The playing and gambling with dice is the oldest known form of gambling. It goes back into pre-history, but the game of craps today; still possess that excitement and anticipation of luck and victory.  And event though it is a fairly simple game there is no doubt that it is one of the most poplar games in the world.

Even better for a game of chance it has one of the best bets to play that will help you win and help you win big.  And that’s what it all about at the end of the day.  With some simple pointers included in the article below you are sure to have enough tips to have a great and exciting night playing craps.

Some basics of Craps– The Craps Table and Rolling the dice (and some of the terms)

The shooter (the guy that rolls the dice) stands at the end of an oblong table, covered in felt and marked with the various betting options. The shooters will throw the dice to the other side of the table and should aim at the wall on the other side of the table.

Coming out (your first roll) according to the rules state that if you roll a 7 or 11, you automatically win. If you don’t, but you roll a 2,3, or 12 then you lose. Its really that simple. However, if you roll any other number (4,5,6,8,9,or 10), that number will become your “point”. You then keep rolling until you ‘hit” (achieve) that number.

In this case you also win, unless before hitting that number, you roll a 7, whereby you instantly lose.  Take some time to understand that, it looks more complicated on paper.

How to bet correctly

Yet as simple as the above seems, to get a win is not so simple, otherwise the casinos wouldn’t have the game on the floor would they?

You have to bet correctly, and you must try to arrange the odds as much as possible in your favour. As a new player, you should try to hold back from field bets. Your only going to lose your cash, and lose it very quickly. Craps gives you an opportunity to arrange your odds unlike any other casino game.

How to bet and win

Take some time to examine the layout of the craps table, you will see clearly marked areas saying ‘pass’ and ‘don’t pass’. You are probably wondering what these mean, the pass bets win on coming out a 7 or 11.

Whilst the don’t pass bet wins when the dice come up a 2,3, or 12. If you get a 2, 3, or 12 on a first roll then this what is known as “craps”. Like I said earlier, there are lots of bets to make, but as you are probably a beginner, stick to this bet, which is what we call the ‘Free Odds’.

When and if you bet on the pass line, you can also place a bet on the Free Odds. As the casino has really no mathamatical advantage with this bet, its known as Free Odds. That is why you must also bet on the pass line, so the casino has some advantage (who will pay for the free buffet if the poor casino cannot make any money).

If the first roll is not Craps, or a 7 -11, then a point number is set. Having bet on the pass line, if a 7 or 11 came you won, if craps came you lost, so we assume neither occurred and you are now patiently waiting for the point. You can now also bet Free Odds with a bet equal to your pass line bet.

This is a great bet, because unless a 7 comes out now, you will win as the point is made. The chances are good that your point will arrive (known as ‘made’), before a 7 arrives. You will have won on the passline and on free odds bet too (woohoo!!!). The payout however will be adjusted to what the point was it was all based on odds.

Here is how that works.

The 4 and 10 are the easiest to make and thus the pay out is just 2 :1. Second hardest to make are the 5 and 9, and their payout is 3 :1. Now the 6 and 8 are the hardest to make, so their pay out is 6:5.

You may not understand exactly what you have gained by betting on the Free Odds in Craps, but trust me.  You have just doubled your winnings with a degree of safety that you wont see any other casino game.

As I said at the start, I am assuming that you are a just beginner at Craps, so please take my advice and refrain from the complicated bets while you are still learning.  The more complicated bets do pay out a lot more, but byt their very nature, they are more confusing, hard to achieve, and usually will see you lose.  Gambling like most things is always a risk and reward situation, you are risking not only your money but also your enjoyment for the night…..no one enjoys losing big.