How to play craps

Craps looks chaotic because the table is covered in bets you will never need. Underneath it is one simple loop: a come-out roll, a point, and then a race between that point and the 7. Learn the loop and the rest of the felt is optional.

1. 1

   The come-out roll

   Every hand starts with a come-out roll. Put a chip on the pass line first. That is the bet almost everyone at the table is making.

   Roll a 7 or 11 and the pass line wins even money immediately. Roll a 2, 3, 12, called “craps”, and it loses. Anything else (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) becomes the point.

2. 2

   Chasing the point

   Once a point is set the shooter keeps rolling. The pass line now wins if that point comes up again before a 7, and loses if the 7 arrives first. That is it: everything else on the table is a side bet on the same sequence of rolls.

   When a 7 ends the hand it is called a seven out, the dice pass to the next shooter, and a fresh come-out begins.

3. 3

   Take the odds

   After the point is set you can back your pass line bet with odds, placed behind it. Odds pay true odds of 2:1 on the 4 and 10, 3:2 on the 5 and 9, and 6:5 on the 6 and 8, with no house edge at all.

   It is the only bet in the casino with a zero edge, so it is the one worth maximising. A standard table allows 3-4-5x: three times your line bet on the 4 and 10, four on the 5 and 9, five on the 6 and 8.

4. 4

   Come bets put more numbers to work

   A come bet is a pass line bet made mid-hand. The next roll acts as its own come-out, and whatever it lands on becomes that bet's private point, so the main point plus several come points can all be working at once, each backable with odds.

5. 5

   Place bets pick your own numbers

   Rather than waiting for a come bet to travel, a place bet puts money directly on a number. The 6 and 8 pay 7:6 and carry only a 1.52% edge, which makes them the best place bets on the table. The 4 and 10 pay 9:5 at a 6.67% edge, so buy them instead and pay the 5% vig.

6. 6

   Know which bets to skip

   The centre of the table (any seven, the horn, the hardways) pays the most and costs the most. Any seven alone carries a 16.67% house edge, the worst bet on the felt.

   A solid default: pass line, maximum odds, and one or two come bets or a place 6 and 8. That is roughly a 1.4% game. Everything else is entertainment.