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Time For Some Craps
by Jeff White | October 20th, 2009
Craps How To Strategy Guide Lesson 1: The Pass Line
By Jeff White | February 16th, 2009 at 2:06 pm | We have been getting a lot of questions lately here at the Silver Oak blog about how to play craps. Since I am a huge fan of the game, I feel like it is my duty to humanity to teach all of our readers how to play, and more importantly, how to win playing this famous casino classic.
James Bond plays craps for the same reason all of the cheering people huddled around your local casino’s craps table do: It’s a ton of fun. Not only that, craps has the best odds of any casino game. So if you want to have a great time while justifying your hours spent at the tables to your spouse, this is the game for you.
This first article in the series will be geared towards the craps newbie who wants to learn the basics and start winning some easy money right away. If you are an experienced player, come here to brush up on your craps lingo and look forward to future articles where I will outline advanced craps strategies that will take your play to a whole new level.
Craps 101
The first question everyone has about craps is: “how do you win?” One beautiful thing about craps is that every roll of the dice is a potential winner. Before every roll, the player decides which numbers he wants to bet on. If your number comes up, you win!
The Pass Line
The Pass Line is your new best friend. Betting on the Pass Line is one of the highest odds bets that you can make in any casino game. Let’s take a look at the Pass Line:
Standard Craps Table
Pass Line Highlighted in Yellow
At the start of a new game, put a bet on the Pass Line by placing your chips (usually a minimum of $5) anywhere in the area highlighted in yellow. That’s it! You’ve placed your first craps wager. Bets on the Pass Line can only be made before the beginning of a new game.
What Betting on the Pass Line Means
When you place a bet on the Pass Line, one of 3 things can happen:
- You WIN if it is the first roll of a new game and a 7 or 11 is rolled. The game then starts over.
- You LOSE if a 2, 3, or 12 is rolled. The game then starts over.
- If it is the first roll of a new game and anything other than a 7 or 11 is rolled, you neither win nor lose, and the game continues on to the next stage.
How the Game Continues
If the first roll of the game was neither a 2, 3, 7, 11, or 12, then the game continues on to the next stage. As an example, let’s say the first roll of the game was a 10.
You Rolled a 10!
Now you will notice the board changes slightly. Before the first roll of the game, the board has a button on it that says “OFF”:
The Button is
When the 10 is rolled, the number 10 is now “ON”:
10 is
Remember, on the first roll of the game, 7 or 11 wins, 2, 3, or 12 loses, and any other number makes the game continue to the next stage. Now that 10 is “ON”, the object of the game changes slightly. At the beginning of the game, we wanted to roll either a 7 or 11 to win. Now, because 10 is “ON”, we want to roll another 10 before we roll a 7.
- If a 10 is rolled before a 7, we WIN our bet on the Pass Line and the game ends.
- If a 7 is rolled before a 10, we LOSE the bet on the Pass Line, and the game ends.
Even though the Pass Line is the most common wager in Craps, it can also be a little confusing. To get some practice, download Silver Oak Casino and start playing craps for free to get the hang of it. Once you start winning, I’m sure you’ll want to make a deposit and start playing for real!
For all of the rules and odds of the game, check out the Craps Guide online at Silver Oak Casino.
Be sure to subscribe to the blog and be the first to get all of the future craps strategy guides.
Do you like this guide? Do you have craps questions? Do you have a good craps story? Add a comment below and tell our craps pro!
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Comments
Nice introduction to Craps. I’m more of a blackjack and slots kinda guy. I’ll definitely have this how to guide handy when I get into a game. Thanks Jeff!
I used to be a blackjack guy myself, until one night I decided to teach myself how to play craps online. After fooling around with the free game for a while and getting the hang of it, I decided to play $100 of real money on a craps table. Within an hour I was up over $1100!
Ever since then I’ve definitely been a Craps man, and now its my mission to spread the Craps fever through this blog. I hope you catch it!
I like how you detailed the strategies about craps. In addition to your blog,craps is about dice and dice are about percentages. The smart money gives as little away as possible and that means Pass/Don’t Pass at around 1.4%. Those bets and how to improve them is what this article is about.
Several players are going to prefer playing right and buy the Odds because the payouts looks huge, but then you’re playing against slightly higher odds. If you’re hardcore about playing to win you’d be well advised to look seriously at playing wrong, taking the smaller house edge, and grinding it out. Playing wrong and Laying Odds is considerably less popular with the Craps crowds, shaves the house edge to a minimum and is for players with a large roll and the patience to grind out the winnings over extended play.
A good craps strategy can turn a losing craps player into a winning craps player. Don’t walk up to the table without a strategy on how to play in mind.
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