Craps has many things going for it. It offers a low house edge on many bets, it is not as hard to learn as you may think, and the players generally win or lose together, making it much more fun to play when the dice are rolling in favor of the players. This is why you often hear a lot of commotion at the craps table: Everybody is winning at the same time, and that euphoria feeds on itself. It is the opposite of bingo, where one person's win is everyone else's loss.

I could write an entire book on craps but to keep this short I'll mention only the most fundamental bets, the pass line and the odds. The craps table has a "pass line" going around the three sides of the table where the players stand. It is within easy reach of everybody. To bet the pass you first have to wait for a "come out" roll. Of all rolls, 37 percent are come-out rolls, so this will not take long. You will know a come-out roll is next when the dealers either pay off or collect the last bets made on the pass line. Also, a laminated disc on the table about the size of a hockey puck will be turned to the black side that says "off."

When you go to a craps game at Bodog the first roll will always conveniently be a come-out roll. This is the time to place a bet on the pass line. If the next roll is a 7 or 11, then you win even money. If the next roll is a 2, 3, or 12, then you lose. Otherwise, a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 becomes the "point." A white laminated marker is used to designate the point. Then keep rolling until either the point or a seven is rolled. If the point comes first then you win, if a seven is first you lose.

Overall the pass bet has a 244/495 (49.293 percent) chance of winning. This converts to a house edge of 1.414 percent, which is pretty good. However, it gets even better. Once a point is rolled you can make an additional "odds" wager that the point will be rolled before a 7. Odds bets should be put just outside the pass line next to your pass bet. There are limits to the size of the odds bet, always some multiple of the pass bet. At Bodog, the player may bet twice the pass-line bet on the odds. Odds bets pay 2-to-1 on points of 4 and 10, 3-to-2 on points of 5 and 9, and 6-to-5 on points of 6 and 8. These are mathematically fair payoffs, with no house edge.

At the Bodog Casino, winnings are rounded down to the nearest quarter. For this reason when taking the odds, bet in increments of $5 on the 6 and 8. Any bet is okay on all other numbers. When laying odds (for those who already know how to) do so in increments of $1 on the 4 and 10 and $3 on all other points.

Finally, never bet anything in the middle of a real craps table, or anything to the left of the pass line. These propositions are all sucker bets with a high house edge. There are lots of other bets that could be mentioned but the ones covered above are among the best bets for craps players to make.