There are a lot of bets you can make at the craps table, but there are five main bets it makes sense to know first as you learn how to play craps. Whether the action happens in a physical casino, or in the virtual environment (recommended), the principles and actions are essentially the same.

Main Craps bet list

* Pass
* Don’t Pass
* Come
* Don’t Come
* Place

Why don’t we talk about each of them, one by one, and what they mean to you:

* PASS LINE BET — In a Pass Line bet, you’re going to wager on the point being repeated before the shooter rolls a 7. If the come-out roll is a “natural” (which means it is either a 7 or 11), the players making a Pass Line bet are also going to win. However, if the shooter rolls “craps” (2, 3 or 12), the Pass Line bet loses. As you learn how to play craps you must understand that you cannot remove this bet from the table once the point has been established; however, you can add odds to it while play is going on.

* DON’T PASS LINE BET — This particular bet basically works in the reverse way of the Pass Line bet. In this instance, the player wagers that the shooter is going to throw a 7 before the point rolls (that is, before that specific point number is rolled again). In other words, the player is betting against the shooter; betting that he or she will lose. This is also the precise opposite of the Pass Line bet, in that it will actually win on the come-out roll if the 2 or 3 comes out (the 12, which constitutes the other part of ‘craps’ – produces a push, or tie). The bet will lose if the 7 or 11 (a natural) is rolled. And, unlike the Pass Line bet, after the point is established, this bet actually can be removed from the table.

* COME BET — You need to know the “Come” and “Don’t Come” if you are going to learn how to play craps. The “Come” is a bet that is made once the point becomes established. Here, the player places a bet in a box on the table that is marked “Come.” The shooter then rolls, and the bet is placed in the box that corresponds to the number that is rolled. If the player wishes, he or she can add odds to the wager. If the number rolls before a 7 is rolled, the player wins this bet. If the 7 comes first, the player loses the bet.

* DON’T COME BET — Like the “Come” bet, this one is made once the point is established. The player places a bet in the box on the table that is marked “Don’t Come.” The shooter rolls, and, like the Come bet, the dealer moves the bet to the box that corresponds with the number that is rolled. If that number is rolled before a 7 is rolled, however, the player loses. If the 7 comes first, the player wins the bet. In this way it becomes the exact opposite of the “Come” bet. You see how easy it is to learn how to play craps?

* PLACE BETS — This isn’t the racetrack, where the “place” bet payoff goes to the horse that came in second. In craps, this wager is called the “place” bet because the player asks that it be “placed” on a specific number or numbers. Using the place bet, the player can wager on a number, whether it was the point that was established in the game or not. If that number comes up before the 7 is rolled, the player wins. If the 7 rolls first, the bet loses. For wagers of twenty bucks or more, you can “buy” the number, where, in exchange for paying a small “vigorish” or commission, you can get a better payoff if you win. Please note that there may be small variations on all of this, depending on the peculiarities of the rules in any game you may be in.

Those are not all the bets you can make, but they are good enough to get you off and running as you learn how to play craps, one of the casino’s greatest games!

Learn more in our Craps Guide

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