The craps tables are probably one of the loudest and most fun places in a casino. Unlike poker or blackjack, where players focus on the game and winning strategies, craps is more of a collective game. Everyone at the table can win, just like everyone at the table can lose. With an almost 50% chance of winning, craps players enjoy more winnings than your average slot machine player, and their wild cries of joy are proof to that.
While the excitement at the craps table is the reason behind many players’ decision to learn how to play this game, the intimidating look of the craps table itself, with its many unfamiliar numbers and symbols is the reason preventing many of them to actually carry on with their decision.
The game looks pretty complicated. I mean why would you need up to 4 staff members for a single table if it’s not a complicated game, right? Well the truth is that craps is pretty easy to learn. The staff members are there because each of the up to 20 players can bet multiple bets, so they need to be there in order to make sure that everything is done to the casino’s standards of quality. This is even more important considering that craps is the fastest casino table game. A craps table can see as many as 100 dice rolls per hour. That’s pretty huge!
Because of the speed of the game, the house settles for a pretty low profit margin, one of the lowest in casino games. After all, happy players will play more, which will increase the house’s profits.
Although there are over 40 bets you can make, most of them have pretty bad odds. This is why, in order to start playing craps you only need to know about the passline bet.
Placing a passline bet means that you’re betting the roller will get either a 7 or an 11. If he does, then you win. If he rolls a 2, a 3 or a 12, then you lose your money. Any other number, called point number, leads to repeated dice rolls, until the outcome is either the point number, or seven. In case the player rolls the point number first, you will get the value of your bet back. If he rolls a 7, you lose your bet.
If you wish to complicate things a little, you can choose to place an odds bet. Odds bets are placed once the point number was rolled. You bet on twice the amount of your passline bet in order to increase the payout if the player rolls the point number. If the point is 6 or 8, you get paid 1.2 times the value of the bet. If the point is 5 or 9, you get paid 1.5 the value. For 4 or 10, you get paid twice the bet value.
Craps is a really easy and fun game to play once you get the hang of it. Many casinos offer free tutorials for craps, and we can only encourage you to take advantage of such opportunities. You will probably not regret it.