I know that as a new player at any game, many of us want to sit in and start playing to get the lay of the land.  However, if you want to see how the game is played, it costs nothing to watch some games before you start throwing away your money.  I feel that a person should at least understand how they are loosing there money, before they start handing it over to the casino.

You know for some games I would completely agree with you, but I’m not too sure this would work with craps. I had long been intimidated by craps. There’s so much going on, people throwing chips around, yelling out numbers and bets, dealers grabbing chips and repeating… It’s all very overwhelming to someone who doesn’t know really what’s going on. Personally, I found it much better to go with a friend who knew how to play who could explain things as we went along on a one on one basis.

I never played craps - I’m not even sure what it totally is! However, as 21 said, it seems overwhelming. I’d probably still stop and watch for a bit though after hearing the rules and whatnot to sort of understand what is going on.

I think if someone wants to learn basics of craps… try - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craps... Once you are through with it… give it few shots at home… then visit casino and see how people play it there… after you have figured out how you would play it… start shooting. That’s what I called fundamentally clear craps player.

I looked at the wikipedia site on craps.  It did a great job of explaining a lot about the game. thanks for the tip.  I knew some of the basic stuff but it helped me understand some of the terms I hear yelled out all through the game that I didn’t have a clue about.  Sometimes dealers are too busy to ask and it can be hard to hear if things are really going well.

IMHO the key concept that separates craps from every other casino game is that you are typically betting on the outcome of a series of events rather than a single event.  Take roulette, for example.  Ya bets yer money, the ball goes ‘round ‘n ‘round, the ball drops into a pocket, and all bets are resolved.  Not so in craps.  With the more popular bets you are betting that something will happen before something else happens, which means there can be neutral events which do not resolve your bet.  For example, a place bet on 6 wins if a six is rolled, loses if a 7 is rolled, and remains unresolved if any other number is rolled.  Different players can start different series at different times, which muddies the waters tremendously, but I think that once a novice understands this series idea the rest starts to make sense.

Try WinCraps, a shareware program from http://www.cloudcitysoftware.com. The Help file is one of the best craps primers I have ever seen, and you can practice playing without any pressure. It also has a very advanced simulation engine, so you can simulate millions of rolls very quickly. It even draws graphs of your outcomes! You can download it for free as a demo; registering it unlocks all its functionality for only $19.95; it’s worth much, much more.

BTW, I am not associated with Cloud City Software, but have used it for many years.
Cheers,
Alan Shank