Craps Guide and Player Bonuses

Oh Craps!

Craps is a fast paced game that involves lots of players and even more bets making it one of the most exciting games to play in a casino.  On this page, I explain the rules of the game. For those looking to play online I breakdown Craps bonus offers like no other site online. First, let’s learn how to play. If you are looking for the bonus info, skip the next section.

Play And Practice Online Craps Free Here:

 

How To Play Craps

Casino Craps is a popular table game that involves multiple players betting on different outcomes of the roll of two dice and there can be up to 10 players playing at once both betting for and against each others rolls.  Below I’ve provided an overview of how the game progresses and further on an overview of the different bets available.

  • The game begins with what’s known as the shooter who picks 2 of the 6 die on the table and performs what’s known as the come out roll to establish the point.  If the shooter rolls a 2, 3, 12 or a 7 or 11 no point is set on the come out roll, if they roll a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 then the point is established and further betting commences.
  • Betting before the come out roll is done either on the Pass Line or the Do Not Pass Bar, for Pass Line wagers, you are betting that the shooter will make their point before rolling a 7 and with Don’t Pass Bar you are betting against the shooter that they will roll a 7 before they’ve re-rolled the pre-established point.
  • Once the point is established, the goal is for the shooter to either re-roll the established point or another number that is not a 7, as this is known as Craps and will cause bets to be lost and a new shooter to be established.  If the shooter rolls the point before a 7, they will continue shooting another come out roll which will establish a new point and so on until they eventually roll a 7 before re-rolling the established point.
  • The game continues in this fashion with the shooter rotating clockwise around the table with a new shooter taking charge each time someone 7’s out or rolls a 7 before hitting their point or another number in the round.

Now that we know the basic premise of how a Craps game works we are going to look at exactly what type of bets can be placed throughout the game since there are quite a few options when it comes to the players bets.

Pass Line Bet – The pass line bet is placed before the come out roll and is a wager that says you think the shooter will roll the point before rolling a 7, this is one of the lowest house edge bets that can be placed in a Craps game.

Don’t Pass Bar – The opposite of the pass line bet, this means you think the shooter will roll a 7 before rolling their point during the round, be careful with this bet as you are essentially betting against your fellow players.

Odds Bet – Once the point has been established, players are allowed to place an additional wager known as an odds bet to backup their pass line or don’t pass bar bet. This bet can be between 1x and in some casinos 100x your original wager and is won along with your Pass Line or Don’t Pass Line bets.  The odds bet is a great wager to place since it virtually has no house edge but be careful as it can get quite expensive if you bet it often.

Field Bet – The field bet is located in the middle of the table and is a one roll bet, meaning it’s either won or lost on the next roll from the shooter.  To win the shooter must roll 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 2 and 12 usually pay double, players will lose this bet if a 5, 6, 7 or 8 is rolled by the shooter on the next roll made during the betting round.

Place Bets – Place bets are additional wagers that can be made at any point during the game and here you are betting on individual numbers being rolled.  Place bets can be made on 4 or 10, paying 9/5, 5 or 9 paying 7/5 and 6 or 8 paying 7/6 against your wager.  Place bets are continually paid to the player when hit unless the player rolls a 7 in which can they lose.  Place bet wins can also be added to existing place bets in order to increase your wager.

Proposition Bets – These are some of the worst odd bets in Craps but pay pretty nicely if you are lucky enough to hit them.  These wagers are single roll wagers and there are a few options including any craps (2, 3 or 12) which pays 8/1, any seven which pays 5/1, any eleven which pays 16/1 as well as any twelve which pays 36/1.

Hardway Bets – Hardway bets mean that you are betting a “hard” 4, 6, 8 or 10 will be thrown, hard means that it must be two of the same value, for example a hard 4 is throwing a set of 2’s. Hard 4 and 10 bets pay 8/1 and hard bets placed on 6 and 8 pay 10/1, this is a pretty hard bet to win and is not recommended unless you are winning.

Playing Online

Online craps is available on all online casino platforms. The game uses two virtual dice through a random number generator. The player makes their wagers and chooses the roll option. Dice are then rolled and bets are moved or paid according to the wager placed just as it would be in a live craps game.

Online craps is different than live craps in a few ways. Besides the obvious of using virtual dice, players have other options.

Online Craps Offers Proper Paybacks at All Wager Amounts

I feel that one of the best features of playing online craps is that the limits are much lower than you will find in any casino. This is true even for the Shoot to Win video craps machines that are all over Las Vegas. Most video craps games require a player to wager at least $1 to play. Most online casinos will allow a player to play for as little as $.25 per bet. Another benefit to playing online craps is that players do not have to bet in proper increments. For example, in a casino a player would need to wager $6 to place the 6 or 8 and receive the proper payout of $7. An online casino will pay players to the nearest penny. This helps players with smaller bankrolls receive proper odds on their bets to give them a better chance of winning.

Advantage Of The VIP Program

Another advantage of playing online craps is having that action apply to VIP programs that offer cash back. Virtually all Las Vegas casinos exclude video craps from their comps and cash back programs but that is not the case for most online casinos. Online craps players can expect to receive .1%-.2% of their action back in cash. This action will also help players progress through an online casino’s VIP program to higher tiers. As a player moves up they may receive higher cash back returns, better reload bonus offers or straight cash deposited into their account as a comp. Online casinos are able to do this because their overhead is much lower than brick and mortar casinos. They also do not have to provide food or hotel rooms to their players.

Player Bonuses

Craps is typically a game that is excluded from online casino bonuses. This is because a player that tried to abuse a bonus could bet both the pass and don’t pass at the same time. A player would lose one bet every 36 rolls with this strategy because the pass bet would lose and the don’t bet would push every time a 12 was rolled. This happens on average every 36 rolls. A bonus that had a lower wager requirement than 70x would make the bonus pay back more than 100% doing this.

Online casinos do not want to open their bonuses up for abuse so craps is typically eliminated for this reason. There is one craps bonus available. It is at WinPalace. The clear rate is just 30x, although a player using the above strategy could find that themselves in a position where their bonus is not honored as most terms and conditions will disallow this type of action.

  • One of The Best Known Online Casino Websites
  • Uses Micro gaming Platform
  • Play Craps Online With No Download Needed

 

Jackpot City Casino is one of the top gambling brands in the world and is particularly popular in Canada and Australia and Europe (They dont take UK Players) they offer a number of friendly deposit methods.  As a new member of jackpotCity Casino, you will be entitled to a 100% up to $1600.

Players that are wishing to play craps should almost always opt out of a bonus. That is because most online casino bonuses exclude craps. The problem is that a bonus is always applied at the time of deposit. If a player does not want to play the games that apply to the bonus, which are often slots, keno or high edge table games, the player could find themselves in a tough situation if they win. The casino will require the player to fulfill the wager requirement before cashing out. This means playing games that are typically undesirable for serious players. Players can avoid this by contacting the casino through live chat, phone or email. A casino is happy to remove the bonus upon request. A player that chooses to play without a bonus may cash out at any time without restrictions.

Some casino bonuses will allow craps for a small percent of total action. This could be between 1% and 25%. Players should consider these types of bonuses if they find a game that can be applied to the remaining wager requirement.

Video and Online Craps is Great for Player Returns

In addition to the proper payback on place bets, online craps and its video version offered in Las Vegas casinos pay comps to players that they may not otherwise receive playing live craps. Many Las Vegas casinos offer the video craps game known as Shoot to Win Craps. Most Las Vegas casinos stopped allowing cash back from these games but they all include the action when figuring comps. Online craps games are no different. Players will be able to receive upgrades in an online casino’s VIP program based on craps play and also receive a small cash back return. That is enough for me to enjoy online and video craps over the real thing.