Craps 101 - The Dice

Did I say that craps was the most exciting game in a casino? It is also the most intimidating and hardest game to get a grip on (with the exception of Pai Gow Tiles). The layout features up to 16 people, 4 casino workers, and a myriad of different betting options. It is very difficult to explain what is going on. Indeed, the game is different from any other game in the casino because of all of the betting possibilities. But once you get started and get the hang of it, you'll get used to all of the commotion and love the game (and hate it at the same time).

Craps is offered at all of the casino resorts (Rama, Windsor, Niagara, Fallsview) and at Thousand Islands and Brantford. It is not at Great Blue Heron. I am not sure if it is in place in the Soo, Thunder Bay, or Point Edward. Thousand Island's craps table is open only from Thursdays to Sundays. Casino Niagara opens their craps table at 4pm on weekdays and 2pm on weekends. As far as I know, Rama, Fallsview, and Windsor operate their craps table around the clock.

The basic concept is that you are betting on throws of the dice. There are two six sided dice and so the probability of throwing a certain number is well known, as you add the two numbers to get the result.

There is one way to throw a 2 or a 12 (1-1 and 6-6)
There are two ways to throw a 3 or an 11 (1-2, 2-1, 6-5 and 5-6)
There are three ways to throw a 4 or a 10 (1-3, 2-2, 3-1)
There are four ways to throw a 5 or 9 (1-4, 2-3, 3-2, 4-1)
There are five ways to throw a 6 or 8 (1-5, 2-4, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1), and
There are six ways to throw a 7 (1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1).

Craps is all about betting on a roll or a set of rolls.

The casino obviously knows this as well and sets the table up in a fashion where you never have an advantage, where what they pay you for the roll that you are betting on is always less than the true possibility of throwing that number, and that's how the casino makes there money. In general, all casinos operate the craps table the same with a few exceptions, and since I am talking about casinos operating in Ontario, I will talk about their rules.