Craps Game Rules

This is a good introduction to the craps rules and information about betting and placing chips on the table. This page is an especially important tutorial for learning how to play craps. When playing craps in any casino, the first thing a player must do is take a look at the table limits and get information such as the minimum and maximum bet. Once you buy your chips and have a bankroll, then you are ready to get started.

Buying Chips at the Craps Table

This may not seem like a big deal but it really is at land based casinos. Players can buy the chips right at the craps table at most casinos. The first thing you do is throw your money on the craps table and tell the dealer "change" and he'll change your cash into craps chips. You are not supposed to hand the dealer money or put it in his hands since he is not allowed to be touching the money.

The dealer then passes the money to a craps boxman who counts the cash and gives you the chips to play with. This is just part of the craps culture and craps etiquette, but also rules that the dealer must follow. Typically the minimum bet on a craps table is $5 but online craps has minimum bets of $1 and even as low as 10 cents.

Rules on Craps Bets

Now that you have your chips, you can begin making bets. There is also some etiquette involved with actually placing chips on the table. Players can put the chips on certain bets by themselves. A list of these bets is shown on the menu box just to the right.

You will see each kind of these bets painted in big letters on the table so you can easily see them. Can you spot these bets on the table below? If you would like to play craps on the table below in full screen, click on the picture below.

There are also numbered betting spots on the table but you have to put your chips on the table and call out your bet to the dealer or stickman who will then place your chips on the right bet. The same also goes for proposition bets as well. These are the limitations of the craps betting rules.

Right and Wrong Bettors

There are a two types of bettors playing on the table. A player is known as a right bettor if he is betting for the shooter to win. A wrong bettor is a player who bets against the shooter. You can pretty much figure out who is a right or wrong bettor by whether they make a pass line or don't pass bet. Players can also shout out if they are betting with or against the shooter as well

Craps Table Rules

A typical craps table has two dealers with a relief dealer, a stickman and a boxman. A craps boxman is similar to a pit boss. Basically his is an executive of the casino who supervises the craps tables, dealers and players. The boxman also settles any disputes and controls the cash at the table.

The dealer's job is to collect the chips that the casino wins from players and to break large denomination chips into smaller ones. Although the rules of craps bounds the dealer from directly handling cash from players.

Finally, the stickman has the most exciting job of the craps table. The stickman calls out the dice roll results and lets everyone know what's going on and helps control and organize the table bets. These roles aren't permanent as the dealers and stickmen change positions every so often.

Dice Falling Off Table - Bad Roll

The rules of craps say the dice may need to be rolled again if they land in the wrong spots or fall of the table. Some reasons for a "no roll" where the dice would need to be rerolled again would be dice rolling on the boxman's chips, landing on the railing and falling into the dice bowl. It is actually a big deal if the dice roll off the table or fly out of the box. In the past, players have tried to switch dice when this happens. The term for this is called a "switcheroo", where a player switches the real dice with loaded dice that can be used in craps cheating.