Craps for beginners: the two bets that make it easy
· 2 min read
A craps table looks like a maths exam. You only need the pass line and the odds bet to play, and they're also the best bets on the table.
Walk up to a craps table and it looks impossible: dozens of boxes, people shouting numbers, chips flying everywhere. The secret is that almost all of it is optional. Two bets cover everything you need, and they happen to be the best value on the table.
Bet one: the pass line
Put your chips on the pass line before the first roll of a round (the come-out roll).
- 7 or 11 on the come-out: you win straight away, 1 to 1.
- 2, 3 or 12 ("craps"): you lose.
- Any other number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10) becomes the point. A puck marked ON goes on it.
Once there's a point, the shooter keeps rolling. If the point comes up again before a 7, the pass line wins. If a 7 comes first ("seven out"), it loses and the dice pass to the next player.
Bet two: the odds
As soon as there's a point, you can put extra chips behind your pass line bet. This is the odds bet, and it's special: it pays true odds, so the house has no edge on it at all. On Vegas Craps you can take up to 3× your line bet on 4 or 10, 4× on 5 or 9, and 5× on 6 or 8.
| Point | How often it beats the 7 | Odds pay |
|---|---|---|
| 4 or 10 | 3 in 9 | 2 to 1 |
| 5 or 9 | 4 in 10 | 3 to 2 |
| 6 or 8 | 5 in 11 | 6 to 5 |
Together, the pass line plus full odds return 99.63% of what you bet over time, better than almost anything else in a casino.
Bet amounts that divide evenly: odds on 6 or 8 in multiples of 5, on 5 or 9 in multiples of 2. Winnings round down to whole coins.
What about the rest of the table?
The rest is seasoning. Place bets let you bet on a number without waiting for a point; place 6 and 8 are decent (98.48%). The field is a one-roll bet that's easy to understand but returns 94.44%. The proposition box in the middle pays big and returns the least: any seven keeps about 17% of every bet over time.
Why 7 is everywhere
Two dice can land 36 ways, and six of them make 7, more than any other total. That's why 7 wins on the come-out and why it ends a point. The 6 and 8 come five ways each, which is why they're the best points to have.
