Craps for Beginners: One Good Bet on a Confusing Table
Craps is the game with the loudest table and the most intimidating layout. Online, with no crowd and no dealer shouting, it’s easier to see what’s going on — and to notice that most of the layout is a distraction from two or three good bets.
The basic flow
A round starts with the “come-out” roll of two dice.
- 7 or 11: pass line bets win.
- 2, 3 or 12: pass line bets lose (“craps”).
- Any other number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10): that number becomes the “point”.
Once a point is set, the shooter keeps rolling. Should the point come up again before a 7, pass line wins. However, if a 7 comes first, pass line loses. That’s the whole game.
The pass line
The foundational bet, paying 1:1 with a house edge of 1.41%. You win 49.3% of the time. “Don’t pass” is the mirror image — betting against the shooter — with a slightly lower edge of 1.36%, at the cost of rooting against everyone else at a physical table (irrelevant online).
Free odds: the only zero-edge bet in the casino
Once a point is set, you can place an additional bet “behind” your pass line bet. This odds bet pays at true odds — 2:1 on a 4 or 10, 3:2 on a 5 or 9, 6:5 on a 6 or 8 — so it carries no house edge at all. Casinos limit how much you can place relative to the pass bet (commonly 2x, 3x or “3-4-5x”).
Combining a pass bet with full odds reduces the overall edge to under 1% — among the lowest figures available anywhere. The catch: the odds bet is only available after a point, and it can only be placed in addition to a pass line bet, so the edge never reaches zero.
Come and don’t come
These replicate the pass/don’t pass bet mid-round, treating the next roll as a new come-out. Same edges, same odds-bet option. Useful for having several numbers working at once.
Place bets
Betting directly on a point number. Place 6 or 8 pays 7:6 (edge 1.52%); place 5 or 9 pays 7:5 (4%); place 4 or 10 pays 9:5 (6.67%). Only the 6 and 8 are competitive.
The middle of the table
Hardways, any seven, any craps, the field, horn bets. These single-roll and proposition bets carry edges from 5.5% to over 16%. They are where the table’s reputation for excitement comes from, and where its money goes.
Online specifics
RNG craps lets you play at your own pace with the odds limits stated clearly. Some live dealer versions exist, with a physical table and automatic dice-reading. Minimums are usually £1 on the pass line.
The two-sentence strategy
Bet pass line (or don’t pass), take maximum free odds when a point is set, and ignore everything in the middle. Everything else on the layout is optional, and almost all of it is worse.
Even with full odds the edge is positive. Set a session budget and treat craps as a low-cost game, not an income.
