How to Win More at Live Craps at BTC Casinos

Where to Play Craps for Bitcoin Online with Tips for Winning More Often

Craps is one of those casino games that individuals either love or hate. If you’ve never played it, you either desperately want to learn the rules, or feel too intimidated to even try. I hope you’re here out of a genuine desire to learn and play craps, but if you’re among the second category, we’d like to help remedy that too.

The very first thing you need to know is that craps isn’t nearly as hard to play as it appears! Second, it’s just as fun as those raucous crowds make it look. Yes, there are a lot of betting sections on the table, and that certainly makes it seem like too much to remember when you’re playing for the first time. The good news is, you can get in all the practice you need online, with no other people around, no clocks ticking down to the next roll, and without putting real money on the table.

Before we jump into the rules section, please take a moment to view our table of contents. Once you know how to play, we’ll also give you pointers on playing craps with perfect strategy, where to play online, and how to bet on craps with Bitcoin and other crypto currencies.

Table of Contents

• Rules of Craps
• Optimal Craps Strategy
• Craps Casinos Online
• Bet on Craps with Crypto

How to Play Craps – Rules, Objective and Paytable

The easiest way to learn craps is to separate the table into sections. The most basic Pass Line/Don’t Pass and Come/Don’t Come bets are located on the outside edges. These are the ones you need to learn first and foremost. In fact, a lot of players – smart players, at that – stick to these outside wagers, never dropping chips on the inner betting section. That’s because the house edge only gets worse as you move inward, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Before you place any bets, you need to understand who rolls the dice, and what happens when they do. Which brings us to…

Object of Craps – The Shooter Controls the Flow

The Shooter: The player who is rolling the two dice is called the ‘shooter‘. Their first roll is what we call the ‘come out roll‘. The sum of the dice on the come out roll will either win, lose, or establish a ‘Point‘. Here’s what happens, based on the total of the two dice thrown:

• Total 2, 3 or 12: The shooter, and all who bet with the shooter (Pass Line), lose. A new come out roll is tossed.
• Total 7 or 11: The Shooter, and all who bet with the shooter (Pass Line), win. A new come out roll is tossed.
• Any Other Total: The total of the dice becomes the Point. The shooter continues rolling until…
  • Point Comes Again: If the Point rolls again, the shooter, and all who bet with him (Pass / Come), win. The same shooter will toss a new come out roll.
  • 7 is Rolled: The shooter ‘Craps Out’. He and all who bet with him (Pass / Come) lose. The dice are passed to a new shooter, who will roll a new come out roll.
  • Any Other Total: Nothing happens. The same shooter rolls again.

There are plenty of other bets to be considered, but the primary object of the game is to bet with or against the shooter. Which brings us to…

Betting on Craps: Pass-Come | Don’t Pass-Don’t Come

If you’re not the shooter, you have a choice to make. You can either bet with the shooter, or against the shooter. If you’re wagering in person at a live craps table, you may want to go with the shooter. You don’t have to, but most players feel it’s bad luck to go against, and will give you nasty looks if you do. One perk of playing online is the lack of eyes upon you, making it easier to bet however you wish.

The Do’s and Dont’s of Craps…

Pass Line: A Pass Line bet is a bet with the shooter, placed before the come out roll. If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11, you instantly win. If the shooter rolls a 2, 3 or 12, you instantly lose. When the shooter rolls anything else, it establishes the Point, and your bet is converted to a Come Bet.

Come Bet: This is a bet with the shooter that the Point will roll again before a 7 is rolled. This bet will remain in place, roll after roll, until one of those two things happens. If the Point is rolled first, you win. If a 7 is rolled, you lose.

Don’t Pass Line: A Don’t Pass Line bet is a bet against the shooter, placed before the come out roll. If the shooter rolls a 2, 3 or 12, you instantly win. If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11, you instantly lose. When the shooter rolls anything else, it establishes a Point, and your bet is converted to a Don’t Come bet.

Don’t Come: This is a bet against the shooter that a 7 will come before the Point rolls again. This bet will remain in place, roll after roll, until one of those two things happens. If a 7 is rolled first, you win. If the Point is rolled, you lose.

All Pass, Come, Don’t Pass and Don’t Come bets pay 1:1, even money.

Field Bet

A Field Bet is a single wager on a group of numbers. It is a single-roll bet, meaning that it will be won or lost on the next roll. If any number in the field is rolled next, you win. If any other number rolls, you lose. Numbers in the Field include:

2 – 3 – 4 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12

A win on 12 pays 3:1, win on 2 pays 2:1, all others pay 1:1, even money.

Place Bets

A Place Bet is like a Come Bet except that, instead of hoping that the Point will roll again, you get to choose which number you think will come before a 7. Place bets will remain active until they are won or lost. You can put one or more wagers on any of the individual numbers shown in the Place Bets section of the craps table. These numbers include:

4 – 5 – 6 – 8 – 9 – 10

A win on 4 or 10 pays 9:5, win on 5 or 9 pays 7:5, win on 6 or 8 pays 7:6.

Place Bets to Lose

This is the exact same thing as a Place Bet, except that you’re betting a 7 will come before the chosen number (as opposed to the chosen number coming before a 7). These are easier bets to win, so the payouts are heavily reduced. Eligible ‘Place to Lose’ numbers and payouts are as follows:

4 – 5 – 6 – 8 – 9 – 10

A win on 4 or 10 pays 2:5, win on 5 or 9 pays 4:7, win on 6 or 8 pays 4:5.

Big 6 and Big 8

A bet on Big 6 or Big 8 is almost exactly the same as a Place Bet on 6 or 8. The win conditions are the same. When you bet on Big 6, a 6 has to roll before a 7 to win. A bet on Big 8 means an 8 must roll before a 7. The bet remains in place until one of those two things happen.

The big difference – and it is a BIG one – is that you will win less money on the Big 6/8. Place Bets pay 7:6 for 6 or 8, while Big 6 and Big 8 only pay even money, 1:1. Can you say “sucker bet!” boys and girls?

Hardway Bets

A Hardway bet is a wager that a specific number will roll in the form of a double, known as the “hard way”, before a 7 is rolled. These are standing bets that remain on the table until won or lost. Optional Hardway bets include:

4 (2+2) – 6 (3+3) – 8 (4+4) – 10 (5+5)

A win on 4 or 10 pays 7:1, a win on 6 or 8 pays 9:1.

Proposition Bets

A series of proposition bets are available in craps. They are all single-roll wagers, meaning they are won or lost on that same roll. Options include:

• Any 7: Wins if the next roll is any 7; pays 4:1.
• Any Craps: Wins if the next roll is a 2, 3 or 12; pays 7:1.
• Ace-Deuce: Wins if 1+2 (3) is rolled next; pays 15:1.
• Any 11: Wins if 11 is rolled next; pays 15:1.
• Aces: Wins if 1+1 (2) is rolled next; pays 30:1.
• Boxcars: Wins if 6+6 (12) is rolled next; pays 30:1.

Complete Craps Bets Paytable with House Edge

We just went over all of these bets individually. This next chart consolidates all the bets into a full craps pay table with house edge. This will come in handy when we get to the next section on Craps Strategy.

Craps Strategies to Win More Often

If you take a close look at the paytable above, you’ll notice that the lowest house edge of 1.36% is available on Don’t Pass / Don’t Come bets. It is only 0.05% lower than the Pass Line / Come Bet, but when it comes to casino gambling, every little bit counts. Thus, we can conclude that the best strategy for craps is to go against the shooter. Betting with The Dark Side, as some like to call it.

If you’re playing in a live setting, you may choose to bet with the crowd, which is surely going to be with the shooter. Everyone cheering together for the same hopeful outcome does create a much more communal and jovial atmosphere. Either way, be sure to look for the option to Take/Lay Odds on your Pass/Come bets.

Craps Odds – The More The Merrier!

The most important part of any good craps strategy is the ability to take or lay odds; the higher the better. Some casinos will let you bet odds of 2x or 3x, while others give you a max of 5x, or 10x. This multiplier relates to the amount of extra money you can place on top of your come/don’t come bet, after the Point is established. At a 5x odds craps table, if you bet $10 on the Pass Line, you can wagers odds of up to (5 x $10) $50.

Am I Taking or Laying Odds?

There’s no big difference between Taking or Laying Odds. If you bet the Pass Line (with the shooter), you can Lay Odds. If you bet Don’t Pass (against the shooter), it’s called Taking Odds. Same thing, different name.

How Do Craps Odds Work?

What gives Pass/Don’t Pass bets the majority of their house edge is the fact that they can be lost before a Point is established. Once the Point is established, the odds on your Come/Don’t Come bet can be reduced by increasing the size of that bet. This is essentially what we’re doing when we lay or take odds.

There is no house edge on your odds bets. Thus, the higher the odds you get, the lower it drops the house edge on the Come/Don’t Come standing wagers. At just 1x odds, Come drops from 1.41% to 0.85%, while the Don’t Come drops from 1.36% to 0.83%. At 5x odds, the edge drops to 0.326% and 0.227% respectively.

Again, the higher the odds multiplier, the lower the edge, but don’t get ahead of your bankroll. 5x odds on a $10 bet is an extra $50. At 10x, that’s an extra $100 on the table. Most of us can’t afford that kind of short-term action. So if you’re going to be taking high odds, make sure your original bets are small enough to protect your bankroll.

Prevalence of RNG and Live Craps Online

As popular as craps is at land-based casinos, it doesn’t garner quite the same appeal online; at least, not for genuine fans of the game. The enthusiasm and excitement of the crowd is completely lost in translation. Plus, players never get a chance to be the shooter, since the dice rolls are all automated. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of online gamblers that don’t enjoy it. And for that reason, the vast majority of online casinos do offer it.

What we don’t see nearly as much of are live dealer craps games. And when it comes to crypto casinos, the odds of finding craps is cut by half, while live dealer craps is virtually non-existent. I say virtually, because we did manage to find one, and at a highly reputable, Canadian-facing crypto casino, no less (see Play Craps for Bitcoin below).

Easy Practice, Free and Clear

If you’re looking to familiarize yourself with the rules of craps, online casinos are the best place to do it. You can sign up a free account and play to your heart’s content, never wagering real money unless you choose to. The RNG-casino environment means there’s no one else there to intimidate you or hurry you along. It’s just you and your computer monitor or mobile screen, tapping away until you’re comfortable enough to up your game, online or in person.

Play Craps for Bitcoin and Altcoins

If you’re looking to play craps for Bitcoin or any other crypto currency, your options are more limited. In our experience, only about half of crypto casinos offer the game, either in RNG or Live Craps format, but rarely both. The list gets a whole lot smaller when we weed out the less reputable and/or unlicensed operators, many of which don’t even accept Canadian players.

Please refer to the chart below for crypto casinos that fit this criteria. We’ve taken the time to research which casinos offer which type of craps games, and which types of crypto currencies are accepted, as well as fiat currencies where applicable. Please click on the name of any casino for a more detailed review by our editing team.