Dice is one of the oldest gambling games in existence, and Craps, in its
present form, is probably the most exciting Casino game offered. As a bonus,
it offers players some of the best odds of any game. Possibly the only other
games of chance which offer similar odds are Baccarat and EXPERTLY played
Blackjack. Don't fool yourself by concluding you are a Blackjack expert...
It requires a thorough knowledge of procedures based on the Dealer's exposed
card, while in Craps, gaining reasonable odds requires only the knowledge of
which bets to avoid. A disadvantage of Craps (or an advantage, based on your
point of view!) is that it is a fast game. Large sums can be won or lost
quickly, especially compared to any card game. This can be moderated by your
style of play. Craps can appear intimidating, but is in its basic form a
simple game. When a game begins and the dice are "Coming Out", you are
hoping (with a Passline bet) that the shooter will roll either a 7 or
an 11. If he succeeds, your Passline bet is doubled and returned to
you. If the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12, ("Craps"), you lose your
Passline bet, and another game begins. Any other roll becomes that
shooter's "Point", and Passline bets are frozen. The shooter continues
to roll. If he succeeds in rolling his Point BEFORE he rolls another 7,
all Passline bets are winners, and the dice are once again coming out.
If he rolls a 7 before he again rolls his Point, all Passline bets are
losers. This is the dreaded "Seven Out". An example: Carol approaches
the Craps table and notices that the dice are coming out. She places a
Passline bet, and rolls the dice. The outcome of the roll is a "5".
This is now her point. Carol rolls several more times, and manages to roll
another 5 before a 7 appears. Carol wins, as do all players who played the
Passline. Notice that the only possible Points are 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10.
While an actual Casino Craps game has a LARGE number of bets which are not
simulated here, these bets, with the exception of the "Don't" bets (don't
pass and don't come), favor the house by a large amount... typical proposition
bets (hardways, Craps-Eleven, etc) are losers by a 12% to 15% margin.
Passline bets with odds and Come bets with odds, by contrast, favor the house
by only 1.4%! In a nutshell... AVOID proposition bets if you want to win!
The next time you are playing in a real casino, listen to the barking of the
Craps dealers and the Stick Man as they aggressively peddle the proposition
bets. They do this for a reason! Since "Don't" bets (Don't Pass and Don't
Come) are essentially the converse of "Do" bets (Pass and Come bets), they
are ommitted from this game for the sake of simplicity.
See "Coming Out"
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Coming Out
A Craps "hand" begins when the dice are "coming out". This means a Point
has not been established, and players are allowed to place Pass bets and
Field bets. You can tell when the dice are coming out in several ways:
The most obvious... Players are actively placing Pass bets; the point marker,
which has "OUT" on one side and "POINT" on the other, is off of the
field of play with the "OUT" side showing; and the Stick Man is soliciting
bets with a "Coming Out!" call. Place your Pass bets and Field bets at
this time. Normally, players at a game take turns rolling the dice, with
each player continuing to roll until a Seven-out is thrown. The dice then
pass to the next player in a clockwise direction.
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Pass Bets
The Pass bet is the basic bet in a craps game. You place a Pass bet by
setting your chips in the area of the table labeled "Pass".
A 2, 3, or 12 (Craps) come out roll will result in the loss of your Pass bet.
A 7 or 11 (a "natural") is a winning roll. Any other roll becomes the
"Point", and only if a shooter rolls his point again before another 7 will
your Pass bet be a winner. The table minimum is all that is required, but
optimum betting will usually require a minimum of $3 to allow the placement of
Pass odds. You may place a Pass bet prior to ANY roll of the dice, but it is
foolish to do so unless the dice are coming out. The reason... for the actual
coming out roll, the odds favor YOU, the player, with a passline bet. After
the point is established, the House has the edge. It is for this reason that
you are allowed to place a Passline bet at any time, but are not allowed to
remove a Passline bet once a point has been established.
See "Basic Craps".
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Come Bets
The Come bet is another variation of a Pass bet, except the come bet is placed only after the point is established. Place your Come bet, as a stack of
checks (the proper name for "chips"), in the area labeled "Come". If the next roll of the dice is a 7 or 11, your Come bet is an even money winner... 2, 3, or 12, a
loser. Note that the rules for winning is the same as the come out roll for the Pass bet. With any other roll, however, your Come bet is moved to that
number. The next time that number is rolled, your Come bet (at that particular number) is a winner!
If the shooter rolls a 7 (seven out), the "numbered" Come bet is lost, and the dice are
coming out. Like the Pass bet, you cannot remove a Come bet after it has been placed.
Note that if you play several Come bets in a row, during a long "hand" (many rolls before the seven out), you will maintain your
positions on the numbers, and it is during these long hands that the big bucks are made.
See "Odds Bets".
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Field Bets
The Field bet is probably the simplest bet at the Craps table. It may be
placed at any time between rolls, and the very next roll determines the
outcome of the bet. Notice the numbers contained within the "Field" on the
table... if any of these numbers are rolled, your bet is doubled and
returned to you. The rare 2 and 12 rolls are rewarded with a 2 to 1 payoff.
If you are intimidated playing a real Craps game, the Field is a good
place to start while observing the flow of the game. The House advantage
on the Field bet is approximately 5.6% when the 2 and 12 are doubled.
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Odds Bets
Playing odds is probably the most confusing part of Craps for a beginner,
but it provides the best return for you in a mathematical sense.
You may play odds only after a point has been established. Everyone knows
that 7 is the most probable roll, and as you deviate from 7, the occurrence
diminishes. For example, a 5 is less common than a seven. If a shooter's point is a 4, it is only fitting that he
should be rewarded if he rolls another scarce 4 before the more common 7.
You can realize this reward through the passline odds bet, which is nothing
more than a certain pile of checks placed just behind your passline bet.
The House will pay the following on an odds bet if the shooter rolls his
point. For a 4 or 10: 2 to 1. For a 5 or 9: 3 to 2. For a 6 or 8: 6 to 5.
A typical House will allow 2X (2 times) odds, which means your odds bet
cannot exceed 2X your pass or come point bet. Here are two examples: You
bet $5 on the passline, and the shooter rolls a 4. You may now place a
$10 maximum odds bet. The shooter rolls his point, and you will recieve
$10 for the passline bet, and your odds bet, at 2 to 1, will yield $30
total. If the shooter loses (rolls a 7 before a 4), you lose your pass
bet AND the odds bet as well. The second example can be trickier... you
place a $3 pass bet, and the point rolled is a 6. Notice that the House
pays 6 to 5 on an odds bet when the point is 6 or 8. If you place the
legal limit bet of $6 (remember, 2X odds) the house will not pay you
6/5 x 6, which is $7.20. It will round down to $7, since they don't want
to mess with petty change. To maximize your winnings, make your 6 or 8
passline odds bet a multiple of five as close as possible to the 2X limit.
If your pass bet is $3 and the point is 6 or 8, $5 is the best odds bet.
(6/5 of $5 = $6, plus your original $5, = $11 total for the odds portion of
your bet.) Placement of odds for your come bets is done in a similar manner.
After the Come bet is moved to a number, determine the amount of your bet and
place the checks on the table. Ask for "odds on the eight" (or whatever the
number). The dealer will move the checks to your bet.
Unlike the straight Pass and Come bets, odds may be removed at any point
in a game. For your Pass odds, simply remove them from the table. For the
Come point odds, ask the Dealer and he will return them to you. Don't
reach for them, or the Craps crew will get very excited!
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Place Bets
Place bets are a simple way to get in on the action immediately without
having to place several successive Come bets. Place bets may be placed at
any time... however, unless you direct otherwise, they are not "working"
on the comeout roll, and only pay (and are at risk) after a point has been
established. Place bets are played ("placed") directly on the number you
believe will be rolled before a 7-out. To place a bet, announce "$6 on the
eight", or whatever number you wish to play. If that number is rolled
before a seven, you are a winner. Typical payoffs are 9 to 5 on the four
and ten, 7 to 5 on the five and nine, and 7 to 6 on the six and eight.
The House advantage on these bets are 6.7%, 4.0%, and only 1.52%
respectively. Obviously, you do much better on Place bets if you concentrate
only on the six and eight.
Note that you will not realize these percentages if you play an incorrect number of
chips. Like odds bets, the house will not deal in partial payoffs, and will
round down to the nearest whole unit. For example, if you bet $5 on the
six and subsequently win, the payoff, at 7 to 6, should be $5.83. You will
recieve only $5 for this bet. To realize proper payoffs, the Place bets on
the six and eight should be in multiples of six units. At a $1 minimum
table, this would be $6, with a payoff of $7 at the 7 to 6 odds. The other
numbers should be placed in multiples of five units. A popular bet at $1
minimum tables is "$32 across the board." The dealer will divide your $32
as follows... $5 each on the 4, 5, 9, and 10; and $6 each on the 6 and 8.
This is the minimum necessary to realize proper payoffs for winning rolls.
After a place bet wins, you have three options... Same bet, Press, or Down.
Most casinos will automatically pay you the winnings, which is the "same bet"
option, but some will add the winnings to the place bet and thus more than
double the bet at that particular number. At these tables,
if you do not make your intentions known, the winnings, along with the
original bet, will ride. Large amounts of money have been made by persons
not keeping track of place bets and subsequently being taken on a long ride.
Calling "same bet" will retain your original bet and pay only the winnings
to you. "Press" will retain enough of the winnings on the number to produce
a bet in a proper multiple and return the remainder to you. For example, a
$6 bet on the eight will yield $13 total at 7 to 6. Call "press", and the
dealer will give you $1 and retain $12 on the six, effectively doubling
your original bet. Several "presses" and some hot dice can yield a large
payoff. "Down" will remove your bet and any winnings and return it all to
you. Place bets may be taken down at ANY TIME.
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Game Initialization
When the game is started, it will initialize functions to default settings.
Bets will start at $5, and automatic features are turned "off". It will
also search for the file CRAPS.HLP, and if it is not available in the
same directory as CRAPS.EXE, a warning will be issued if you attempt to
access help. A third file, CRAPS.INI, contains data written to disk by
the Save Game feature. Save Game will take a "snapshot" of your current
game and save it to disk, to be later restored with the "Restore Game"
function found under "Files" on the main menu bar. "Save Game" has two
primary uses... it will save a winning game allowing later reconstruction
if the dice turn cold, and it will also save preset bets and automatic
betting functions. The best way to access the latter feature is to start
the game with a preferred amount of cash, set your automatic bets to your
liking, and then "Save Game" prior to the first roll of the dice. You
can cheat with "Save Game", but why play a game of chance when there is no
chance? One further word... if CRAPS.INI does not exist, the game will
attempt to create one. If this fails, an error message will be issued
allowing you to correct any system faults (write protect, disk full, etc).
Three failed attempts will disable the "Save/Restore game features for the
remainder of the session. The game also includes features which will hopefully
add to the flavor of playing craps but which can, on slower PC's especially,
result in unacceptably slow play. Handling of your banked chips can be
eliminated by clicking "Chip Handling" under "View" to the off (unchecked)
position. Your chips will no longer accumulate or decrement as play
proceeds. You may reinitiate it later, if you wish. The chips visible on
the maximized (full screen) game accurately represent your remaining cash.
The "whites" represent $1, the reds or "nickels" are $5 each, and the
blues are $100 each. The screen holds exactly $8708. Any additional
chips are held in reserve, off screen, and are added as needed. Change
is made automatically as you bet. The dice may be eliminated from the
display by clicking "View", and "Dice", to off (unchecked). You will have to
rely on the dealers calls to determine the roll if you elect to remove the
dice.
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Placing Bets
You may place a Pass, Come, or Field bet two ways... Click the appropriate
button, or click the playing field where the bet would normally appear.
In both cases, a pile of checks will appear with the amount of your bet
represented by a number next to the check pile. Additional clicking will
add to the amount. If you desire to remove a bet once it has been
placed, clicking with the right mouse button on the bet will take that
bet down if legal to do so. For example, clicking on a Pass bet with the
right mouse button AFTER a point has been established will have no effect, as
will clicking (again, with the right mouse button) on a
Come bet which has been moved to a number (a Come Point). Straight Come
and Field bets may be taken down with the right mouse button prior to the
dice roll. When in doubt, clicking a bet with the RIGHT mouse button will
remove from the table as much of the bet as is legal. The amount of each bet
is set with the Set Bet window, available from the main menu bar. To
summarize... the LEFT mouse button is used to place bets, and the RIGHT mouse
button is used to remove bets. The game will determine the legality of the
request according to standard Craps rules. See "Setting Bets".
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Rolling the Dice
The easiest way to roll the dice is to click the "Roll 'em!" button. You may
also click on the dice themselves. If you like a bit of anticipation, select
"View" and "Animate" from the main menu bar for some simple animation.
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Placing Odds Bets
Playing odds on a Pass bet is accomplished by clicking with the left mouse
button on the Pass bet AFTER the point has been established. Clicking on the
Pass bet PRIOR to a point being established results in additional cash being
bet as a basic Pass bet. Depending on the option selected for your odds
betting method (discussed in the "automatics" section), you will either see
an immediate odds bet placed for you, or a dialogue box will appear prompting
you for information. Placing an odds bet on your Come bet (note: they must
have been moved to a number) is similar... click on the bet with the left
mouse button, and you will be prompted for your odds bet.
See "Odds Bets" under "Craps Rules" for more detail.
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Removing Odds Bets
Odds on either the Pass or Come bets may be taken down anytime. Clicking on
any bet with the RIGHT mouse button will remove the odds and return the odds
bet to your cash total. Odds may be replayed later by re-initiating an odds
bet on that particular Pass or Come bet.
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Setting Bets
Clicking "Set Bets" on the main menu bar will display an interactive window
which will allow you to set your desired bet amount for the Pass, Come,
Field, and Place bets. Bets may range from 0 to $10,000. If your cash
is less than $10,000, the maximum bet that may be entered for all bets is
reduced to your cash level. For example, if you have only $250 left, the
maximum bet which may be set is $250. For the Pass, Come, and Field bets,
you may set the bets directly in the text window, and then use the modifier
buttons to quickly adjust the size of the bets. For the
Place bets, you may select from the available buttons or enter the amount of
your bet directly in each text window. All of the bets have "modifier"
buttons which consist of "/2" and "X2", and the Pass, Come, and Field bets
have "+" and "-" modifiers as well. These will adjust the bets to your
likeing. The "X2" and "/2" modifiers are especially useful in two
circumstances... when the dice turn hot or cold you may increase or reduce
your bets immediately and easily; also, modification of your Place bets is
simplified. By selecting "32 across the board" and then clicking "X2", you
can rapidly increase the level of these bets and still retain favorable
payoff multiples. See "Place bets" under "Craps rules" for a detailed
explanation of these often confusing multiples.
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Place Bet Functions
Place bets may be played with the numbered buttons on the control panel
labeled 4 through 10. Clicking one of these buttons will place a bet for
you on the appropriate number with a pile of white checks. Don't confuse
this bet with a moved Come bet, which is red. The amount of the bet is
set with the Set Bets window, available from the main menu bar. Default
is "32 across the board". Specific values can be entered directly in the
Place bet windows. These values may be modified with the "/2" and "X2"
buttons as well. When one of your Place bets wins the winnings are payed,
but remain on the number. The dealer will announce "Same bet, press, or
down?". Additionally, the corresponding number button on the control panel
will be replaced with a yellow "Place Winner" placard. The three option
buttons on the bottom of the control panel will become enabled. If nothing is
done prior to the next roll, the entire bet plus its winnings will ride. This
is not the smartest option, as the new bet may not be of a proper multiple to
allow correct payoff. Pressing one of the three Place bet option buttons will
perform the desired function. For a detailed description of "Same bet,
press, or down" options, see Place bets under the "Craps Rules" category.
Note: Place bets can be taken down any time with a click of the RIGHT
mouse button on the desired Place bet.
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General
All of the "automatic" betting functions are accessed with the "Options" selection on the main menu bar. The drop-down choices include
Automatic Pass Bets, Automatic Come Bets, and Automatic Odds. The first two are checked "toggled"
(either ON or OFF). The last will, when selected, display a window of three choices, allowing several options to play
your various odds bets. When first learning the game of Craps, I recommend remaining with the default (all automatics OFF)
to allow you to become familiar with how Craps is played. As you become more experienced, the automatic functions will
speed game play and reduce the tedium of setting large numbers of bets (Odds bets, especially).
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Automatic Pass Bets
The automatic Pass bet will, when selected, play for you your preset Pass bet whenever the dice are coming out. (The optimum moment to bet.)
Note that in an actual Casino, you must play a Pass bet to roll the "bones" when it is your turn. Go ahead and
roll the dice... it's a lot of fun!
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Automatic Come Bets
The automatic Come bet will play for you your preset Come bet when a point has been established. This is useful for establishing a "presence"
on what you hope will be a long hand. With either automatic bet function, you may add to the bet that the computer has played for you in the
normal manner, namely, clicking on the bet after it has been placed. This will add another of your preset "units" to the bet already placed
by the automatic betting function.
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Automatic Odds Bets
Selecting "Automatic Odds" from the "Options" menu will display a
window of choices from which only one in each field is selectable at a time.
The choices include MANUAL (default), MAXIMUM ON CLICK, and FULLY AUTOMATIC.
The MANUAL function is described under Game Play, "Placing Odds Bets". In
summary, clicking the bet will display an interactive box to allow you to
set your odds bet. MAXIMUM ON CLICK is a useful setting, allowing you to
place your odds bet with a single click of the left mouse button on the bet
you wish to place your odds upon. This will
place for you the maximum (2X) odds bet, cash permitting. If a less-
than-maximum odds bet exits, it will be increased to the legal maximum. If
you desire to play less than maximum odds, you must utilize the MANUAL
setting for your odds betting. Remember, the right mouse button will remove
any odds bet played previously. Note... It is not legal to place a Come
odds bet on a Come bet which has not yet been moved to a number.
