When you are in a brick and mortar casino just walking around to take in all the sights and sounds, you may come across a hoard of people surrounding an enormous table of some sorts. These people will hoot and holler as they cheer and jeer to the outcome of a game. The game that can get people to congregate like this and produces so much energy in that crowd in craps. Now, in online casinos, there are versions of craps games for all us kiwis to enjoy, practice strategy, or even for beginners to learn the game.
Craps is a game with two dice, where the outcome of each role of both those dice determines whether you win or lose a bet you have placed before the roll. The online version operates exactly the same way as a physical casino with one tiny difference. That difference is that you do not get the tactile action of tossing the dice across the table. Instead, you just click the roll button and the software’s random number generator produces an outcome for each of the two dice completely at random. The results are the same, a random number is produced by adding up the sum of the two dice and an outcome is presented purely by chance.
The action-packed design of the way we play Craps is exciting and great for those who enjoy high energy games. There is plenty of build-up in anticipation with every single roll as you wait to see the outcome and whether your bets have won or lost or is En Prison until the next roll. If you are not familiar with all the Craps terms, do not worry. Stick around, cause we will try to explain briefly how Craps is played and offer a few key definitions to help clear up some gameplay for you.
How to Play Online Craps
To start a Craps game, you first have to choose a table to play at as many casinos have different styles of table setups. Some offer you a table all to yourself, while some newer versions provide you the ability to play alongside other players in a rotating action for who is shooter, but you can place your bets even if you are not the shooter on what they will roll in their shots.
Now, the betting is about to begin and that is where things get complicated, but do not worry because we will lay out the basics for you to understand what to bet and when. The first bet is the Pass Line and Don’t Pass Line bets. These are just betting on whether the shooter will come up with a Natural, Craps, or Point in their roll. The Don’t Pass bets against a Natural or Point roll and bets on the Craps roll happening, while the Pass Line bet is wagering that they will hit a Natural or a Point.
What the different rolls mean is simple. A Natural roll is when the shooters roll sums up to 7 or 11. In this case, they win automatically. Then you have a Point roll. This is when the shooters roll sums up to 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10. If this happens, then the point is set, and a marker shows up on the table in that number’s spot and the shooter gets to roll again. What they are shooting for now is for that same sum to show up again before they ‘seven out’ by rolling a 7. Finally, you have the Craps roll result, which is rolling a 2, 3, or 11 and in this case, the shooter loses along with the Don’t Pass Line bet winning.
Next, if the shooter is to continue rolling for the push of a Point roll where the shooter is to continue rolling, hoping to roll that same number again, then there are more side bets that can be placed. First is the Come Line and Don’t Come Line bets. These are very similar to the Pass/Don’t Pass bets of the original roll, except you bet that the shooter will either roll a Natural or Point is rolled. With a Natural, the Come bet wins. In the case of a Point rolled out, then that becomes the Come Bet Point and works just like the original point where you are betting for the shooter to roll that sum again before they seven out. The Don’t Come bet is betting that the shooter will seven out before landing a sum or landing a Craps roll right off the bat with a 2, 3, or 11.
Now, this may sound a bit confusing, but really it is not and you just need to play a few rolls to get the hang of it, and that is why it is great to find an online casino that will let you play for free for a little while before playing for real money, or you can use up part of your welcome bonus money but just make sure that Craps will count towards your wagering requirement before starting this route.
There are other side bets to be placed, and they are just as simple as the rest of them. They are called Proposition bets and include the Any Seven, Any Craps, Any Deuce, Aces, Boxcar, and Horns bets. We can place these bets on any roll of the dice, and the first three are self-explanatory and are just what they claim to be. The last three, however, go like this: the Aces bet is that the shooter will roll a 2, the Boxcar bet is that the shooter will roll a 12, and the Horn bet is that the shooter will roll any of the sums of all the Proposition bets except the Any Seven bet. So, if a shooter rolls a 2, 3, 11, of 12, then the Horn bet wins. As we claimed, these bets are straightforward.
The more complicated bets on the Craps table include the Hardways bets, the Place Bets, Field Bets, and the Big 6 or Big 8 Bets. First of these are the different Hardways bets. These are betting on rolling doubles of 2s, 3s, 4s, or 5s; so rolling a sum of 4, 6, 8, or 10 but only by rolling two of the same number. Also, in the Hardways bets, the shooter needs to roll these doubles before rolling any other combination that sums up to the same amount as the chosen bet or before they seven out. Basically, if you bet a Hardways 10, then you bet that two 5s will be rolled before any other combination that sums 10 (a 4 and a 6) or a sum of 7. They are individual bets, and you choose which of those for doubles you want to bet on.
Next comes the Place and Field bets. The Place bet is played once they have rolled the Point because after this happens you can make the Place bet of any number on the table you want and you bet that that sum will be rolled before a sum of 7 occurs. Then, the Field bet is only active for a single roll of the dice and is betting that anything besides a 5, 6, 7, or 8 will be rolled to win. If they roll if one of those sums, then the Field bet loses.
Finally, we have the Big 6 and Big 8 bets. In these bets, you are choosing to wager that they will roll a sum of 6 for the first one or an 8 for the second one before a 7 is rolled. Very simple and just like what their name says.
These are the bets, and how Craps is played. We hope we have cleared it up for you and that you will get out there and try the game if you have never played it, or maybe try new bets that you have never done before if you already have some experiences playing craps and know a little. Hopefully, this has helped and you will enjoy playing Craps now because it is an incredible game with so much action going on that it is overwhelmingly exciting at certain times. It is full of suspense and will have your heart racing. So, get out there and enjoy yourself a few rolls at the craps table.