Getting to the bottom of "Is craps easy to learn?" 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.
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 of more than twelve percent.
Craps is not a game of skill in the way a card game like poker is, because no strategy changes how the dice fall. The best strategy is simply choosing bets with a low house edge and skipping the rest. Over many rolls the game cannot be beaten and is not profitable for the player. It is fair in the sense that dice and payouts are fixed and public, and it is easy to learn one bet at a time.
More questions
How do pass line and come bets work?
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.
What is the ATS bet?
All, tall and small is a side wager on rolling every small or every tall number before a seven, with a large payout and a high edge.
Which craps bets have the lowest house edge?
The pass and come bets carry an edge a little over one percent, while the proposition bets in the middle run far higher.
Is there a strategy that beats craps?
No. Strategy means choosing bets with a low edge and skipping the rest; the dice cannot be beaten.
How do machine and crapless versions differ?
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.