How to Play Craps Part I - The Pass Line

I'm doing this in installments, because damn it is a lot.

The pass line is the basic bet in craps. It is the game really and everything else is just a side bet. (Sure, there are hundreds of side bets.) So put some money on the pass line.

The first roll, aka the "come-out" roll determines the point. So the puck is black and not on a number. During this first roll, a 2, 3, or 12 will lose your money. A 7 or 11 will win. Now if one of those numbers just mentioned roll, the next roll is still a come out roll. Why? because there is still no point.

So, let's say a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 roll (they are the numbers across the top). Let's say a 5 rolls. The puck is turned to the white side on top of the five. This is the point. The only two numbers that matter is the five and the seven (Forget about 2, 3, 11, 12. They don't matter anymore). Now if five rolls again, you win and a new game is started. If seven rolls, you lose and a new game is started. That's it! When the point is 5 and 6 rolls, nothing happens to the passline bet; if 12 rolls, nothing happens to the passline bet.

What about the money you see people putting behind the line? That's a good question, I'm glad you asked. That is called odds and it pays differently depending on what number is the point. This is the best bet in the whole casino, because it is true odds. That means there is no house advantage on that bet. The house advantage is on the pass line bet. (Of course, this means you must have a pass line bet to place odds. Otherwise, how is the casino to make money).

Let's say they offer 6X 8X 10X odds like the Golden Nugget. That means you can place up to 6X your passline bet for odds on the 4 and 10, 8X the passline on the 5 and 9, and 10X on the 6 and 8. You don't have to know that, because you can ask the dealer everytime. So if you have $5 and the point is 5, you can bet up to $40 behind the bet (8X). If the casino offers double odds you can only place up to twice your passline bet for odds.

Because of the possible dice combinations, the payout on odds are different.
There are 6 possible combinations to roll a 7 on two dice.
There are 5 combinations for 6 and 8.
There are 4 combinations for 5 and 9.
There are 3 combinations for 4 and 10.

So those are the payouts for odds. The possibility of rolling a six before a seven is 6 to 5. Six combinations of 7 and five combinations of 6.
Thus for every 5 dollars you place behind a 6 you get 6 dollars.
Five and nine pay 6 to 4 or if you remember fractions 3 to 2. $6 would pay you $9. Even numbers are better or you get cheated out of 50 cents. $5 would pay you $7.50, but we don't have 50-cent pieces so you only get $7.00.
Four and ten pay 6 to 3 or better known as 2 to 1. $5 would pay you $10.

I know it is confusing, but it really does make sense, I promise you. It is easier to understand when you are looking at the game.

Response from mkhobson:

OK, the odds stuff sounds interesting. I am definitely going to try some odds betting next time we go to Spirit Mountain. What's the terminology you use? "Dealer, $5 on the passline and $40 in odds on eight"? How do you actually indicate the bet you want to place?

One night when we were playing craps, we were standing down by the end of the table, where the guy was actually rolling the dice. He had a bet on the pass line, and someone at the other end of the table threw money to the throwers end of the table and said "put some feet on that bet."

What the hell did that mean?

My response:

The odds are the game. You don't have to say a thing to the dealer, you just put it down. By the way, you can pick up the odds anytime, the pass line bet has to stay until it wins or loses.

The guy that said "put some feet on that bet" meant odds. He meant for the guy to put odds behind his bet (I say behind, but it is actually in front of the bet from your perspective). A lot of gamblers can't stand to see people play without odds because then the player ends up treading water at best.

The more correct way to say that would be to say "put some SHOES on that bet". Odds are often referred to as shoes.

That is different from when a player says, "Come on, Papa needs a new pair of shoes". In that case, they are expressing a desire to win to perhaps buy themselves some shoes.

My favorite way that I have heard to express desire to win is to name the restaurant that you could go to with your winnings. "Come on, I'm going to McDonald's". Then with more winnings, "I'm gonna supersize". Eventually, they work up to Black Angus and then some ritzy restaurant. I imagine it would eventually end up being a kitchen remodel, but I've never heard them get that far.