Being the Shooter: What to Do When the Dice Come to You

The shooter rotates around the table clockwise. Whoever has the dice will eventually seven out, the dice pass to the player on their left, and that player gets the option to shoot. If they pass, the dice move to the next player. You can pass on shooting if you don't want to: just say "pass" or wave the dice off. Plenty of players never shoot, and there's no requirement that you do.

Online craps handles this differently. Live dealer online craps, where you watch a real shooter through a video feed, works exactly like a live table. Software-based craps has no actual shooter; the software just rolls the dice and you bet on the outcome, so none of the shooter rules apply.

The stickman puts five dice in front of you and you pick two; the other three go back. The casino keeps multiple dice on the table in case one breaks or flies off. The selection is mostly cosmetic, because the dice are essentially identical in size, weight, and coloring. There's no advantage to picking specific ones. Some players examine each die dramatically; that's theater, and the math isn't affected.

What you should do is pick two dice quickly and confidently, with one hand. Not two. The casino requires the shooter to handle the dice with one hand only, both during selection and the throw, to prevent palming or switching. It's enforced. Rituals like kissing or shaking the dice are fine as long as you keep one hand on them and don't take 30 seconds. The table is waiting.

Throw both dice at the same time, with one hand, hard enough that they hit the back wall on the far side of the table, the foam-padded wall with the pyramid bumps that randomize the bounce. Hitting the back wall is the rule; if you don't, the throw can be ruled invalid, though casinos are usually lenient on your first roll or two. There's no required form: some players sweep underhand, some flick from the wrist, some throw like a baseball pitch. They all work as long as the dice clear the felt and reach the wall.

The most common new-shooter mistake is throwing too softly, nervous about knocking over chips, so the dice land in the middle and roll harmlessly. The stickman will tell you to hit the back wall; throw a little harder. The other mistake is throwing too hard, launching the dice off the table or into someone's chest. A medium-firm throw is right: enough to clearly hit the back wall, not so much that the dice end up in another zip code.

When the dice come to you, you start with a come out roll, same as any other. A 7 or 11 is a natural and wins the table, a 2, 3 or 12 is craps and loses the table, and a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 becomes the point. If you crap out on the come out, you don't give up the dice; you keep shooting with another come out. If you roll a natural, you also keep the dice and can roll multiple naturals in a row. You only give up the dice when you seven out during a point cycle.

Once a point is set, you keep rolling until you make the point (starting a new come out) or seven out (passing the dice). There's no time limit. The pace is up to you within reason: a normal pace is 15 to 30 seconds between rolls, accounting for the time dealers need to settle bets. You can sip your drink, chat, take small breaks. As you throw well and make points, the energy builds and you become the center of attention. That's fun, but don't let it get in your head; just keep throwing the way you have been. Long rolls are rare. Most shooters roll seven to nine times before sevening out, so a typical turn is a few rolls, a point or two, and done.

Eventually a 7 hits during a point cycle. Pass line bets lose, the puck flips off, the stickman pulls the dice back, and your turn is done. Some shooters take it personally, feeling like they let the table down, and apologize or slink off. Don't do any of that. Sevening out is a normal, expected part of the game. The dice are random, you didn't cause it, and you didn't let anybody down. Every shooter eventually sevens out, including the legendary long-roll shooters.

The right move is to be cool about it: don't apologize, maybe nod at the players next to you, take a drink, and get ready for the next come out as a regular bettor. Nobody actually blames you. The exception is if you did something specifically wrong, like throwing too softly the whole time or saying the word seven, in which case players might be a little annoyed. But sevening out itself is just dice doing dice things.

There's a school of thought that the way you throw affects what you roll, that by holding the dice a certain way and landing them softly against the back wall, you can roll fewer 7s. This is called dice control or dice setting, and there are books, seminars, and coaches devoted to it.

The math says it doesn't work, not reliably. The pyramid bumps on the back wall are specifically designed to randomize the dice on the bounce, which kills any pre-set orientation, and casino dice are machined to tight tolerances so they have no exploitable biases. Some practitioners claim small advantages over very long samples, but most independent analysis says any effect is too small to measure or exploit. Casinos generally aren't concerned about dice control, a pretty good indicator they don't think it works either. For a beginner, just throw normally and have fun. Don't buy a book or a course.

If you have a hot roll going, it's good form to tip the dealers. The standard way is a small bet for them on a number, usually after a successful point: drop a chip and say "for the dealers" or "two-way hardway," and the dealer sets it up. You don't have to tip if you're not winning, and you don't have to tip elaborately; a few dollars now and then is plenty.

Dealers share in tips, so they're not totally neutral about whether you make money. A friendly shooter who tips reasonably gets warmer attention than a stoic one who doesn't. The etiquette article goes deeper, but the short version for shooters is: if you're making money, throw a little to the crew.

• Throwing with two hands. Pick up, hold, and throw with one hand only. Two-handed throws get corrected.
• Letting the dice fly off the table. Happens to everyone, usually from throwing too hard. The dealers handle it; the roll might or might not count.
• Saying the word seven during a point cycle. Even as the shooter. Especially as the shooter. The table superstition is real.
• Throwing too softly to reach the back wall. The stickman will tell you. Throw harder.
• Taking too long between throws. Keep the pace moving; the dealers and players appreciate it.
• Leaving chips where the dice will land. They can land on a stack and become cocked dice. Keep your chips in the betting boxes, not the middle of the felt.
• Apologizing for sevening out. Just don't. Nobody blames you.

If you're playing live dealer online craps, where you watch a real human shoot through a video feed, the rules above apply to the shooter you're watching. If you're playing software-based craps, there's no shooter at all; the software just rolls dice and you bet on outcomes, with no rotation, throwing, or etiquette. This is one of the bigger differences between the formats. Live craps has the social dynamic of being the shooter, which is half the fun for a lot of players, while software craps strips it out. We cover all the differences in our article on online vs live craps.

Being the shooter is not as scary as it looks the first time. Pick two dice with one hand, throw them at the back wall, keep rolling until you seven out, be polite to the dealers and players, and tip a little if you have a good run. That's the whole job. The first time, you might feel some nerves; everybody does. By the second or third time it's just part of the game. The cheers when you make a point are part of what makes craps fun, and the groans when you seven out aren't really directed at you. Embrace it. The next article gets into the differences between online and live craps.