Craps Game - Free Play or Cash Match

The direct predecessor of modern craps was an English game called "Hazard". There is historical evidence that it was played by the soldiers in the twelfth century during the Third Crusade and that possibly the first English settlers on "Mayflower" brought it to America. English Hazard became very popular in New Orleans around 1800, where French called it craps. After that rules and odds changed many times and a few new variations of the game popped up which were simpler and faster than original Hazard.

Finally, John H. Winn revolutionized the game and made it possible for the craps players to bet right and wrong. He improved a layout accordingly and drew a space for Don’t Pass bets. In 1931 casino gambling was legalized in the State of Nevada and Casino Craps (Las Vegas style) became popular all over the world.

Craps is one of the more exciting games in the casino and you’ll probably recognise the game as being one of the loudest because where ever there’s a Craps table there always a lot of excitement and yelling. Craps is also one of the best player games because the house edge is so low as opposed to other casino games. The casino has little control over where or how the dice will fall so you can win a lot of money if you know what you’re doing.

Craps is one of the easiest games to play in a casino and though many will offer various strategies for winning, like everything else you only really get into it when you play it yourself. Craps is a game of chance and is played on a large sunken table with a pair of dice that are thrown by the Shooter. The objective is to bet whether the Shooter will roll a winning combination.

The game is played on a table using two dice. Craps dice are rolled together every round and are summed up. A craps dice outcome that results in 2, 3, 7, 11 and 12 has special meaning. A craps dice roll can be either hard or hard or soft. Hard roll is when both craps dice roll out the same value; any other roll is called soft. For instance, when craps dice rolls out 4 and 4, it's a hard roll, and when it's 5 and 3, it's a soft roll. Hard rolls and soft rolls are craps terms that are needed to understand craps bets.

The craps game revolves around most common craps bets - the ‘pass line’ and the ‘don't pass’ line. Whenever one of them wins, the other one loses. Pass/don't pass line bets are even bets which means that the player who wins on a pass line or don't pass line bet gets his bet back and also collects an amount equal to the winning bet.

In the beginning of every craps round, initial bets are made. You can only bet on pass/don't pass bets at this point. The craps player then shoots the first roll, which is called the "comeout". If the "special" numbers - 2, 3, 7, 11 or 12 - are rolled out, one of the simple bets wins. When a craps bet wins, the round is considered over.

There is so much more to craps that the explanation of the game could be quite lengthy so why not have a go for free and practice using one of our play tables where you can learn the game and develop your skills before hitting the table for real!