What are the craps numbers: an overview

Answering "What are the craps numbers?" 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.

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 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.

Common questions

Who works at a craps table?

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.

How is a field bet settled?

A field bet covers a group of totals and is decided on the very next roll, winning or losing in that single throw.

What beats a hardways bet in craps?

A hardway such as hard six needs two threes, and it loses if a seven or the easy version of that number, like five and one, lands first.

What ends a craps round once the point is set?

The shooter keeps rolling until the point repeats, paying the pass line, or a seven arrives first, which is a seven out and passes the dice on.