Most people begin shooting craps at home for pennies, or maybe with the fellows for quarters, so we'll begin here. Just in case you've never played the game at all or are a beginner we'll start with the fundamentals of play.

You throw a pair of dice, two cubes, bearing dots 1 to 6 inclusive. If the dots total 7 or 11 on the first roll, you win your bet, and the throw is called a "natural."

Should the dice add to 2, 3 or 12 on the first roll, it's "craps" and you lose. You keep the dice, however, and throw again.

When you, as the shooter, win, it is called a "pass." When you lose, it is called a "missout" or "miss."

This is not always decided on the first roll. Instead of a "natural" — 7, 11 — or a "crap" — 2, 3, 12 — a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 may appear. Then, any such number becomes your "point" and you try to "make the point" by rolling it again before a 7 appears. Here, 7 is no longer lucky. Also, 2, 3, 11 and 12 have no significance when you are trying to "make the point."

You keep on shooting until you "pass" by bringing up the needed "point" or until you "miss" by rolling a 7. If you "pass," you win the bet, keep the dice, and proceed to make another bet.

Thus far, the game of Craps is quite simple. What makes the game truly exciting, a do or die affair, is the manner of the betting coupled with the fast action found not only in a licensed gambling house — but in a private game as well. We'll set up a private game and see how it works.

This will be a friendly game. By "friendly" we mean that you're getting together with a bunch of the fellows to try your luck. You'll be shooting for quarters and dollars — but even such games can become mighty unfriendly for the novice if he bets foolishly, disregarding the actual odds and percentages. And maybe even your best friends, when it's to their advantage, won't enlighten you about "sucker" betting. So both here and throughout the book we'll talk a great deal about odds and percentages.

Basic as it might seem, the probabilities in dice are among the first things a skilled crap-shooter keeps in mind when figuring percentages. Thus the following combinations should be committed to memory even before you pick up a pair of dice:

• There's just one way to roll a 2:  1-1

• There are two ways to roll a 3: 1-2, 2-1

• There are three ways to roll a 4: 1-3, 2-2, 3-1

• There are four ways to roll a 5: 1-4, 2-3, 3-2, 4-1

• There are five ways to roll a 6: 1-5, 2-4, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1

•  There are six ways to roll a 7: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1

• There are five ways to roll a 8: 2-6, 3-5, 4-4, 5-3, 6-2

• There are four ways to roll a 9: 3-6, 4-5, 5-4, 6-3

• There are three ways to roll a 10: 4-6, 5-5, 6-4

• There are two ways to roll an 11: 5-6, 6-5

• There's just one way to roll a 12: 6-6

Now let's start the private game. Six fellows and their respective bankrolls have gathered in someone's playroom. "High man shoots" as the saying goes, so each player rolls the dice to determine who comes closest to 12 in one roll. High man then becomes the "shooter" and starts the game.

The shooter bets whatever amount he wants — for our purposes here let's say it's a dollar — and places that amount in the center of a circle formed by the players. Incidentally, that circle should be formed near a wall or some other sort of backstop — so those dice can bank or bounce off of it before coming to rest. Because of the skill of some crap-shooters to control even honest dice, to "bounce 'em fella'' is a must.

Now the money or the "center bet" is covered or "faded" by one or more players. That is, one player may put down a dollar and cover all of it, or two or more players may choose to take a portion of the bet. Anyway, the money is faded and the shooter rolls the dice.

To get the game off to a good start, we'll say the shooter rolled a 7, a "natural," so he wins. Remembering the probabilities in dice, there are exactly 6 such combinations out of a possible 36. (11 would have been a "natural" too — with only two ways to roll it). Our shooter was pretty lucky here. With two dollars in the center, he can either "let it ride" — bet that amount on the next roll, or draw a portion of it and bet the remainder on the next roll. Also, he can draw the two dollars and pass the dice to the next player on his left. But that is rare.

Let's say that the shooter chooses to "let it ride." He shoots again and this time it's a 3 — "Craps." So he loses the money but retains the dice. Out of 36 possible combinations, there are only 2 ways to roll a 3. (Of course, 2 and 12 would have been "Craps" as well — and there's just one way to roll each of those numbers out of a possible 36 combinations). So our shooter wasn't too lucky this time.

If the game of Craps was limited to each player taking his turn at rolling the dice, and the other players merely faded the shooter — it would be a simple and mild game indeed. But the game becomes complicated and fast when the "side bets" start. Here's where the player needs a thorough knowledge of odds plus some ability at quick arithmetic to avoid accepting and making foolish bets. This is especially true in a private game where there's no layout designating odds. (Layouts and the gambling house game will be discussed in the next chapter — and you can be fooled here, too).

In a private game with the fellows, you're at the mercy of the boys you play with. They will make the "sucker" bets for you to accept — and unless you know better you'll accept them. And without the proper education, you'll make a few "goof" bets yourself which will work to their advantage.

How wrong was the so-called student of gambling who said " ... if the dice are honest, the imbecile has as much chance to win at craps as the most intelligent of men ... he just rolls the dice and luck takes over." True, luck plays its part, but simple mathematics plays a bigger one.

Keeping this in mind, let's get back to our private game and making and accepting "side bets." Our shooter puts a dollar in the center, is faded, and rolls again. This time a 6 comes up which is the shooter's "point" — and to win, he has to roll another 6 before a 7 comes up. Otherwise, he loses the money and the dice as well.

Other "points" could have been the numbers 4, 5, 8, 9 or 10 with the same procedure applying. Once a "point" is established, 7 ceases to be a lucky number. And the initial significance of 2, 3 and 12 as Craps and of 11 as a natural is dropped until the point is made or 7 is thrown. If the shooter makes his 6, he wins and a new sequence is started with 7 and 11 once again "naturals" and 2, 3 and 12 once again "craps."

With the shooter after his "point" the side bets take over. Will the shooter make it? Or won't he?

In our private game, we'll say that a player bets one dollar "even money" that the shooter won't make his "6" point. This is a good bet for the fellow placing the bet — but a bad bet for the shooter if he accepts it. For regardless of how you want to bet, or what bets you want to accept — these are the correct odds on "point bets":

2 to 1     Against making 4 as a point

3 to 2     Against making 5 as a point

6 to 5     Against making 6 as a point

6 to 5     Against making 8 as a point

3 to 2     Against making 9 as a point

2 to 1     Against making 10 as a point

As shown above, the odds are 6 to 5 against the shooter on a "6" point. Why? Because there are five ways to roll a 6 against six ways to roll a 7. Thus, no intelligent shooter accepts an "even money" bet on this point. The odds are against him, so he should get 6 to 5 odds if another player wants to bet that he won't make his point.

The game of craps is more than taking your turn with the dice and fading the shooter. It can be dynamite for the novice when the side bets start. Here's where knowledge of odds and some ability at quick arithmetic is needed to avoid accepting and making foolish bets.

Despite the fact that most players like to roll the dice and set the pace of the betting, mathematically, the odds are always against the man with the dice. Therefore, the players in the know make a practice of betting against the shooter — which is called a "wrong" bet.

But there are those who like "right" bets — betting along with the shooter that he will win. They reason that some shooters are "lucky" and that the dice themselves get "hot" after a time. There's no science to such reasoning, but it does happen. Still, don't bet too much on it.

Side bets are good for the private crap game — if kept to the level described above. They do offer more action for one thing. They enable players to bet along with the shooter as well as against him. And they allow players to bet among themselves if the shooter doesn't care to take their bets. In other words, no one need miss the action while waiting for his turn with the dice.

There are many other forms of "side bets" offered in the private crap game. Most of them can be termed "proposition bets" and they are tried by the more experienced to trap the novice. Many of the "two roll" and "three roll" bets fall into this category. Without going into details here, we'll say simply — ignore them. They're as dangerous as crooked dice and freak shots, sometimes more so. A quick example will show you why:

A sharpie will say, "I'll bet that the shooter won't throw anything under a 6 in two rolls (or anything over an 8 in two rolls)." Do some simple arithmetic on the chances of these "wrong" bets and you'll find that the combinations (2, 3, 4, 5 in one case and the 9, 10, 11, 12 in the other) give some very favorable odds to the guy who makes such a proposition. We'll talk more about this subject in Chapter V where we discuss the "sharpie" and how he operates.

The informal, private crap game normally is just that — informal. Other than the recognized fundamentals of play, the majority set the rules as to stakes, betting limits and the like. And these come in all shapes and sizes.

There are "ultra no limit" games with stakes and betting methods open to what the traffic will bear. And there are "ultra private" games for the professional gambler, the celebrity or the hoodlum, or anyone with enough money to wager. These are the games you hear about with fortunes being won or lost on one throw of the dice. It happens time and time again.

But we're talking about the "friendly private" game. It's your night out with the boys and you have ten or twenty with which to shoot a little dice. So the following rules might better be termed "safety rules" since they're for the protection of all honest crapshooters.

1) Make sure that you're shooting craps with "real" friends.

That nice young guy in the office who's the first to buy a round might be a hellcat when he's shooting a dollar in a crap game.

2) Determine the stakes of the game before you start. And if they're too high for your pocketbook — you're in the wrong game.

3) Get your dice from a legitimate game store. Watch out for the fellow who just happens to have a new pair in his pocket. We'll talk about crooked dice later.

4) Know your odds and percentages and bet accordingly. Of course, you'll play hunches at times — but don't overdo it.

5) Stick to the conventional side bets which make the game interesting and fast enough. Ignore freak proposition bets, or even bar them from your private game.

6) Make it a definite rule that the shooter has to shake the dice and bounce 'em off the wall or some other backstop. This is a must in all crap games.

7) Decide when the term "No Dice" is to apply. The fairest way is to class all such rolls as "cocked dice," "hidden dice," dice that fall off the table, etc. as "No Dice" — meaning the roll does not count.

8) Being human, you won't want to quit if you're winning — but know when to quit if you're losing. Better yet, set a time limit — everybody quits at a certain hour.

9) Don't allow borrowing in your private crap game. Some players consider it "bad luck" to loan their winnings to another player during the game. But more important, when you borrow it's too easy to lose much more than you can afford. So "no borrowing" is an added protection.