Craps

Craps looks like the most complicated game in the room and is one of the easiest to join, because you only have to understand a single bet.

One player, the shooter, rolls two dice. Everybody at the table bets on what those dice do. The shooter changes as the game goes along, so everyone gets a turn throwing.

The only bet you need. Put your chips on the pass line. That means you're betting with the shooter, which is what nearly everyone at the table is doing. It's the reason craps sounds the way it does — the whole table wins together and loses together.

The come-out roll. The first roll of a round settles some bets immediately. A 7 or 11 wins. A 2, 3 or 12 loses. Anything else — 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 — becomes the point, and the dealer marks that number on the table.

Chasing the point. Now the shooter keeps rolling with one job: roll the point again before rolling a 7.

Roll the point and everyone on the pass line wins, and the same shooter starts a fresh come-out roll. Roll a 7 first and the pass line loses, the round is over, and the dice move on to the next player.

That's the whole game. There are dozens of other bets printed on the felt and our dealers will happily walk you through them once you've found your feet, but plenty of people play an entire night on the pass line and never feel like they missed anything.

Two bits of etiquette. Keep your hands out of the table when the dice are about to come through. And throw hard enough that the dice reach the far wall — it's the one thing a dealer will ask you to do again.