The player who's current go it is, is called the shooter. The shooter wins if he rolls a 7 or 11 and this is entitled 'Natural' and he loses if he rolls a 2, 3 or a 12. This is known as 'craps' and it is where the name gets its name from. Rolling any of the remaining numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10) is known as the 'point'. If the shooter achieves point on his first roll, he must roll again, if he achieves point again, then rolls again and rolls a 7 then he wins. If a 7 is rolled after the first point then the shooter loses and the dice are passed on to the next person. The next person will then become the shooter.

In this system, you raise your bet one unit if you lose and lower it one unit if you win, which means your winning bets will be higher than your losing bets. It would look like this in practice: 1, lose and go to 2, lose and go to 3, win and drop to 2, lose and go to 3, lose again, bet 4, win, bet 3 ad infinitum. It looks attractive, but the end result is the same: you will eventually lose your money. A ten loss series would have you down 55 units and you would have a helluva time getting out of that hole.

Many players who make pass line bets can't afford to take any odds or full odds behind the bet once the number is established. You can place the odds if the person allows you. The casino has no edge on the odds and in the long run your expectation is to break even. That could be a lot of casino fun with no expected cost! One caveat: Make sure the person behind whose bet you're taking odds fully understands what it is you are doing. You don't want to win a bet only to have the man or woman scoop it up and keep it.