Craps Rules - How to Play and win!
Craps rules might seem like they'd be very complicated to learn for the beginner but there's not as much to them as first meets the eye. If you've ever been at a live craps table in a casino when someone's on a big winning streak things can get moving pretty fast and for the rookie, a lot can get lost in the excitement of the moment. You'll hear about someone called the Shooter, and you'll hear things like “Coming Out!” and such when you're at a craps table in full swing. This page is going to explain all that. But if you want to learn about craps betting, you can visit that page on our site. You'll also want to visit our page on the craps table layout, and learning craps, to get a better idea of some of the things that are mentioned here. Learning about craps, and craps rules is a process that involves knowing about several different aspects of the game, so you'll find it easier if you browse around the site to get all the information you can.Now, the Shooter is the person with the dice. They're the one who's currently throwing the dice and will pass them to the next in line (clockwise) when the session is over. Don't worry too much about some terms or phrases about craps rules coming up without much explanation. We'll get to everything in due course. A session is the length of time between the shooter's first Come Out roll and the shooter Sevening Out. Here's how a typical session might go. To begin with, there is no point set and players are placing their pass line bets. The shooter must place a pass line bet before being allowed to roll the dice. The first roll is called the “come out roll” since there is no point set. If the come out roll is a 7, 11, 2, 3, or 12, the point does not get set. That's because a 7 or 11 is a win for pass line bets and a loss for don't pass bets, and a 2, 3, or 12 (called Craps) is an loss for the pass line bettors, and a win for the don't pass bets. If either of the above things happen, that's the end of a “round” but not the session. Remember, the shooter keeps control of the dice until they Seven Out (to be explained shortly). If some other number (than those mentioned above) is rolled, it becomes the “Point”. A white marker called a puck is placed on the number that has just been rolled to remind all the players what the point is. The session has now begun. The most common bets at the table (which are explained on our craps betting page) are putting money on the expectation that the shooter will roll the point before they roll a seven (which would be called 'Sevening Out'). If the shooter does roll a seven before they roll the point, that's the end of the session and the next in line gets the dice. If the shooter hits the point before they roll a seven, pass line bets win and don't pass line bets lose, and the session with the current shooter continues. Now the shooter rolls another “come out roll” to try and hit the next point number. This series of rounds goes on until the shooter actually rolls a seven while a point is set, at which time the session is over and the dice are passed to the next shooter at the table.
I hope you're not finding these craps rules too confusing. It can be a bit much for the beginner, but with a small amount of practice, craps rules will start to come as second nature. Again, it's so much help to have a free online craps game to play while you're learning craps rules. There's no better way to pick up this game in a hurry. The session above is pretty typical of the game of craps, and if you just read through that while you're playing an online craps game you'll have craps rules down pat in no time at all.
