Craps
Craps is an unusual dice game that can be played with other players as well as a bank. It is a simplified version of the old English game called ‘Hazard’. There are a lot of debates regarding its origin. The game dates back to the Crusades and was later influenced by the French gamblers. It was brought to New Orleans by Bernard Xavier, the scion of a wealthy Louisiana gambler and politician. The game was originally known as ‘Crapaud’, the French word for toad. It owes its present day popularity from the African-American community.
Craps is a game of two dice. A player may wager money against each other, the other players are called ‘street craps’. Money can also be wagered against a bank, the game is then called ‘bank craps’. The dices being the basis equipments, it doesn’t require exemplary formal settings. It is believed to be very popular among the soldiers. Bank craps involves a game played with one or more players against a casino. All the players’ bets at the table are covered by the casino. The player who rolls the dice is known as the ‘shooter’. Every player takes his turn in rolling it. The other players call their bets on the shooter’s dice rolls. The first roll of every new round is known as the ‘come out roll’. The player who wants to be the shooter is required to bet the table minimum on either the ‘pass’ line, which means ‘win’, or the ‘don’t pass’ line, which means ‘don’t win’ bets.
The game begins with the ‘stickman’ putting down five dice and the shooter picks up two of them. If the shooter’s come out roll happens to be 2, 3 or 12, the round ends immediately and it is called ‘craps’. The players lose their pass line bet. If the dice result is 7 or 11, the round is called ‘natural’ and eth players who made pass line bets win. When 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 are rolled on the come out roll; the number is called a ‘point’. The shooter re-rolls the dice in an attempt to roll the same point again. If he succeeds, the players who had bet the pass line wins.
A casino craps table is run by four individuals. There is a ‘boxman’ to guard the chips, to supervise the dealers and also handle coloring out players. There are two ‘base dealers’ stand on either side of the ‘boxman’ to collect and pay bets. Then there is the ‘stickmen’ who announces the result of each roll and collects the dice. He stands directly across the table.
The different types of bets are: Fire bet, Line bets, Pass odds, Don’t pass odds, Come bet and Don’t come bet. There are also single roll and multi-roll bets.
There are certain unwritten rules apart from the actual rules of the game. They are called etiquette and are considered as important guidelines.
There are several betting strategies employed in the game of craps. They are:
The Martingale system – only in craps the wagering system can consistently beat the casino games. Here the player starts his bet with a certain amount and double it whenever he loses. If he wins, he starts back with the initial amount.
The Free Odds basic Strategy – these are continuation bets paid at true odds and they are the best available bets in the casino.
The Iron Cross – this betting pattern allow the player to win every roll which is not a seven.
The Gambler’s Fallacy – its more of a psychological strategy. Its like the crap player bets on 11 if it has not appeared too often in the recent 20 rolls.
The Parity Hedge System – this is a mathematical impossibility. It is a hoax promulgated by the Quatloos.
Dice setting or Dice Control – this involves in ‘setting’ the dice in a certain manner such that they do not easily tumble. It is to ascertain the probabilities of each outcome. It’s manipulative and the casinos take a lot of precautions against this.
