Craps is a popular dice game typically played in a casino as well as informal settings. It is played with a pair of dice in which players bet on dice rolls. When one is playing Craps, money is then wagered against either the casino or the other players in the game. When someone plays against the other players outside of a casino setting, it is called street craps. Street craps can be played in any informal setting (i.e. on the sidewalk or “street”, hence the name) because it does not require much equipment to play, other than dice and players with money in their pockets.
History
Craps history, like many age-old casino games, is comprised of several theories on where the game originated, making it a bit hard to decipher the exact origin of the game. The game of Craps likely developed over time and involves a little bit of all these widely believed theories. Some theories suggest the game is based on the Old English game called Hazard and a French game called Crabes. Bernard Xavier Phillipe, a Louisiana gambler and politician, introduced the game to New Orleans, Louisiana around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. There was however a problem with this version of the game in that it was easily manipulated so that players could use fixed dice to cheat and push the odds in their favor. In 1907, John H. Winn created an updated version of the dice game that included a “don’t pass bet” area, making the game more akin to Craps as we know it today, and also eliminating the fixed dice problem.
How to Play Craps
Craps can be played online or in a real casino, and it is one of the easiest casino games to learn. Depending on where you’re from, you can even play Craps at a number of different BlackBerry casinos. It is a simple game and maintains only a few basic bets that one should grasp to get started playing Craps, namely the “passline” and “don’t passline” bets. However, one should note that there are more than 40 additional Craps bets, some of which are more complicated than others. These bets will need to be learned and mastered with time, and thus, new Craps players should steer clear of the more complex betting options offered at the Craps table. Eventually, with practice, additional bets will be learned and result in a deeper understanding of the game for more established Craps players.
Passline Bet
A passline bet is an even money bet. This means that the amount you bet is the amount you stand to win. The player rolling the dice is referred to as “the shooter.” Prior to the shooter rolling his “come out roll” (first roll), the other players in the game are given the opportunity to make a passline bet on the shooter’s come out roll. For these other players to win these passline bets, the shooter’s come out roll must reveal a 7 or an 11 (these rolls are referred to at the Craps table as a “natural”); a natural automatically doubles the passline bet value(s) of the other players.
If the shooter’s come out roll results in a 2, 3, or 12, referred to as “craps,” the passline bets are lost. In the event that any other number is rolled (1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10), that number becomes the “point number” and the shooter then hopes to roll that point number again for the win before he rolls a 7. If a 7 is rolled, the passline bets lose.
Here’s an example:
The shooter’s come out roll shows a 3 and a 5, resulting in a total of 8. Eight then becomes the point, and the dealer will indicate this by placing a marker on the number 8. If the shooter rolls an 8 again before a 7 or an 11 is rolled, the passline bets win.
