Introduction to Craps The game of craps is played with two dice and played on a craps table layout. The game begins with a new shooter ( a player) being offered the dice by the stickman. The stickman will slide five dice to the new shooter and the shooter selects two dice from these. In order to roll the dice you must have a line bet down on the layout. Once you have selected two dice you may then roll them by tossing the dice toward the far end of the craps table. This first roll of the dice is called the comeout roll. On this roll if a 7 or 11 is rolled then the pass line bet is won. If a 2,3, or 12 is rolled this is called craps and the passline bet is lost. When a 7,11,2,3 or 12 is rolled then the next roll will also be a comeout roll and will continue until a point has been established. If a 4,5,6,8,9 or 10 is rolled then that number is your point. The shooter will now continue to roll the dice until the point is repeated or a 7 is rolled. The roll of a 2,3,11 or 12 will have no effect on the passline bet after a point has been established. When the point is repeated the pass line bets win and the shooter retains the dice and begins again with a new comeout roll. If a 7 is rolled before your point repeats then the pass line bet is lost and the dice will pass to the next player and they will begin the process again with a new comeout roll. This is the basic process of the craps game now to get into more detail. 
  The Craps Layout and Passline Below is a sample craps layout with the passline highlighted. In order to place a passline bet put the desired chips on the passline when a new comeout roll begins. This is a good time to mention the puck. The puck has two sides on one side is written "ON" and the other side says "OFF". When the dealer turns the puck from ON to OFF this is the time to place your passline bet and a new comeout roll will begin. The dealer will leave the puck on the "Don't Come Bar" when it is OFF and the come out roll is in process. When a point is established the dealer will turn the puck over to ON and place the puck on the point number that was rolled.  The Craps Layout If you win during this roll the dealer will place your winnings next to your bet. You must pick up these chips before the next roll of the dice or they will be considered a bet and be at risk. All winning passline bets are paid at 1 to 1. After a point has been established you may then make a backup or odds bet. You do this by placing chips behind your original bet and may be an amount up to the free limit. Normally this will be double the amount originally bet although a lot of frees are now offering greater amounts such as 10x odds or even 100x odds. The winning odds bet is paid at the true odds and is an excellent bet to make. The passline bet backed up with an odds bet is the closest bet you can make to being even with the house. If you play the passline with odds the house advantage is cut to less than 1%. A bet with 100x odds cuts the house advantage to less than .02% !!!