Getting to the bottom of "How craps pays out?" comes down to two dice. Craps is a dice game played at a casino table, and the rules look harder than they are. What decides every bet is how two dice land, so the whole game works from one small table of combinations. Knowing that table explains what each wager pays, why some bets carry a far bigger house edge than others, and how to play without slowing the game for the rest of the table.
Two dice give thirty six combinations, and they are not equally likely. Seven turns up in six of them, six and eight in five each, while two and twelve have one apiece. Every payout on the layout follows from those counts. The first roll of a round, the come out, pays the pass line on seven or eleven and loses it on two, three or twelve, which is why the pass line is where most players start betting.
Craps also comes in other forms. A bubble craps machine shakes the dice under a clear dome and takes bets on a screen, with the same rules as the table. Crapless craps removes the losing totals from the first roll and pays for it with a higher edge. The all tall small bet, the meaning behind the letters ATS, is a side wager on rolling every small and every tall number before a seven. At home the game needs only two dice, and whether playing for money is illegal depends on local law, not on the dice.
Craps payouts vary more than in almost any other casino game, and so does the house edge. Pass and come bets pay even money with an edge a little over one percent, among the best odds on the casino floor. Odds placed behind the line pay at true chance and carry no edge at all. The horn bet, split across two, three, eleven and twelve, pays large multiples but keeps an edge above twelve percent.
An extra bet placed behind a pass or come bet once a point is set, paid at true odds with no house edge.
No. Strategy means choosing bets with a low edge and skipping the rest; the dice cannot be beaten.
Throw with one hand so both dice hit the far wall, place chips before the stickman calls the roll, and keep hands out of the way while the dice fly.
The pass line wins on seven or eleven on the come out, loses on two, three or twelve, and otherwise needs the point before a seven; come works the same way later.
A one roll bet split across two, three, eleven and twelve. It pays large multiples and keeps a high edge, like the other propositions.
Machine and bubble craps roll the dice in a dome without a crew, and crapless craps removes the losing totals on the come out, at a higher edge elsewhere.