How to read a craps layout

A craps table looks like a page of fine print until you know it's really a handful of zones printed twice. Here is a walk across the felt in the order your eye should scan it, with what every box pays and who is allowed to touch it.

The shape of the table

A casino table is a long oval with the layout printed twice, mirror-imaged, so players at either end see the same bets. The center section between the halves holds the proposition bets.

The crew stands in fixed spots. The boxman sits at the middle of one long side behind the house chips, watching payouts and cash. A base dealer stands on each side of the boxman, handling one end of the table: paying bets, moving chips into the point boxes, taking buy-ins. Across from the boxman stands the stickman, who pushes the dice with a curved stick, calls each roll, and books the center bets. Players fill the rail around the outside; see table etiquette for where to stand.

Zone 1: pass line and the odds lane

The long curved band wrapping your end of the table is the pass line, the bet the game is built on: 7 or 11 wins on the comeout, 2, 3, or 12 loses, anything else sets a point that must repeat before a 7. Pays even money; $10 wins $10. House edge 1.41%.

Directly behind the pass line, toward you, there's no printed box. That empty strip is the odds lane. Once a point is set, your free odds bet goes there, behind your pass line chips. Odds pay true odds with no house edge: 2 to 1 on a 4 or 10, 3 to 2 on a 5 or 9, 6 to 5 on a 6 or 8. PointPuck allows 3-4-5x odds, so a $10 line bet can carry $30 behind a 4 or 10, $40 behind a 5 or 9, $50 behind a 6 or 8, and full odds always win $60. Line and odds are both self-service. Details in the pass line, explained completely.

Zone 2: don't pass, bar 12

Just inside the pass line runs a narrower band marked DON'T PASS BAR with a picture of two sixes. This is the opposite bet: it wins on a comeout 2 or 3, loses on 7 or 11, and once a point is set it wins on the 7. The two sixes are the bar 12: a comeout 12 is a push for the don't, not a win. That one pushed number is where the house gets its 1.36% edge.

Lay odds go beside or bridged on top of the don't pass chips and run backwards: lay $6 to win $5 against a 6 or 8, $3 to win $2 against a 5 or 9, $2 to win $1 against a 4 or 10. See playing the don't side.

Zone 3: come and don't come

Above the pass line is a large box labeled COME. A chip here is a new pass line bet whose comeout is the next roll. If a point number rolls, the dealer moves your chip into that number's box, and it wins even money when the number repeats before a 7. Same 1.41% edge, same free odds (hand them to the dealer with “odds on my come”).

The small corner box marked DON'T COME is the mirror image: a don't pass bet made mid-hand, bar 12. Both boxes are self-service, but once a chip has travelled into a point box, only the dealer touches it. Walkthrough in come bets.

Zone 4: the six point boxes

Across the top of your half are six numbered boxes: 4, 5, SIX, 8, NINE, 10, with six and nine spelled out so they can't be confused upside down. These are the box numbers, and each box is really three bets in one column:

Travelled come bets sit in the middle of the box with their odds on top. The dealer positions each chip relative to where you stand at the rail. All of this is dealer territory: set chips down and say “$6 place the eight” or “$10 buy the four.”

House edges: place 6/8 is 1.52%, place 5/9 is 4.00%, place 4/10 is 6.67%. Buying only helps on the 4 and 10, cutting the edge to 1.67% with the vig charged on the win. More in place bets and buy and lay bets.

Inside, outside, across

These words are spatial. Look at the row: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10. The inside numbers are the middle four, 5, 6, 8, 9. The outside numbers are 4, 5, 9, 10. Across means all six. PointPuck's one-tap quick bets use the same words: $22 inside is $5 on the 5, $6 on the 6, $6 on the 8, $5 on the 9. $20 outside is $5 each on 4, 5, 9, 10. $32 across is all six at $5 and $6 units.

Zone 5: the field

Below the come box is a wide band printed with 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12. This is the field, a one-roll bet that wins if any of those rolls next and loses on 5, 6, 7, or 8. The 2 and 12 are circled with “double” and “triple”: a $5 field bet pays $5 on most winners, $10 on a 2, $15 on a 12. Self-service, edge 2.78%. If a layout shows “double” on both the 2 and 12, the edge is 5.56%, so read the circles. See the field bet.

Zone 6: big 6 and big 8

Near the field, some layouts print two large boxes, BIG 6 and BIG 8. They win if the 6 or 8 rolls before a 7, exactly like a place bet, but pay even money instead of 7 to 6. A $6 place 8 wins $7; a $6 big 8 wins $6. That $1 is a 9.09% house edge versus 1.52%. Place the number instead, every time.

Zone 7: the center props

The middle of the table is the stickman's territory. Every bet here is called out, never placed by hand, and every one carries a double-digit house edge.

The hardways are the four dice-picture boxes and stay up roll after roll. The rest are one-roll bets. Any seven is the worst bet on the table. The case against all of them is in proposition bets and hardways.

Zone 8: the bonus craps strip

Newer layouts add a narrow strip near the pass line for All Small, All Tall, and All or Nothing at All. You're betting the shooter rolls every number in a set before any 7, comeout 7 included. All Small needs 2 through 6 and pays 35 for 1; All Tall needs 8 through 12, also 35 for 1; All or Nothing needs all ten and pays 176 for 1. “For 1” includes your stake, so $1 on All Small returns $35 total. Edges are 7.76% for Small or Tall and 7.47% for All or Nothing: long shots, but cheaper than any center prop.

The puck

The round disc on the layout is the puck. Black side up reads OFF: the next roll is a comeout. White side up reads ON and sits in the point's box. It also tells you whether your place, buy, lay, and hardway bets are live: off on the comeout by default, working once the puck flips. See working on the comeout.

Rail and chip colors

The grooved ledge in front of you is the rail, where your chips live. Standard Las Vegas colors: white $1, red $5, green $25, black $100, purple $500. Casinos vary, so read the number, not just the color. Keep larger chips at the bottom of each stack the way dealers do and you'll always know your bankroll at a glance. With hover tips on every spot, a free table is the easiest place to learn all of this before the felt is real.