Atlassino Academy · Craps · Lesson 2
The come-out roll and the point
The first roll of a shooter’s turn either settles the pass line or sets a point. Here is which totals do which, how the puck marks the point, and how often each point comes again before a 7.
A new shooter’s first roll comes up 11. Has a pass line bet just been decided, or has the game only just started?
The short answer
The bet has just been decided. The first roll of a shooter’s turn is the come-out roll, and on the come-out roll a 7 or an 11 pays the pass line at even money on the spot, a 2, a 3 or a 12 takes the pass line on the spot, and any other total — 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 — becomes the point. Once there is a point, only two totals decide the pass line: the point coming again, which pays the bet, and a 7, which takes the bet and ends the shooter’s hand.
- 7 or 11The pass line is paid even money8 of the 36 ways two dice fall
- 2, 3 or 12The pass line bet is lost4 of the 36 ways two dice fall
- 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10The total becomes the point24 of the 36 ways two dice fall
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
On a busy craps table I would hear the same question every night. The dice came up 8 on a new shooter’s first roll, the crowd went quiet, and someone at the rail asked whether they had just lost. They had not lost anything. An 8 on the come-out roll is the point, and nothing about the pass line is settled until the 8 comes again or a 7 does.
The come-out roll
The first roll of a shooter’s turn is the come-out roll. The player who throws the dice has to have a bet on the pass line or the don’t pass line, and when the shooter loses that bet, the dice go on to the next player. The dice are offered to the players in turn, clockwise.
- A bet on the lineA pass or don’t pass bet is what puts a player in line to shoot.
- The come-out rollThe first roll settles the pass line, or sets a point.
- The pointWith a point set, the shooter rolls until the point or a 7.
- The next shooterA 7 after a point ends the hand, and the dice move on.
On the come-out roll, a 7 or an 11 pays the pass line, and a 2, a 3 or a 12 takes it: those three totals are called craps.
Thirty-six ways two dice fall
Each die has six faces, so two dice fall in six times six ways: 36 on every roll. Counting those ways is the whole of the arithmetic in this lesson, and the table below is every one of them, each square marked by what its total does on the come-out roll.
| First die down the side, second die along the header row | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
- Bold square: pays the pass line on the come-out
- Dashed square: takes the pass line on the come-out
- Plain square: sets a point
The row is the first die, the column the second: a 3 then a 4 and a 4 then a 3 are two different squares, two different ways.
No total has more squares than the 7: 6 of the 36. The totals thin out on both sides of the 7, down to a single square each for the 2 and the 12. That one fact decides almost everything that happens once a point is set.
- 21 way
- 32 ways
- 43 ways
- 54 ways
- 65 ways
- 76 ways
- 85 ways
- 94 ways
- 103 ways
- 112 ways
- 121 way
The point, and the puck
A come-out total of 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 becomes the point, and the point is marked on the table for everyone at the rail to see.
The catalogue calls the marker the marcador de salida: it shows ON when there is a point on the table and OFF when there is none. This page calls it the puck, the shorter word.
The puck is the first thing to look for when you walk up to a craps table.
The point again, or a 7
Once the point is set, the shooter keeps rolling, and only two totals settle the pass line: the point, or a 7. A 7 that comes first takes the pass line bet and the dice go to the next player; this page calls that roll the seven-out.
- The point comes againThe pass line is paid even money. The puck turns OFF, and the same shooter rolls a new come-out.
- A 7 comesThe seven-out: the pass line bet is lost, the puck turns OFF, and the dice go to the next player.
- Any other totalNothing is decided. The puck stays ON the same number, and the shooter rolls again.
Every other total, the 2, the 3, the 11 and the 12 included, leaves the puck ON the same number.
How often the point comes first is a count of squares. With the point set, every total except the point and the 7 changes nothing, so the only question is which of those two arrives first: the squares of the point against the 6 squares of the 7.
| The point | Ways to roll the point | Ways to roll a 7 | Odds against the point | The point comes before a 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 or 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 to 5 | 5/11 about 45.5% |
| 5 or 9 | 4 | 6 | 6 to 4 | 2/5 about 40.0% |
| 4 or 10 | 3 | 6 | 6 to 3 | 1/3 about 33.3% |
Even the 6 and the 8, the points with the most ways, come before a 7 less than half the time.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
A long hand is exciting and changes nothing about the next roll. A shooter’s hand runs about 8.5 rolls on average and some hands run far longer, but on every one of those rolls the 7 has the same 6 ways out of 36.
Decide the money and the time for the evening before you walk up to the rail, and let the evening end when the money set aside for it is gone. Putting more down to get back what a seven-out took is the table deciding the amount for you, not the other way round.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being fun, the SCJ self-exclusion applies in every casino in the country. Minimum entry age: 18 (age of majority under Law 19.221; Law 19.995 bars minors from gaming rooms). The casino may ask for an official ID. More on responsible gaming.
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Practice: follow the puck
Each step of the practice run is one roll. The table shows where the puck stood before the roll and what the two dice show, and you say where the puck goes after the roll and what happens to a pass line bet. Level 1 is the come-out roll; level 2 is a table with a point already set; level 3 is a run of rolls from late in one long hand.
Nothing is bet here. The pass line in the practice run is a bet you follow, not a bet you make, and no amount of money appears anywhere in it.
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Level 1 · The come-out roll
Come-out roll · the puck is OFF
Before this roll: come-out roll, puck OFF
Where does the puck go after this roll, and what happens to a pass line bet?
- Puck ON 11 · nothing is decided yet 11 is not one of the six point numbers, so 11 can never be the point. On the come-out roll an 11 settles the pass line at once.
- Puck OFF · the pass line bet is lost That treats 11 like the 2, the 3 and the 12. On the come-out roll only those three take the pass line; an 11 is paid, together with a 7.
- Puck OFF · the pass line is paid even money An 11 on the come-out roll pays the pass line at even money, and no point is set, so the puck stays OFF.
On the come-out roll a 7 or an 11 pays the pass line at even money on the spot. No point is set, so the puck stays OFF, and the same shooter rolls the next come-out.
Level 2 · The point is set
A point of 6 is set · the puck is ON 6
Before this roll: the point is 6, puck ON 6
Where does the puck go after this roll, and what happens to a pass line bet?
- Puck OFF · the pass line is paid even money 6 came again before a 7: the pass line is paid even money, and the puck turns OFF for a new come-out roll.
- Puck ON 6 · the pass line is paid even money The pass line is paid, but the puck does not stay ON. A made point sends the game back to a come-out roll, so the puck turns OFF, and the same shooter keeps the dice.
- Puck ON 6 · nothing is decided yet That misses the point coming again. 6 before a 7 is exactly what pays the pass line.
The point came again before a 7, so the pass line is paid even money. The game goes back to a come-out roll: the puck turns OFF, and the shooter keeps the dice.
Level 3 · A long hand
14 rolls already in this shooter’s hand
Before this roll: the point is 6, puck ON 6
Earlier totals in this hand, in order
- 2
- 7
- 6
- 5
- 6
- 9
- 4
- 10
- 3
- 9
- 6
- 2
- 9
- 4
Where does the puck go after this roll, and what happens to a pass line bet?
- Puck OFF · the pass line is paid even money A 7 pays the pass line only on the come-out roll. With a point set, a 7 is the seven-out, and the pass line bet is lost.
- Puck ON 6 · nothing is decided yet A 7 does not pass unnoticed once a point is set: the hand ends on this roll, and the dice move to the next player.
- Puck OFF · the pass line bet is lost A 7 with a point set is the seven-out: the pass line bet is lost, the puck turns OFF, and the dice move to the next player.
A 7 after a point is set is the seven-out. The pass line bet is lost, the puck turns OFF, and the dice move clockwise to the next player. The 14 rolls before this one leave this roll exactly as it would be on a fresh table: a 7 still has 6 of the 36 ways two dice fall.
Every roll in the practice run is worked out the same way: from the table before the roll and the two dice of the roll, the dice engine says where the puck goes and what happens to a pass line bet.
How the practice run works
Where the rolls come from. Levels 1 and 2 are rolls chosen so that every kind of come-out roll and every kind of roll after a point turns up. Level 3 is one shooter’s hand, rolled once by the same dice engine from a fixed seed, and its rolls are taken from late in that hand. Where the puck goes and what happens to the pass line are worked out by the engine from the table before the roll and the two dice of the roll, not written down by hand. Each wrong answer is one named mistake: an 11 or a 7 on the come-out treated as a point, a come-out 7 treated as a seven-out, a point number paid on the come-out, a puck left OFF after a point is set, a puck moved to a new number, a puck left ON after a made point, or a 2, a 3, an 11 or a 12 after a point treated as if the table were on the come-out.
One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one roll of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square the roll belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a roll you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
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Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. An 11 on a new shooter’s first roll is a come-out roll, and on the come-out roll an 11 pays the pass line at even money. Nothing has started that has to finish: the puck stays OFF, and the same shooter rolls the next come-out.
Where to play, and further reading
18+ across Chile · Play responsibly · self-exclusion and the regulator are further up this page
Further reading
- Catálogo de Juegos (Craps y Mini Craps) · Superintendencia de Casinos de JuegoThe regulator’s rules for craps: the crew, the pass and don’t-pass lines, gabelas (odds), place bets and the multi-roll bets.
- Funcionamiento de los juegos: Juegos de dados · Superintendencia de Casinos de JuegoThe regulator’s plain-language page on dice games and the equipment it approves.
How it’s worked out
Rules, numbers, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every table on this page is a live craps table in a room you can walk into, with a shooter and a crew: one croupier who runs the game and one or two croupiers who pay. An electronic craps table runs the same come-out and the same point, but it is asked for different things, and it is not what this page describes.
Rules. The rules this page leans on are the rules the SCJ publishes for every casino in Chile, quoted behind the source buttons. A published set of rules is not a report on any particular room.
One marker, two names. The catalogue calls the marker that shows the point the marcador de salida, with ON when there is a point on the table and OFF when there is none. This page uses the shorter word, the puck; the marker does the same job under either name.
Numbers. Every count and every chance on this page is worked out from the 36 ways two dice fall when the page is built, by the same dice engine that rolls the practice table, and kept as an exact fraction until the last step. The chance that the point comes first is the ways of the point divided by the ways of the point and the ways of a 7 together. The average length of a hand is worked out exactly from the same counts, not simulated. A percentage is rounded to one decimal place.
What is deliberately absent. There is no money on this page, no price for the pass line and no pace of play: following a hand needs none of the three. What the pass line costs, and how many rolls it takes on average to settle, are lesson 5.3. Come bets, which run this same rhythm in the middle of a hand, are lesson 5.5.
Sources. Every rule on this page carries a button with the sentence the rule rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. Craps is played against the house. Knowing what the come-out roll and the point do lets you follow every roll at the table; nothing on this page changes a single roll, and nothing here says how an evening at the table would end.
The pass line on the come-out roll
Para ganar un pase tiene que obtener 7 u 11 en el primer lanzamiento, caso en el cual gana la mano.Free translation: To win a pass bet, the player has to obtain 7 or 11 on the first throw, in which case the player wins the hand.
Si obtiene 2, 3 ó 12, pierde, sin que ello implique perder la opción de lanzar los dados.Free translation: If the player obtains 2, 3 or 12, the player loses, without this meaning losing the option of throwing the dice.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The point made, or the seven-out
si obtiene un número diferente a los ya mencionados, es decir, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 ó 10, a este número se le llamará “punto”; caso en el cual el jugador para ganar debe volver a obtener este mismo número antes de obtener 7. De obtener 7 antes de obtener el punto, el jugador pierde.Free translation: if the player obtains a number different from those already mentioned, that is, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, this number will be called the "point"; in which case, to win, the player must obtain this same number again before obtaining 7. If the player obtains 7 before obtaining the point, the player loses.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The come-out roll
Para ganar un pase tiene que obtener 7 u 11 en el primer lanzamiento, caso en el cual gana la mano.Free translation: To win a pass bet, the player has to obtain 7 or 11 on the first throw, in which case the player wins the hand.
Si obtiene 2, 3 ó 12, pierde, sin que ello implique perder la opción de lanzar los dados.Free translation: If the player obtains 2, 3 or 12, the player loses, without this meaning losing the option of throwing the dice.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
Whose turn it is to shoot
Es necesario que el jugador que lance los dados haga una apuesta, ya sea a la Línea de Pase (Pass Line) o a la Línea de No Pase (Don’t Pass Line)Free translation: The player who throws the dice must place a bet, either on the Pass Line or on the Don't Pass Line
Cuando el primer jugador pierde su apuesta, los dados deben ser entregados al jugador de su derecha para así continuar correlativamente.Free translation: When the first player loses their bet, the dice must be handed to the player on their right so as to continue in sequence.
Si un jugador rehúsa lanzar los dados pasan al jugador siguiente, en el orden previsto.Free translation: If a player refuses to throw the dice, they pass to the next player, in the established order.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The order the dice go round in
Posteriormente los dados escogidos son ofrecidos a los jugadores comenzando, al iniciarse la partida, por aquel que se encuentre a la izquierda de los "croupiers" y después siguiendo el sentido de las agujas del reloj.Free translation: Afterwards, the chosen dice are offered to the players, starting, at the beginning of the game, with the one on the left of the "croupiers" and then continuing clockwise.
Cuando el primer jugador pierde su apuesta, los dados deben ser entregados al jugador de su derecha para así continuar correlativamente.Free translation: When the first player loses their bet, the dice must be handed to the player on their right so as to continue in sequence.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The pass line on the come-out roll
Para ganar un pase tiene que obtener 7 u 11 en el primer lanzamiento, caso en el cual gana la mano.Free translation: To win a pass bet, the player has to obtain 7 or 11 on the first throw, in which case the player wins the hand.
Si obtiene 2, 3 ó 12, pierde, sin que ello implique perder la opción de lanzar los dados.Free translation: If the player obtains 2, 3 or 12, the player loses, without this meaning losing the option of throwing the dice.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The word craps
En el primer tiro, esta jugada, gana si la suma de los dados es 7 u 11 y pierde si la suma es igual a 2, 3 ó 12 (craps).Free translation: On the first throw, this bet wins if the sum of the dice is 7 or 11 and loses if the sum is equal to 2, 3 or 12 (craps).
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
How a total becomes the point
si obtiene un número diferente a los ya mencionados, es decir, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 ó 10, a este número se le llamará “punto”; caso en el cual el jugador para ganar debe volver a obtener este mismo número antes de obtener 7. De obtener 7 antes de obtener el punto, el jugador pierde.Free translation: if the player obtains a number different from those already mentioned, that is, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, this number will be called the "point"; in which case, to win, the player must obtain this same number again before obtaining 7. If the player obtains 7 before obtaining the point, the player loses.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The puck
Marcador de salida: que indica cual es el punto en juego ON (si hay punto en mesa) y OFF (no hay punto en mesa).Free translation: Come-out marker: indicates which point is in play, ON (if there is a point on the table) and OFF (there is no point on the table).
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
Marking the point
Marcador de salida: que indica cual es el punto en juego ON (si hay punto en mesa) y OFF (no hay punto en mesa).Free translation: Come-out marker: indicates which point is in play, ON (if there is a point on the table) and OFF (there is no point on the table).
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The point made, or the seven-out
si obtiene un número diferente a los ya mencionados, es decir, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 ó 10, a este número se le llamará “punto”; caso en el cual el jugador para ganar debe volver a obtener este mismo número antes de obtener 7. De obtener 7 antes de obtener el punto, el jugador pierde.Free translation: if the player obtains a number different from those already mentioned, that is, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, this number will be called the "point"; in which case, to win, the player must obtain this same number again before obtaining 7. If the player obtains 7 before obtaining the point, the player loses.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The next shooter
Cuando el primer jugador pierde su apuesta, los dados deben ser entregados al jugador de su derecha para así continuar correlativamente.Free translation: When the first player loses their bet, the dice must be handed to the player on their right so as to continue in sequence.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps
The crew
En la modalidad Craps cada mesa de juego debe ser atendida por al menos un croupier director del juego el cual se denomina croupier tallador, y uno o dos croupiers de apoyo, denominados croupiers pagadores.Free translation: In the Craps game, each gaming table must be attended by at least one croupier directing the game, called the stickman croupier, and one or two support croupiers, called payer croupiers.
Section IV.1 Craps y Mini Craps