How to Play Craps - The Bets and Process
There is a vast array of bets that you can make in Craps, but they fall into a few general categories.
Pass Line and Don't Pass bets: Betting on the Pass Line simply means betting that the shooter will pass on his or her current turn. On the contrary, betting on the Don't Pass Bar means betting that the shooter will not pass on his or her current turn (one important exception is that if the shooter rolls a 12 on the come out roll, you do not win with a Don't Pass bet). Betting the Pass Line makes you a "right" bettor, because you are betting with the shooter. Betting Don't Pass make you a "wrong" or "contrarian" bettor, because you are betting against the shooter.
Free odds: Suppose you place a Pass Line or Don't Pass bet and a point number is established on the come out roll. You now have the option of "backing up" your Pass Line or Don't Pass bets with free odds bet. These bets are situated just behind your original bet. The maximum amount of your free odds bets varies depending on your game settings.
Come and Don't Come bets: These bets are very much like Pass Line and Don't Pass bets. Conceptually, they are like starting a Pass Line or Don't Pass bet after the shooter has already established a point number on the come out roll.
To understand these bets, consider an example. Suppose you place a Pass Line bet and the shooter rolls a 9 on the come out roll. As explained above, your Pass Line bet will win if the shooter can roll another 9 before rolling a 7 on subsequent rolls. But now, after the initial 9 was rolled, supposed you place a Come bet by putting chips in the box marked COME. The Come bet is like starting a Pass Line bet in the middle of the shooter's turn.
Specifically, on the roll after you place the Come bet, if the shooter rolls a 7 or 11, the Come bet wins; if on this roll the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12, the Come bet loses. If the shooter rolls any other number, let's say it's a 5, the Come bet moves to the corresponding numbered box at the top of the table. In this case, you are now betting that the shooter will roll another 5 before rolling a 7. Now your Pass Line bet (hoping for a 9) and your Come number bet (hoping for a 5) are both active.
Don't Come bets are just the opposite of Come bets, betting that the shooter won't Come. Here the very top row of boxes is used to hold the Don't Come numbers. (Again, there is the exception that if the shooter rolls a 12 on the initial roll after placing your Don't Come bet, you do not win.)
Free odds: Free odds can be placed on Come numbers and Don't Come numbers, just as they can on Pass Line and Don't Pass bets.
Place bets: Here you place a bet on one of the numbers at the top of the table. You are simply betting that that number will be rolled before a 7.
Buy bets: Buy bets are variations of Place bets. They are positioned in the upper-third portion of the Place numbers boxes and are indicated with a "B". When you buy a bet, you pay 5% of the bet value to the casino immediately.
Lay bets: Here you place a bet on one of the numbers at the top of the table, and are betting that a 7 will come up before that number is rolled. They are positioned in the upper-third portion of the numbers boxes at the top of the layout and are indicated with an "L". When you lay a bet, you pay 5% of the bet value to the casino immediately.
One roll bets: There are a number of places on the table where you can bet that the next roll (whether it's a come out roll or not) will have certain values.
These include:
The bets in the area marked ONE ROLL BETS. Among these are betting on a 7, on a craps (2, 3, or 12), on a roll of 2, a roll of 3, a roll of 11, or a roll of 12. Placing a Bet on the area marked HORN BET is equivalent to placing one fourth of the bet on each of the adjacent number bets.
The bet areas marked C and E are simply another way to bet on a craps or an 11.
Placing a Bet in the box marked FIELD is betting that the next roll will be one of the numbers in the box.
Big 6 and Big 8: Here you bet that a 6 or 8 will be rolled before a 7 is rolled.
Hardways: In the box marked HARDWAYS you can bet that a certain number will be rolled as a double before a 7 is rolled, or before that number is rolled as a non-double. For instance, a Hardway bet on double 3s wins when double 3s are rolled, but loses when a 7 or any other 6 is rolled, such as a 5/1 or 4/2 combination.
Odds and Payouts for the Various Craps Bets
Pass Line Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 1.4%
Pass Line Odds Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 0%
Don't Pass Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 1.4%
Don't Pass Odds Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 0%
Come Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 1.4%
Come Odds Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 0%
Don't Come Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 1.4%
Don't Come Odds Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 0%
Place 6 or 8 Payoff: 7 to 6 House advantage: 1.5%
Place 5 or 9 Payoff: 7 to 5 House advantage: 4.0%
Place 4 or 10 Payoff: 9 to 5 House advantage: 6.6%
Any Craps Payoff: 7 to 1 House advantage: 11.1%
Two Payoff: 30 to 1 House advantage: 13.9%
Three Payoff: 15 to 1 House advantage: 11.1%
Any Seven Payoff: 4 to 1 House advantage: 16.6%
Eleven Payoff: 15 to 1 House advantage: 11.1%
Twelve Payoff: 30 to 1 House advantage: 13.9%
Hard 4 or 10 Payoff: 7 to 1 House advantage: 11.1%
Hard 6 or 8 Payoff: 9 to 1 House advantage: 9.0%
Big 6 or Big 8 Payoff: 1 to 1 House advantage: 9.0%
The Field Payoff: 1 to 1 or 2 to 1 House advantage: 2.8%
The numbers for the Buy and Lay bets take into account the 5% cost of making the bet.
Buy 4 or 10 Payoff: 2 to 1 House advantage: 4.7%
Buy 5 or 9 Payoff: 3 to 2 House advantage: 4.7%
Buy 6 or 8 Payoff: 5 to 4 House advantage: 4.7%
Lay 4 or 10 Payoff: 2 to 1 House advantage: 2.4%
Lay 5 or 9 Payoff: 2 to 3 House advantage: 3.2%
Lay 6 or 8 Payoff: 4 to 5 House advantage: 4.0%
When Craps Bets Can Be Placed and Removed
Pass Line place any time, cannot be removed
Pass Line Odds place behind established Pass Line bet any time except on come out roll, remove any time
Don't Pass Place on come out roll only, remove any time
Don't Pass Odds Place behind established Don't Pass bet any time except on come out roll, remove any time
Come Place any time except come out roll, cannot be removed
Come Number Odds Place behind established Come number bet any time except on come out roll, remove any time
Don't Come Place any time except come out roll, cannot be removed
Don't Come Number Odds Place behind established Don't Come number bet any time except on come out roll, remove any time
Place 6 or 8 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time
Place 5 or 9 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time
Place 4 or 10 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time
Any Craps place any time
Two place any time
Three place any time
Any Seven place any time
Eleven place any time
Twelve place any time
Hard 4 or 10 place any time, remove any time
Hard 6 or 8 place any time, remove any time
Big 6 or Big 8 place any time, remove any time
The Field place any time
Buy 4 or 10 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time
Buy 5 or 9 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time
Buy 6 or 8 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time
Lay 4 or 10 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time
Lay 5 or 9 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time
Lay 6 or 8 Place any time except come out roll, remove any time