Best Online Craps

Playing Craps: An Overview

High energy, fast paced and glamorous: For many, the craps table is symbolic of casinos and what they represent.  In the movies when you see a busy casino table with lots of lively players crowded around, chances are you are looking at a Craps table.

Until relatively recently Craps was the most popular casino game.  The game of Craps itself originates from France and is less than two hundred years old.  However it is widely believed that the roots of Craps go back to an English game called Hazard, and some trace it back even further to an Arabic game called Azzahr.  The name Craps is said to come from ‘Crabs’ – a French nickname given to the game of Hazzard.  With the recent surge in popularity of Blackjack and Poker, the game of Craps has taken a back seat in the media spotlight.  Despite the ease of playing online Craps, it is overshadowed by the more popular card games.  However it still continues to represent classic casino good times when it does show up on the big screen. Craps was perhaps most famously featured in the movie Guys & Dolls, but also can be seen in films such as Iron Man, Snakes Eyes, Hard Eight, Oceans Thirteen and The Big Town.

How to Play Craps: Rules & Strategy

Despite the common perception that Craps is a game with very high stakes (which it can be depending on how you bet), Craps can actually be one of the most risk free games with one common bet option having a house edge of as little as 1.4%.   If you are not familiar with the rules, a Craps table can seem intimidating; however it’s a surprisingly easy game to understand.   Playing online craps will allow you to practice at your own speed. There are a few basic Craps rules that need to be learned, and after that you’re ready to roll.

Moving in a clockwise direction, players take turns to roll two dice.   In a traditional casino, as many as five dice will be pushed towards the person whose turn it is, but they should only take two with one hand.  The dice should be thrown hard enough to bounce off the end edge of the table.  Most tables today are double layouts - at the center on one side is the stickman and the dealer.  The stickman pushes the dice towards the person whose turn it is, and calls out the results of each roll.  The boxman is usually opposite the stickman and he takes the money from the dealers and oversees the game.

The player whose turn it is to roll the dice is known as the shooter. His first roll of the dice is known as the ‘come out’ roll.  Throwing two dice, if he rolls a 7 or 11, he and any other players who bet with him, win.  If he rolls a 2,3 or 12, he and any players who bet with him loose.  If he rolls any other number, then that number is known as the ‘point’.  He must then continue rolling with the object of rolling that ‘point’ number again (a win) before throwing a 7 (a loss).

Shoot Craps Online: Tips to Win: Roll the Bones

The best tip for players new to the game is to stick to the basic bets.  These bets are not only relatively simple to grasp, but they also offer amongst the best odds you will find in any casino, land based or online.  Online Craps tables are an ideal place to learn the basic Craps rules, simply because you can control the pace, this is also best felt when playing in australian online casino sites.

The most common type of bet in Craps is a ‘pass line’ bet. This is a bet with the shooter, if he wins, so do you.  Before the ‘come out’ roll, you place your bet on the pass line area of the table.  A 7 or 11 mean a win and a 2, 3 or 12 mean you loose. If any other number is rolled it means that a ‘point’ has been established.  If a point number is rolled again before a 7 then you win, but if a 7 is rolled first, then you lose.  The opposite of this bet is a ‘don’t pass line’ bet.  This means that you are betting on the exact opposites of a ‘pass line bet’ – You are betting against the shooter, and so a 7 or 11 mean you lose and a 2, 3 or 12 mean you win.

The other types of common bets on a Craps table are a ‘Come’ bet and ‘Don’t Come’ bet.  They work in the same way as Pass/Don’t Pass bets and offer the same excellent odds with a casino edge of only 1.4 and 1.41 respectively.  The difference is that this bet is placed after the Come Out is rolled.  Once a Point has been established on the Come Out roll, players can place a bet in the ‘Come’ area of the table. On the next roll, a 7 or 11 wins, a 2, 3 or 12 loses, and any other number rolled becomes the Point, which needs to be rolled again, before a loosing 7, in order to win.