The Key to Craps Jargon
No other casino games has spawned as much specialized jargon and lingo than the game of craps. Craps players are also notoriously superstitious. So in addition to numerous befuddling phrases, newcomers may also come across various curious antics at the craps table. Some of these are well known, must others will surprise you!
So let’s go beyond a mere glossary of craps terms and explore the fun and captivating world of craps!
Craps Jargon |
|
| Jargon | Meaning |
| 3-Way Craps | A bet made in units of 3 with one unit on 2, one unit on 3, and one unit on 12. This is a horn bet without the bet on 11. |
| Aces | A bet on a 2 in the next roll |
| Advantage | The casino edge or house over the players on any bet |
| All The Spots We Got | A term for a roll of one. |
| Any Craps | A one-roll bet on a 2, 3 or 12 in the next roll. |
| Any Seven | A one-roll bet on a 7 in the next roll |
| Arm | A player who is skilled at throwing the dice and able to improve the chances of certain numbers being rolled. |
| Back Line | Don’t Pass Line. |
| Bar the 12 | A 12 is a standoff in these areas to ensure the casino has an advantage over the wrong bettors. |
| Behind the Line | A bet on the free-odds after a point has been established on the come out roll. |
| Betting Right | A bet with the shooter, Come and Pass Line bets |
| Betting Wrong | A bet against the shooter, Don’t Come and Don’t Pass bets |
| Big 6 | A bet that a 6 will be rolled before a 7 comes up |
| Big 8 | A bet that an 8 will be rolled before a 7 comes up. |
| Big Eight | An even-money bet that an 8 will come up before a 7. |
| Big Red | A term for a roll of seven. |
| Big Six | An even-money bet that the shooter will roll a 6 before rolling a 7. |
| Bones | An alternative term for dice. |
| Box man | The casino supervisor who stands between the dealers and across from the stickman supervises the game and guards the chips. |
| Box Numbers | The betting boxes on the table around the numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10. |
| Boxcars | A roll of 12 |
| Boxman | A casino employee who supervises the game of craps, and remains seated behind all the casino chips during the play. |
| Boys | A term for the dealers. |
| Bring Out | A bet on the Hardway of a point to ‘bring out’ the point. |
| Buffalo | A bet on each Hardway and a Seven. |
| Buy Bet | Paying the casino a 5% commission on a Place bet to play with corrected odds |
| Capped Dice | Loaded or crooked dice |
| Center Bets | Proposition bets, placed in the centre of the table between the Hardway bet and all one-roll bets. |
| Center Field | A term for a roll of nine. |
| Change Only | when a player buys into a game specifically with cash, |
| Cheque Change | Breaking down a chip into smaller denomination chips. |
| Chips | The common term for tokens, issued by a casino in place of money. |
| Cold Dice | Dice which consistently don’t pass. |
| Cold Table | A table where most of the players are losing. |
| Color Change | The changing of chips to a higher or lower denomination. |
| Color Up | To exchange small denomination chips for larger denomination chips. |
| Combo Bet | A combination of a pass line/don’t pass bet and an odds bet. These will give you a combined house edge of .471% and .34% house edge. That is the lowest house edge craps bet you will find anywhere! |
| Come Box | Area on the table for Come bets. |
| Come Out Roll | The first roll of the dice in a new round, which sets the point. |
| Coming Out | The shooter is going to throw a come out roll. |
| Correct Odds | The mathematical likelihood, or probability, that a bet will be made a winner. |
| Crap Numbers | The numbers 2, 3, and 12. |
| Crap Out | To throw a 2, 3, or 12 on the come out roll. |
| Craps | Shooting a 2, 3 or 12 on the come out roll |
| Craps Out | To throw a craps on the come out roll, an automatic loser for Pass Line bettors. |
| Crew | Casino employees who manage the craps table – they are two dealers; the stickman and the box man. |
| Dealer | Casino employees at a craps table who collect losses and pay winning bets to the craps players. |
| Dice | A pair of six-sided cubes numbered from 1 to 6. |
| Dice Pass | The dice “pass” when the shooter rolls a 7 or 11 on the come-out roll. |
| Die | Singular for dice, a single cube. |
| Don’t Come Bet | A bet after the come out roll, against the shooter, betting on a 7 before rolling the point. |
| Don’t Come Box | The area on the table with Don’t Come bets |
| Don’t Pass Bar | The place on the table where you play Don’t Pass bets. (aka Don’t Pass Line) |
| Don’t Pass Bet | A bet on the come out roll against the shooter. A bet on 2, 3 or 12 |
| Don’t Pass Line | The place on the table layout for Don’t Pass bets. (Aka Don’t Pass Bar.) |
| Double Odds | Free odds bet doubling the initial Come, Don’t Come, Pass Line and Don’t Pass Line bets. |
| Double Pitch | In dice control, when the dice stay on axis. |
| Down | players often say “take it down” to remove or reduce a bet |
| Easy Way | Any roll of a 4, 6, 8 or 10 where each die is different. |
| Edge | The advantage the casino has over the player on any given wager, expressed as a percentage. |
| Even-Money | A payoff at 1 to 1. |
| Fever | A term for a roll of five. |
| Fever Five | A roll of 5, also called five fever |
| Field Bet | A bet on a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12 |
| Five-times Odds | Free odds bets put at five times the original bet. |
| Flea | A player who bets at or near table minimum, normally for extended periods of time. |
| Floorman | A casino employee who stands behind the craps table, checking on the players and authorizing credit for players. |
| Free Odds Bet | Pass and Don’t Pass bets, Come or Don’t Come bets placed after the initial roll at true odds. |
| Front Line | Another name for the pass line bet. |
| Garden | A term for the field bet |
| George | A good tipper |
| Hard Number | Any number rolled as a pair. Two fours is a hard eight while two fives is a hard ten etc. |
| Hardway | A number being rolled as a double, for instance, a 2 +2, 4+4, etc. |
| Hardway Bet | A bet on a 4, 6, 8 or 10 as a pair before the shooter rolls the easy way and a 7. |
| Hi-Lo | A bet on e a 2 or 12 |
| Hi-lo-yo | a single roll bet for 2, 11, or 12 |
| High Roller | A player (bettor) who wages large sums of money at a craps table. |
| Hop Bet | A bet that the next roll will result in one particular combination of the dice, such as 2-2 or 3-5. 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, and 5-5. |
| Hope Bet | One roll bet on a specific dice combination. |
| Hoping Hardway | A Hope bet on a 2 – 2. |
| Horn Bet | A one-roll bet on 2, 3, 11 and 12. |
| Horn High Bet | A one-roll bet on 2, 3, 11 and 12, with 2 parts bet on 12, and a part each bet on 2, 3 and 11. |
| Hot Roll | Dice a shooter holds for a long time before ‘sevening out’. Dice that keep on passing. |
| Hot Table | A table where at least most of the players are winning. |
| House Edge | The advantage a casino has over a player on a particular bet. |
| Inside Numbers | Bets on 5, 6, 8 and 9 |
| Insurance Bet | A wager that’s made to protect against another wager losing. |
| Lay Bet | A bet that a 7 will come up before the point number. Wrong betters pay a 5% commission. |
| Lay Odds | An extra odds bet against the dice and often placed because of the odds. |
| Layout | The imprint on the craps table marked with different betting areas. |
| Line Bet | A Pass Line or Don’t Pass bet. |
| Little Joe | A roll of a hard 4 (2 – 2) |
| Little Phoebe | A term for a roll of five. |
| Loaded Dice | Dice that have been weighted to tamper with the outcome |
| Low | a single roll bet for a 2 |
| Marker | A plastic disc used by dealers to mark the point number on the table. |
| Marker Puck | Plastic round disk used to mark either the point or to indicate that no point is yet established; “OFF” on one side, “ON” on the other side. |
| Mechanic | A shooter who allegedly implements dice control |
| Midnight | A one-roll bet on 12 |
| Natural | A 7 or 11 roll on the come out roll, aka a natural 7 or natural 11. |
| Nina | Rolling or betting on a 9 |
| Odds Bet | A bet where the casino has no edge. |
| Odds Off | Odds bets can be called “off” by the player at any time. |
| Off | On the following dice roll, certain bets will be safe. |
| On Base | The term for a standing dealers who is not the stickman. |
| On the Stick | The term to signify that a dealers is now working the stick, and is the stickman for a designated time. |
| One Roll Bets | Bets for the next and only the next roll of the dice; the bet is won or lost at the conclusion of the next roll. |
| Out 7 | A 7 that comes up after the come out bet |
| Outside Numbers | The numbers 4, 5, 9, and 10. |
| Parlay | To increase a bet, usually by double; same as “Press”. |
| Parlay A Bet | Adding the winnings from a bet to the original stake and wagering it all. |
| Parley | Taking the winnings from one bet and adding them to a bet and betting all the money |
| Pass Bet | A bet that the dice will pass, also known as a “pass line” bet. |
| Pass Line | The area on the table for Pass Line bets. (Aka the Front Line.) |
| Pass Line Bet | Betting with the shooter, aka betting with the dice. |
| Payoff | The amount received from a winning bet. |
| Pit Boss | A casino employee in charge of all the craps tables in one area of the casino. |
| Place Bet | A bet on that a place number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10) will come up before a 7. |
| Place Bet To Lose | A bet that a 7 will be rolled before the number you are placing (4,5,6,8,9, or 10) comes up. |
| Place Bet To Win | A bet that a particular number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10) will be rolled before a 7 comes up. |
| Place Numbers | The numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10. |
| Playing the Field | A Bet on a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12. |
| Point | The value established on the come out roll. |
| Point Number | A 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 come up on the come out roll. |
| Press | To increase a bet, usually by doubling; same as “Parlay”. |
| Press a Bet | To double or parlay a bet |
| Proposition Bets | The Hardway bet as well as all one-roll bets in the center of the table layout. (Aka Center Bets.) |
| Puppy Paws | A term for a roll of ten. |
| Put Bet | A bet made on the pass line after the come out roller a bet made directly onto a come point number. |
| Rail | The area around the top of the craps table where player keep their chips. |
| Right Bettor | A player betting on the pass line. |
| Roll | A single throw of the dice. Also, a complete series of throws until the shooter sevens-out. |
| Same Bet | To keep the previous winning bet as is. |
| Sequence Bet | A bet that can take more than one roll for the outcome to be determined. |
| Seven Out | Rolling a seven before rolling the point. |
| Shoot | A series of rolls before the shooter ‘sevens out’. |
| Shooter | The player who rolls the dice. |
| Skinny McKinney | A term for a roll of seven. |
| Snake Eyes | Rolling a 2. |
| Square Pair | A term for a hard eight (a pair of fours). |
| Standoff | A situation where no decision results from a throw of the dice on certain bets. |
| Stickman | A casino employee at the craps table, responsible for passing the dice to the shooter and announcing the outcome of rolls. |
| Stroker | A player who makes bets overly complicated and/or gives dealers unnecessary additional work |
| Take Odds | After a point has been established, the pass/come bettor can place an additional odds bet that will win if the original pass/come bet wins. |
| Take the Odds | Making a free-odds bet as a right bettor. |
| Ten-times Odds | A free-odds bet made at ten times the original bet. |
| Toke | A tip to the dealer. |
| Triple Odds | A free-odds bet placed at 3x the original bet. |
| True Odds | The odds that any given number will come up on any roll. |
| Two Ways | A phrase appended to a hardway or proposition bet to indicate that the player is betting one chip for the dealers along with his own bet. |
| Up Pops the Devil | A term for a roll of seven. |
| Vigorish | The commission taken by the casino. |
| Whirl Bet | An equal bet on 2, 3, 7, 11 and 12. |
| Winner on Dark Side | A term for a roll of three. |
| Working | The next dice roll place certain bets at risk. |
| Working Bets | Bets that are in play for the next roll. |
| World Bet | A bet that the next roll will be 2, 3, 7, 11, or 12, made in multiples of 5, with one unit on each of the numbers. |
| Wrong Bettor | A player betting against the shooter, on that the dice won’t pass or that the player won’t make the point. |
| Yo | Aka ‘yo-leven.’ Instead of the number 11 so that it isn’t confused with the number 7. |
| Yo-leven | A term for the 11. |
Please feel free to comment and add more craps terms so that we can continue to grow this list and keep getting better.