Getting to the bottom of "craps big 6 8" comes down to two dice. Craps is a dice game played at a casino table, and the rules look harder than they are. What decides every bet is how two dice land, so the whole game works from one small table of combinations. Knowing that table explains what each wager pays, why some bets carry a far bigger house edge than others, and how to play without slowing the game for anyone else.
Craps also comes in other forms. A bubble craps machine shakes the dice under a clear dome and takes bets on a screen, with the same rules as the table. Crapless craps removes the losing totals from the first roll and pays for it with a higher edge. The all tall small bet, the meaning behind the letters ATS, is a side wager on rolling every small and every tall number before a seven. At home the game needs only two dice, and whether playing for money is illegal depends on local law, never on the dice.
Table etiquette keeps a busy game moving. Anyone who wants to shoot craps waits for the dice to come round, then throws them with one hand so both hit the far wall. Chips go down before the stickman calls for the roll, never while the dice are in the air, and winnings stay on the layout until the dealer pushes them across. Handing money straight to a dealer is avoided; it goes on the table in its place.
Craps payouts vary more than in almost any other casino game, and so does the house edge. Pass and come bets pay even money with an edge a little over one percent, among the best odds on the casino floor. Odds placed behind the line pay at true chance and carry no edge at all. The horn bet, split across two, three, eleven and twelve, pays large multiples but keeps an edge of more than twelve percent.
The pass and come bets carry an edge a little over one percent, while the proposition bets in the middle run far higher.
The pass line wins on seven or eleven on the come out, loses on two, three or twelve, and otherwise needs the point before a seven; come works the same way later.
Two dice make seven in six of their thirty six combinations, more than any other total.
No. Strategy means choosing bets with a low edge and skipping the rest; the dice cannot be beaten.
Throw with one hand so both dice hit the far wall, place chips before the stickman calls the roll, and keep hands out of the way while the dice fly.
They are bets that a six or an eight is rolled before a seven. They pay even money, while a place bet on six or eight pays 7 to 6, so the big six and eight carry a far higher house edge, about 9.1 percent.