The Crap Table: Defined and Explained

In poker, you have to be familiar with the different hands used like four of a kind, the full house, the straight flush, pocket cards and so on. In blackjack, it's imperative that you understand how the counting system works. In the slot machines, it's simply a matter of progressive jackpots versus standard jackpots.

But for the game of craps?

Besides learning about the different types of bets used in craps, you also have to be familiar with the crap table layout and understand what each area, line or space means and where each bet is designated et al.

The crap table at first glance will truly seem confusing and even intimidating but if you take the time to read our article from top to bottom - no skimming! - we're sure that you'll gradually find it easy to play craps.

The crap table is a table with "walls". The reason behind this is simple: shooters are often required to throw or roll their dice with enough force to hit the walls so that the other players wouldn't think that the shooter is cheating. How can he cheat? Simple: if he hits the dice using a certain amount of force and at a certain angle, there's a slight chance that he'll roll out the number he's aiming for.

Now, before the shooter starts rolling and rocking the dice, it's imperative that players on the table make and place their bets first. Hence, if you want to make a pass line bet, you must physically place your chips on the pass line. It's not hard to locate where the pass line is because the words PASS LINE are written in big bold letters in the crap table.

If you want to bet against the shooter, you have to physically place your bet (chips) inside the Don't Pass Line. If you have a diagram of a crap table nearby, you'll see that this line is inside the Pass Line and has a more limited space.

When you make a pass line bet with odds, you have to place your chips right on the middle of the Pass Line. In short, one side of your chips is "inside" the Pass Line while the other side of the chips is "outside" the Pass Line.

The crap table is usually manned by several casino crewmen. Besides the dealers, the table supervisor, called the boxman, is also present. The boxman is in charge of several crap tables so he may flit from one table to another. Lastly, there's the stickman and yes, he's the guy with the stick and pushes the dice around the table.