Atlassino Academy · Craps · Lesson 1 of 12
The craps table and its crew
A craps table is the same layout painted twice and a busy middle. Here is what each area of the felt is for, whose hands put the chips down on it, and what each member of the crew does.
You walk up to a craps table for the first time. Which parts of the felt can you put chips on yourself, and which ones does the crew put chips on for you?
The short answer
The areas right in front of you are yours: the pass line and the don’t pass bar along the rail, the field, Big 6 and Big 8, and once a point is set the come box and the don’t come bar. The six numbered boxes are the dealer’s to set up when you ask, and every bet in the middle of the table goes down by the stickman. The middle is also where the dearest bets on the table are painted.
A drawing of one end of a craps table and the middle. The strips along the players’ edge, the Field, Big 6 and Big 8, the Come box and the Don’t Come Bar are coloured as areas players put chips on themselves. The six numbered boxes along the dealers’ side are coloured as the dealer’s. Every box in the middle is coloured as the stickman’s.
- You put the chips down yourself · 6 areas
- The dealer sets the bet up · 6 numbered boxes
- The stickman puts the bet down · 11 spots in the middle
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
The first thing I learned at a craps table was not a bet but a map: which part of the felt belongs to whom.
Learn one end of the table and you can read the whole table. Learn whose hands go where, and you will never reach across somebody to put a chip on a box that was never yours to touch.
Two ends and a middle
A craps table is one long table with the same layout painted at each end and a box of the stickman’s bets in the middle. The layout is the same at every craps table; the limits and the amounts are what change from table to table. A table takes no more than sixteen players, eight at each end.
Each end of the table carries eight kinds of area:
- Pass LineA bet with the dice, made before the come-out roll; lesson 5.2 follows the bet from the first roll to the end.
- Don’t Pass BarA bet against the dice, the other side of the Pass Line; lesson 5.6 takes the bet apart.
- ComeA bet that works like the Pass Line but starts once a point is set; lesson 5.5.
- Don’t Come BarThe other side of Come, made once a point is set; lesson 5.6.
- FieldA bet settled on the very next roll, one way or the other; lesson 5.8.
- Big 6 and Big 8A bet that a 6, or an 8, comes before a 7; lesson 5.8 sets its price beside the place bet on the same number.
- The numbered boxes: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10The place numbers: a bet that the number comes before a 7; lesson 5.7 pays the bet the way the dealer does.
- The middle of the tableThe one-roll bets, the hardways and hop bets, all in one box for the whole table; lesson 5.9.
The crew, and what each one does
Four people work a craps table: a stickman, two base dealers and a boxman, with a floorman over the table.
The shooter at the left end throws the dice towards the far wall at the right end. The stickman watches the base dealer at the end where the dice land, and the boxman watches the base dealer at the other end; when the dice go the other way, the two ends swap.
- S · The stickmanBrings the dice back with a curved stick and offers the shooter five dice, of which the shooter picks two. Calls every roll twice, saying hard or easy where that applies, sets the speed of the game, and takes every bet in the middle of the table.
- D · Two base dealersOne at each end. Each marks the point at that end and helps players with spots on the felt they cannot reach.
- B · The boxmanBetween the two base dealers, watching the base dealer at the end away from where the dice land.
When the come-out roll sets a point, the stickman announces the point and makes sure both base dealers mark the correct point. Marking the point is the rulebook’s way of putting it; the round disc with “off” on one side and “on” on the other, called a puck, is the name training guides give the marker. What the point is, and how a hand runs from the first roll, is lesson 5.2.
Only the crew and the shooter touch the dice. Throwing the dice is lesson 5.10.
Whose hands put the chips down
Some areas of the felt are yours to reach: you put the chips down yourself. Every other bet goes down by the dealer or the stickman, and you ask for that bet out loud.
Your own hands
- The Pass Line and the Don’t Pass Bar
- The Field
- Big 6 and Big 8
- Come and Don’t Come, once a point has been set
You reach the area and put the chips down yourself.
The dealer’s hands
- The six numbered boxes: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10
You hand the dealer the chips and name the number; the dealer sets the bet up in a spot that matches where you stand, and gives back any change.
The stickman’s hands
- Any 7 and Any Craps
- The 2, 3, 11 and 12
- The four hardways
- Hop bets
You call the bet; the stickman puts the chips down in a spot that matches where you stand, and a hop bet in front of the boxman.
The three columns follow the rules BCLC publishes for its casinos.
One bet has no column: the odds a player adds behind a line bet. The rules leave open whose hands put the odds chips down, so no answer is given here; odds are lesson 5.4.
The middle of the table is the dearest part
The middle of the table is the stickman’s box, and the figures painted there are the biggest on the felt. A bigger figure in the middle comes with a smaller chance of the bet coming in.
Each bar is the share of every bet the table keeps on average, over many bets: the longer the bar, the dearer the bet. Big 6 and the place bet on 6 are bets on the same number at different prices, and lesson 5.8 takes that pair apart.
The line bets along the rail are among the cheapest bets on the table. A one-roll bet in the middle is settled on every roll it stays up for, so its price comes round far more often than the price of a line bet; what that does to an hour is lessons 5.8 and 5.9.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
The loudest bets are in the middle. They’re also the dearest. When the stickman calls one out across the table, the answer can simply be no, thanks.
Decide how much money the evening gets before you walk up to the rail, and stop when that amount is gone. A bet in the middle to get back what is already gone only buys more of the dearest part of the table. If the money on the felt starts to feel like money you need, the lines below are there for exactly that.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. 19+ in most of Canada; 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. More on responsible gaming.
Practice: name the area
Two kinds of moment, mixed. In one, four areas of the felt carry letters and the names are hidden: find the area you are asked for by where the area sits. In the other, one area is marked by name: say whose hands put the chips down there. Level 1 stays with the line and the field; level 2 covers the whole table, the numbered boxes and the middle included.
Nothing is bet here and nothing is thrown. The table in the practice is our drawing of one end and the middle, and a real felt prints its own words on every area; the practice hides them so that the places stick.
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Level 1 · The line and the field
One end of the table and the middle · the names are hidden
The names are hidden. Which letter marks the Pass Line?
- Area A Area A is the Don’t Pass Bar, the narrower strip just inside the long outer strip. A bet against the dice, the other side of the Pass Line; lesson 5.6 takes the bet apart.
- Area B Area B is the Pass Line, the long outer strip that runs along the players’ edge of the table and turns up the end wall. A bet with the dice, made before the come-out roll; lesson 5.2 follows the bet from the first roll to the end.
- Area C Area C is the Field, the long box just inside the two strips along the players’ edge. A bet settled on the very next roll, one way or the other; lesson 5.8.
- Area D Area D is the Come box, the wide box above the long Field box, in the middle of this end of the table. A bet that works like the Pass Line but starts once a point is set; lesson 5.5.
The Pass Line, the Don’t Pass Bar and the Field are the areas closest to the players at each end: the two strips run along the rail, and the Field is the long box just inside the two strips.
Level 2 · The whole table
One end of the table and the middle
Area A is place number 6. Whose hands put the chips down there?
- You, with your own hands The numbered boxes are not on the list of areas players put chips on themselves, so a bet on place number 6 goes down by the crew.
- The dealer, when you ask A bet on place number 6 goes down by the dealer, in a spot on the box that matches where you stand; you hand over the chips and name the number.
- The stickman, when you call the bet The stickman puts down the bets in the middle of the table. The numbered boxes sit along the dealers’ side of each end.
Every bet that is not on the players’ own list goes down by the crew, and the numbered boxes at each end are the dealer’s to set up.
Every moment in the practice run is one of these two kinds: find an area by where the area sits, with the names hidden, or say whose hands put the chips down on an area that is named.
How the practice run works
Where the moments come from. Every area in the practice run is an area of the same drawing as the start of the lesson, and whose hands put the chips down there is taken from the same list as the three columns above. The right answer is worked out from that drawing and that list when the page is built rather than typed in by hand. Each wrong answer is one named mistake: an area next to the one you were asked for, which the explanation names and places, or the wrong pair of hands, which the explanation says why.
One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one moment of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a moment you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. The areas in front of you along the rail are yours to put chips on; the numbered boxes are the dealer’s to set up when you ask, and the middle of the table is the stickman’s.
Where the tables are, and further reading
19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Rules of Play for Table Games — Craps · BCLCThe full B.C. rules: the line, odds and lay limits, place and buy, the centre of the table and the Fire Bet, with every pay table.
- How to play craps · OLG PlaySmartThe crew, the puck, the come-out roll and the turn to shoot, in plain words.
How it’s worked out
Rules, numbers, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every table on this page is a live table standing in a room you can walk into. An electronic craps table or a screen at home is asked for different things, and what changes there belongs to other lessons.
Rules. Which areas players put chips on themselves, which the dealer sets up and which the stickman puts down follows the rules BCLC publishes for its casinos. That is a set of rules for a province’s casinos rather than a report of what any one room does, and a room elsewhere may run the table differently. The shape of the felt on this page is our own schematic of one end and the middle: the rulebook prints no picture of the table. The word puck is the word training guides use; the rulebook speaks of marking the point.
Numbers. Every price is the share of a bet the table keeps on average per bet settled, worked out when the page is built from the payouts in those same rules; the pass line payout comes from the engine that settles the bets, and the count of areas comes from the drawing itself. Nothing is typed in by hand, and our checks recompute each figure from the engine rather than reading it back from this page.
What is deliberately absent. No bet is followed from roll to roll here. The come-out roll and the point are lesson 5.2; what the pass line costs is lesson 5.3; odds are lesson 5.4; come bets are lesson 5.5; the don’t side and laying odds are lesson 5.6; place bets and their payouts are lesson 5.7; the field and Big 6 and Big 8 are lesson 5.8; the bets in the middle and the Fire Bet are lesson 5.9; picking up and throwing the dice is lesson 5.10; the price of an evening is lesson 5.11; the stories about hot shooters are lesson 5.12. There is no pace of play, no table minimum and no price of an hour on this page: a price per bet turns into money only once the number of bets in an hour is known, and those lessons do that sum. Who puts the odds chips down behind a line bet is not settled by the rules, and no answer is guessed here.
Sources. Every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. Craps is played against the house. Knowing the felt and the crew tells you where each bet goes and who puts it down; nothing on this page makes any bet cheaper, and nothing here says how an evening at the table would end.
Five dice, two chosen
Craps is a dice game played with a set of five standard casino dice.
Players have the option of selecting two out of the five dice to roll for their turn.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
There are five dice used at any Craps table. A “shooter” selects two of the five dice offered to them by the “stickperson”.
Calling the roll
The Stickman must announce the dice combination twice, and specify if the number was rolled the Hard or Easy way, if applicable.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Who sets the speed of the game
The Stickman controls the speed of the game, under the direction of the Boxman or Floorman.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
The stickman and the bets in the middle
The stickperson also takes all centre bets.
All Proposition bets are placed by the Stickman in a position relative to the Players position on the table.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
What the crew does
The only people permitted to touch the dice are the stickperson, who uses a curved stick to collect them and pass them to the person whose turn it is to the throw the dice after each roll, known as the shooter.
Supervises the box, the area in the centre of the table where the centre bets are placed.
Dealers also mark the point and help players place bets on hard to reach places.
The Stickman must oversee the Base Dealer at the end of the table that the dice are landing.
The Boxman must oversee the Base Dealer at the opposite end of the table.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Who watches which end
The only people permitted to touch the dice are the stickperson, who uses a curved stick to collect them and pass them to the person whose turn it is to the throw the dice after each roll, known as the shooter.
Supervises the box, the area in the centre of the table where the centre bets are placed.
Dealers also mark the point and help players place bets on hard to reach places.
The Stickman must oversee the Base Dealer at the end of the table that the dice are landing.
The Boxman must oversee the Base Dealer at the opposite end of the table.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
What players place themselves
Players may self-place wagers on the following bets for the Come Out roll.
Pass and Don't Pass Line
Big Six and Eight
The Field
Players may self-place wagers on the following bets once a Point has been established.
Come and Don't Come
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
The dealer and the place numbers
All place bets are placed by the Dealer in a position relative to the Player's position on the table.
The Dealer must setup the wager and return any change to the customer if required.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Who puts chips on the numbered boxes
Dealers will place these wagers for you by placing your chips in the numbered squares at the top of the betting area.
The stickman and the bets in the middle
All Proposition bets are placed by the Stickman in a position relative to the Players position on the table.
All Hardway bets are placed by the Stickman in a position relative to the Players position on the table.
All Hop bets are placed by the Stickman in a position in front of the Boxman.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Who places which bet
Players may self-place wagers on the following bets for the Come Out roll.
Any other wager must be placed by the Dealer or Stickman.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Players are only allowed to place chips on the bets right in front of them: the pass line, and don’t pass bets, plus the come, don’t come, field and Big 6/8. Any bet in the numbered squares requires assistance from the crew.
The dealer and the place numbers
All place bets are placed by the Dealer in a position relative to the Player's position on the table.
The Dealer must setup the wager and return any change to the customer if required.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Bigger payouts, smaller chances
Casinos give higher payouts on centre bets to make them more attractive, but the odds of them winning are lower.
In fact, some bets in craps have no house edge at all. Of course, for other bets the house edge can go as high as 16.67%.
OLG PlaySmart · Craps — odds · read
Five dice, two chosen
Craps is a dice game played with a set of five standard casino dice.
Players have the option of selecting two out of the five dice to roll for their turn.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
There are five dice used at any Craps table. A “shooter” selects two of the five dice offered to them by the “stickperson”.
Marking the point
If the number rolled becomes the Shooters Point, the Stickman must announce the Point and ensure that both of the Base Dealers mark the correct Point.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
The puck is a round disk with the word “off” on one side and “on” on the opposite.
Every layout the same
Every craps table layout is exactly same, but betting limits and dollar amounts can vary between tables and casinos.
How many players a table takes
No more than sixteen players, eight players on each end shall participate in the same game.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Marking the point
If the number rolled becomes the Shooters Point, the Stickman must announce the Point and ensure that both of the Base Dealers mark the correct Point.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
The puck is a round disk with the word “off” on one side and “on” on the opposite.
Who touches the dice
The only people permitted to touch the dice are the stickperson, who uses a curved stick to collect them and pass them to the person whose turn it is to the throw the dice after each roll, known as the shooter.
Supervises the box, the area in the centre of the table where the centre bets are placed.
Dealers also mark the point and help players place bets on hard to reach places.
The Stickman must oversee the Base Dealer at the end of the table that the dice are landing.
The Boxman must oversee the Base Dealer at the opposite end of the table.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Who places which bet
Players may self-place wagers on the following bets for the Come Out roll.
Any other wager must be placed by the Dealer or Stickman.
Section 1.0 Craps; 2.0 Fire Bet
Players are only allowed to place chips on the bets right in front of them: the pass line, and don’t pass bets, plus the come, don’t come, field and Big 6/8. Any bet in the numbered squares requires assistance from the crew.
Bigger payouts, smaller chances
Casinos give higher payouts on centre bets to make them more attractive, but the odds of them winning are lower.
In fact, some bets in craps have no house edge at all. Of course, for other bets the house edge can go as high as 16.67%.
OLG PlaySmart · Craps — odds · read
The cheapest bets on the table
The bets with the lowest house edge are the pass line bets, come bets, place bets and odds bets.
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