I was at a casino in the region lately and decided to give a half hour to the craps tables. Not enough to do much damage or rake in a huge win, but just to keep me up to speed on the game. You know, make sure I remember how to toss the dice. While playing, I noticed something interesting. A player broke the rules. He appeared to be new (appeared, but you know how that goes), so he got a pass (pardon the pun you’ll get in a minute). But let’s say for the sake of argument he was new. It brings out a good point. Craps is a darn tricky game sometimes.

What this fellow did was make a don’t pass bet after the number had been established. That, folks, is a craps table no-no. You can’t do that. Why? For the simple reason that after the come out roll, the don’t pass bet earns the statistical advantage to win – since a seven is more likely that any other point numbers to be rolled. And the casino isn’t about letting you make favorable bets when the odds are already established for the player. Adversely, they’d love for you to place a pass bet after the number has been established because, wait for it, the odds are against you. Some players call making the don’t pass bet “pass posting,” and it’s black and white cheating. Sometimes at a busy table, though, staff might be watching something or someone else and a few of these slip through.

That said, what you can do is place a don’t come bet. The don’t pass and the don’t come are even money wagers. The rules are the same, too. Both bets will claim victory on a 2 or 3, push on a 12 and lose on 7, 11. What’s nice here, as well, is that you don’t have to already have made a don’t pass bet in order to place the don’t come bet. They are independent of each other.

And the don’t come bet is actually a good one for beginner’s to “take the next step” with. It’s easy to understand odds and rules are inviting to those without much experience at the table.