Craps: An Introduction to the Game

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Welcome to our introductory craps page. We'll start with the very basics of the game and explain how you would make your first bet. Before reading this page we highly recommend you download Golden Palace Online Casino's software and start up a free play session. This way you can practice as you learn, and our examples will be easier to understand.

The first bet for players is most often the 'Pass line bet', and it's made by placing your chips in the large band that runs around the outside of the table with the word PASS written in it. The pass line bet is placed in anticipation of the 'come out roll'. The come out roll is the first roll of a session. Since there is no one else playing playing along with you while you are online, it may be difficult to tell if a session has begun. There is one sure way to determine if the session has started already, or if you are currently on the come out roll. Just like in land-based craps games, there is what is known as a 'puck' on the table at all times. This puck has the word 'OFF' written on one side, and the word 'ON' on the other. If the session has not yet started and we are on a come out roll, the puck will not be on the playing surface and it will be 'OFF' side up.

The major premise of the game of craps revolves around the two states that a game can be in. These are: with a session started (the puck is on the board and set to ON), or with a session not started (the puck off the table and set to OFF). During a come out roll the session is not started. This is when we place our pass line bet.

With our pass line bet in place, the come out roll is thrown. If the total of the two dice adds up to any of 2, 3, or 12 on the come out roll, the session resets and all pass line bets lose. However, if the total on the come out roll is a 7 or an 11, the session resets and all pass line bets win. If any other number is thrown, the session has started and the dice total becomes known as the 'point number' for the remainder of the session.

To help visualize things, have a look at our session flow diagram:

If a point number is set, pass line bets neither win nor lose; they simply stay in place with their fate to be determined later in the session. At this point it is common to back up your pass line with an odds bet. Commonly called 'placing odds' or 'placing free odds', this type of bet is particular to craps, and what you are doing in effect is backing up a previous bet with more money. Only a couple of bets can be backed up with free odds, and the most common is our pass line bet.

To back up your pass line bet with odds after the point has been set, put more chips just below the pass line, as though you were placing them just off of the playing board, behind your initial bet. This becomes your odds bet, and it is literally the best bet in the casino. The house edge on a pass line bet is quite low to begin with, and gets lower the more odds you back it with. Free odds bets are paid back at even odds, meaning for the odds portion of your bet you will be paid exactly what probability suggests you should, the house has no edge whatsoever. The catch is that to place that odds bet you must place a negative expectation bet before hand (the pass line), and then back it with odds. This is why the pass line bet, which already has a nice low house edge, in combination with free odds, is often considered the best bet in the casino.

You'll notice in our session flow diagram that after a point is set it says we are 'shooting for the point now'. This is how a session progresses. Let's say a six was rolled on the come out roll, so the point number for the session is now six (you'll see the puck flip to the ON position and move over to the six printed on the craps table). For our pass line bet to win, the shooter must roll a six again before they roll a seven. The session ends when the shooter either hits their point, or hits a seven. Hitting the point number again makes pass line bets win, but hitting a seven first makes all pass line bets lose.

As you can also see from the diagram, the shooter continues to throw the dice until they either hit the point number, or hit a seven. In the meantime any other number can come up, and we can place all sorts of bets on these rolls.

Now that you understand how to place a pass line bet and know what a session is, you can play a basic game of craps. Learning to place more bets on the table will be simple once you understand how to place your pass line and pass line with odds bets. To learn about each of the other bets available on the craps board, and whether or not they are a good idea, read our craps rules page. Do this while playing our free version of the game and you can discover exactly what you are allowed to do and not do, and read all about which bets are favorable. To download our free craps game click the "play now" graphic at the top of this page.

Craps:

Free craps play introduces more to the game The online world is having a noticeable affect on the gambling industry, as more and more people look to the Internet to learn or improve on their craps game.

Playing craps - always a learning experience: Playing craps can be described in a number of different ways: fun, exciting, exhilarating, and sometimes, quite frustrating. Although there are many craps players in the world, few call themselves experts, and fewer still truly are.

How to play craps - learning online is easy For years craps has been considered the most difficult game to learn how to play. Many gamblers have known this to be a bit of a pity, understanding just how entertaining and simple the game is once you've gotten used to it, but concede that it must appear intimidating to the novice.