a sweet 4-2 combination land to hit the 6 point. Now, it’s time to celebrate like the craps regulars do. You’ve just earned a 6-to-5 payout on your $25 for the Odds, good for a whopping $30 return.
Oh, and your original $5 on the Pass Line turned a winner too, making it a cool $35 profit on the round.
Pass Line betting is the bread and butter for craps beginners, based both on its simplicity and a low house edge.
Craps Game How To Play
Understanding the Odds
As a basic Pass Line bettor at the craps table, you’ll be in a great position to enjoy a good time, all while facing extremely low house edges.
You can consult the table below to see how Pass Line and Odds betting – along with all of the exotics offered by craps – stack up in terms of house edge:
I Want To Play Free Craps
Bets by Payout and House Edge
Play Free Craps
Bet | Pays | House Edge |
---|---|---|
Pass Line | 1 to 1 | 1.41% |
Don’t Pass Line | 1 to 1 | 1.36% |
Pass Odds | 2 to 1 (4 or 10) 3 to 2 (5 or 9) | 0% |
Don’t Pass Odds | 1 to 2 (4 or 10) 2 to 3 (5 or 9) 5 to 6 (6 or 8) | 0% |
Come | 1 to 1 | 1.41% |
Don’t Come | 1 to 1 | 1.36% |
Come Odds | 2 to 1 (4 or 10) 3 to 2 (5 or 9) 6 to 5 (6 or 8) | 0% |
Don’t Come Odds | 1 to 2 (4 or 10) 2 to 3 (5 or 9) 5 to 6 (6 or 8) | 0% |
Place Bets | 9 to 5 (4 or 10) 7 to 5 (5 or 9) 7 to 6 (6 or 8) | 6.7% 4% 1.5% |
Buy Bets | 2 to 1 (4 or 10) 3 to 2 (5 or 9) 6 to 5 (6 or 8) | 4.76% |
Lay Bets | 1 to 2 (4 or 10) 2 to 3 (5 or 9) 5 to 6 (6 or 8) | 2.44% 3.23% 4% |
Big 6 or 8 | 1 to 1 | 9.09% |
Field Bets | 1 to 1 (3/4/9/10/11) 2 to 1 (2/12) | 5.56% |
Hardways | 7 to 1 (4 or 10) 9 to 1 (6 or 8) | 11.1% 9.09% |
Any 7 | 4 to 1 | 16.9% |
Any Craps | 7 to 1 | 11.1% |
Proposition 2 or 12 | 30 to 1 | 13.9% |
Proposition 3 or 11 | 15 to 1 | 11.1% |
Can you Find a Really Low House Edge in Craps?
That’s no typo either, as the Odds bet really does offer a house edge of 0.00%. There is a catch, of course, as you must place a Pass Line bet first in order to bet the Odds, but between 1.41% and zip, using this conservative approach offers the best strategy for craps success.
How Do I Play Craps At The Casino
Craps is much more complex than the Pass Line plus Odds approach, however, so be sure to brush up on exotic bets, expert plays, and advanced strategy when learning how to play craps.