Craps Rules: How to Play Craps

Before starting to learn the rules, we highly recommend downloading the casino software from one of our recommended internet casinos listed in the internet casinos, so you can play the game for free, while learning more about the rules.

When a new round begins, the players will make bets on "Pass" or "Don't Pass", as well as several other bet opportunities, which are always available, and which are explained below. But, in general, we recommend avoiding these other bets, as the house edge is much higher, compared to the "Pass" and "Don't Pass" bet.

Should you bet on "Pass" and a 7 or 11 is rolled, you will win and get paid at 1 to 1 (when beating $10, you win $10 and get your original $10 back). Should a 2, 3, or 12 be rolled on the first throw, you lose should you have bet on "Pass". Should any of the other numbers come (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10), this number will be established as the point and your bet will continue to be on the table. If you bet on "Pass", you now will win your bet, if the point comes again before a 7 is rolled. The payout when hitting the point before a 7 is also 1 to 1.

Betting on "Don't Pass" is basically the complete opposite of betting on "Pass". You will lose should a 7 or 11 be rolled, and you will win when a 2 or 3 will be rolled and get paid at a rate of 1 to 1. Should a 12 be rolled, you will get your original bet back. In order to win your "Don't Pass" bet after the point is established, a 7 needs to be rolled before the point is rolled. When winning your bet, you will be paid at 1 to 1 ($10 bet, win $10, get original $10 back).

Once the point is established, you can also start making "Come" and "Don't Come" bets, which are very similar to the "Pass" and "Don't Pass" bets, but can only be made once the point is established. The payout for the "Come" and "Don't Come" bets are also 1 to 1.

Should you bet on "Come", you win when the next role is a 7 or 11 and lose when the next role is a 2, 3 or 12. Should none of these numbers come, you win when the number that was rolled on the first throw after you placed your "Come" bet is roled again before the 7 is roled.

If you decided to bet on "Don't Come", you will win when a 2 or 3 is roled on the next role after placing your bet and will lose when a 7 or 11 is roled. Should a 12 be roled, you will get your money back. Should none of these numbers be roled, you will win your bet if the 7 is roled before the number shown on the first role after placing your bet is roled again.

But, the best bet on the table is the "Odds Bet", which is a backup bet of your original Pass/Don't Pass or Come/Don't Come bet. Once a point is established for your bet, you can lay an Odds Bet to add to your original bet. This additional bet pays at true odds, meaning that the house has no edge over you on this bet. For example, you bet on Pass and the point is 4. Now, you can backup your original Pass bet, by betting another unit on number 4, your odds bet. Should the 4 be roled before the 7 is roled, you will win and the payout for the Pass bet is 1 to 1, and for the Odds Bet, the payout will be 2 to 1, which represents the true odds of a 4 being roled before a 7 is roled. How much you can lay in an odds bet depends on the casino you play at. Online, the most we have found was at microgaming and playtech casinos, where you can lay 3 times your original bet as odds bet.

Of course, there are more bets available at the craps tables than just the ones listed above. They are xplained below, but you should know that they all have higher house edges than the bets explained above.

"Field" Bets: Can be placed on any role and the player wins when the roll is 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12. Should the roll be 5, 6, 7 or 8, the player loses. For more information about the payouts of this bet, please look on the craps table, where it should be noted. Usually, the payouts are 1 to 1, except for 2 and 12, where they are higher.

"Big 6" and "Big 8" bets: Can be placed at any time. When using the Big 6 bet, the player wins when a 6 is rolled before a 7. When using the Big 8 bet, the player wins when the roll is a 8, before it is a 7. This bet pays 1 to 1, and unresolved bets may be removed!

"Place Win" Bets: This bet can be placed at any time, but are inactive for the coming out roll. You will win when the number you bet on (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10) is rolled before a 7 is rolled. The payout of this kind of bet depends on what number you chose: for numbers 6 and 8, the payout is 7 to 6, for numbers 5 and 9, payout is 7 to 5 for numbers 4 and 10, the payout is 9 to 5. Unresolved Place Win bets may be removed!

"Place Lose" Bets: May be placed at any time, but are inactive for coming out roll. They are the exact opposite of the Place Win bets. You will win when a 7 comes before the number you placed your Place Lose bet on. For numbers 6 and 8, payouts are 4 to 5, for numbers 5 and 9, payouts are 5 to 8 and for numbers 4 and 10, payouts are 5 to 11.

"Any 7" Bets: May be placed at any time and is a bet on the next roll. Should the roll following your bet be a 7, you get paid at 4 to 1 (it might state on the craps table that the payout is 5 for 1, which is another way of saying that it's 4 to 1; 5 for 1 means that you will get back 5 times your original bet, while 4 to 1 states that you get back 4 times your original bet, plus your original bet).

"Any 11" Bets: May be placed at any time and is a bet on the next roll. Should the roll following your bet be a 11, you will win and get paid at 15 to 1 (or 16 for 1).

"Any Craps" Bets: May be placed at any time and is a bet on the next roll. The player will win when the roll following the bet is either a 2, 3 or 12. The payout is 7 to 1.

"Horn" Bets: May be placed at any time and is bet on the next roll. The player will win when the roll following the bet is a 2, 3, 11 or 12. When placing your horn bet, the amount you wager is divided by four. Should you be correct, you will get paid back 1/4 of your original bet with the payouts of 15 to 1 on numbers 3 and 11 and 30 to 1 when the number of the roll is 2 or 12. So, if you wager $10 on the Horn bet, and a 2 comes, you will get $77.50  (0.25 x $10 x 30 + 0.25 x $10) back.

"Hardway" Bets: Hardway bets are inactive during the come out bet. The player wins when the number bet on (4, 6, 8 or 10) is rolled the hard way before a 7 is rolled. Rolling a number the hard way means that the number must be rolled with the identical number on each of the dice. For example, a 4 rolled the hard way is simply a roll of 2+2. An easy roll would be for example a roll of 3+1 to get 4 total. The payout is 7 to 1 on numbers 4 and 10 and 9 to 1 on numbers 6 and 8. Unresolved bets may be taken off the table.

These are all the bets available at the craps tables. If you want to learn more about craps strategy, including odds and how to minimize the edge of the casino, visit our craps strategy section. If you want to start playing craps online, visit our internet casinos section to find our most recommended internet casinos where you can play craps for free or for money.