Working through "Is craps a game of skill?" comes down to two dice. Craps is a dice game played at a casino table, and the rules look harder than they are. What decides every bet is how two dice land, so the whole game works from one small table of combinations. Knowing that table explains what each wager pays, why some bets carry a far bigger house edge than others, and how to play without slowing the game for the rest of the table.
Table etiquette keeps a busy game moving. Anyone who wants to shoot craps waits for the dice to come round, then throws them with one hand so both hit the far wall. Chips go down before the stickman calls for the roll, never while the dice are in the air, and winnings stay on the layout until the dealer pushes them across. Handing money straight to a dealer is avoided; it goes on the table instead.
Craps payouts vary more than in almost any other casino game, and so does the house edge. Pass and come bets pay even money with an edge a little over one percent, among the best odds on the casino floor. Odds placed behind the line pay at true chance and carry no edge at all. The horn bet, split across two, three, eleven and twelve, pays large multiples but keeps an edge above twelve percent.
Craps is not a game of skill in the way a card game like poker is, because no strategy changes how the dice fall. The best strategy is simply choosing bets with a low house edge and skipping the rest. Over many rolls the game cannot be beaten and is not profitable for the player. It is fair in the sense that dice and payouts are fixed and public, and it is easy to learn a single bet at a time.
Throw with one hand so both dice hit the far wall, place chips before the stickman calls the roll, and keep hands out of the way while the dice fly.
All, tall and small is a side wager on rolling every small or every tall number before a seven, with a large payout and a high edge.
A one roll bet split across two, three, eleven and twelve. It pays large multiples and keeps a high edge, like the other propositions.
An extra bet placed behind a pass or come bet once a point is set, paid at true odds with no house edge.
Mostly luck: no way of throwing controls the dice, and every roll is independent. Skill only works against the house edge, by choosing bets like the pass line with odds and skipping the proposition bets.
The pass and come bets carry an edge a little over one percent, while the proposition bets in the middle run far higher.
The pass line wins on seven or eleven on the come out, loses on two, three or twelve, and otherwise needs the point before a seven; come works the same way later.