Craps Variations
You’ll find a number of craps variations with differing rules, odds, and settings. Check the thumbnail descriptions below. Before playing any of these variations, be sure that you fully understand the rules.
Crapless Craps
You gotta love the name! It’s also known as "Bastard Craps." This simplified form of crap can be found in only one casino, the Stratosphere. It’s called Crapless craps because you cannot lose on the come-out roll. If you throw standard crap (2, 3, or 12), instead of losing, that number becomes the point. Natural 11s on the come-out also become the point number. Only the natural 7 wins on the come-out roll. The only way for the shooter to lose is to throw a 7 before the point.
Don’t Pass and Don’t Come areas are conspicuously absent from the table layout. The price for all this simplification is that the house edge is approximately four times greater than in the crappy version of craps!
Simplified Craps: True to its name, in Simplified craps, the shooter wins when throwing a 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, or 12 and loses when throwing a 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9. It doesn’t get any simpler than this.
High Point Craps: In High Point craps, a dice roll of 11 or 12 wins automatically. A come-out roll of 2 or 3 is ignored. If the shooter rolls anything other than 2, 3, 11, or 12 on the come-out roll, that number becomes the point number. The shooter must roll a number other than the point number to win. All payoffs are 1:1, and the house edge is 2.35%.
Private Craps: You probably caught your first glimpse of craps on the small or big screen. Often played by soldiers, street gangs, and high-stakes gangsters, this is not a game for novices. In fact, it can be dangerous if you don’t know the people playing the game. You won’t find private craps in a casino or at any craps table. More likely, you’ll find it in a back alley somewhere.
The shooter stakes the game by throwing money into the center of the playing area, and there are no fixed rules. Players cover part or all of the shooter’s stake. If the shooter wins, he wins everything; if the shooter loses, the players take back their stake and an equal amount of the shooter’s stake.
Open Craps: Another illegal private version of craps, this is a high-stakes, big money game. You won’t find this game in a back alley; more likely, you’ll find it in a private gaming location. Open craps are privately staked, and all bets are made in cash. The stakes often exceed house limits found in casinos. The Open craps makeshift table layout consists of a Win Line, a Lose Line, and box numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10. Players can make bets with the book or they can make side bets with other players. The book usually charges a 5% commission on the right money.
