Playing Craps at a Casino
Casino craps is a game where the players are all betting against the house, This makes it the most exciting and "team-spirited" game found in casinos.
Casino Craps - Playing Craps at a Casino
While poker has its devotees as a big money game, and no one denies that the blackjack table is fast-paced, when it comes to a feeling of group participation and comradely enthusiasm there is nothing to compare with the action around a casino craps table. By the noise on the casino floor it’s not hard to tell that craps is very popular, and its popularity just seems to grow.
Don’t Shoot Me, I’m the Craps Player!
An important part of casino craps’ popularity is undoubtedly because the position of “shooter,” the person who throws the dice, changes from one player to the next. In few other games are players so actively involved in play before everyone else. This makes craps inherently more democratic than other games, where the House’s representative “runs the show” as it were. Ever player has a chance to become the star of the moment; when you play craps you will be your fellow players’ representative against the House, with all of them betting that your luck will beat the odds and make them rich.
This group participation in an adversarial position is also a factor in casino craps’ popularity. Poker, for example, is based on “every man for himself.” Craps is “all of us against the House.” Other games don’t offer such a powerful call to man’s inborn desire to join with his fellow to overcome adversity as craps does.
A Flick of the Wrist
Perhaps the most powerful draw of casino craps as opposed to playing online craps is the visceral presence of a shooter. This is not some RNG (random number generator) embedded in the mind of a computer chip; this is a flesh and blood person “throwing the bones” down onto the felt. There is a tension in watching how the player acts as shooter, the straining of the arm tendons, perhaps some sweat across the brow. This is a human just like yourself who will help you make money by throwing something that will win for him, as well.
And the shooter’s throw is carefully studied by nearly everyone around the craps table. If there will be any funny business with the craps gambling it will almost certainly happen right there, with the toss of the dice. The Stickman, whose responsibility is the dice, and the Boxman, who plays the “banker” at the table and also is responsible for making any decisions in the event of a dispute, will closely watch the throw. Those are the “professional” observers, with occasional oversight from the Floorman, as he supervises a group of craps tables on the casino floor. But the shooter’s fellow players will also be watching closely, since all of their craps betting depends upon the outcome of the shooter’s dice rolls.
The Exception Proves the Rule
Sometimes casino craps isn’t exactly as described above. In particular, during craps tournaments the psychology and emotional environment is different than during normal craps games. Because the tournament players are competing directly with each other, there is much less camaraderie. This can be especially strange during an open tournament, where the tournament play occurs at the same time and on the same table as regular craps play; some of the players will be tournament players, and there will be other experienced player, but there might also be beginners who are just starting to learn craps. How they all interact with each other can be truly fascinating.