Answering "How craps pays out?" starts with the shape of one round. Craps is played with two dice and a crowded layout, and almost all of it makes sense once that shape is clear. One player throws, everyone at the table may bet, and the round runs from the first throw to the moment the table either repeats a number or rolls a seven. The bets printed around the layout are answers to what can happen inside that sequence.
The round opens with the come out roll, thrown with the marker sitting off to one side. A seven or an eleven wins immediately for the pass line, the bet most players make first. A two, a three or a twelve is craps and loses it. Any other total — four, five, six, eight, nine or ten — becomes the point, and the marker is turned over onto that number to show the round is under way and that the next throws answer to it.
A come bet starts the same sequence over for one player in the middle of a round. Placed after a point is set, it treats the next throw as its own come out, wins on a seven or eleven, loses on craps and otherwise takes a point of its own. The don't come bet mirrors it in turn. Several come bets can sit on different numbers at once, which is why a busy layout carries chips on more than one box.
Behind a line bet a player may add odds, an extra wager that pays at the true chance of the point repeating rather than at even money. It is capped as a multiple of the original stake, and the multiple is set by the house rather than the player. Odds is the one wager on the table carrying no built in margin, which is why the cap exists and why a line bet must be placed first.
A seven or eleven wins at once for the pass line, while two, three or twelve is craps and loses it; any other total sets the point.
A field bet covers a group of totals and is decided on the very next roll, winning or losing in that single throw.
A boxman supervises the bank, two dealers handle bets around the layout, and a stickman moves the dice and takes calls on the one roll propositions in the middle.
A place bet on a chosen number stands until that number is rolled or a seven arrives, whichever comes first.