Live Dealer Craps from Evolution

Evolution teased their plans to launch a live dealer craps game at ICE way back in February. Part of an ambitious 12-game new release schedule for 2020.

Craps Live was probably the most anticipated of these 12 games but cruelly the last to launch. It is finally now live! It launched last week at Leo Vegas.

This is first game of craps to be offered in live dealer format.

Craps

Craps is an iconic casino game. Blackjack is for advantage players. Baccarat for high rollers. Roulette for the systems dreamers. Craps is for the good times gamblers. That’s how I’ve always seen it anyway. Albeit via the Hollywood lens.

It always seems to be the table where all the hooting and hollering is going on. The table surrounded by hoards of players and onlookers, all getting swept up in the hysteria created by those 2 little dice being rolled by the shooter.

How to Play Craps

In Craps, you’re betting on the outcome of the roll of 2 dice. This simple proposition is complicated by the fact that:

  1. there are many bets to choose from;
  2. certain bets are available on any roll and resolve on that roll (One-roll bets); but
  3. certain bets can take multiple rolls to resolve (Multi-roll bets); and
  4. a number of these Muti-roll bets are only available depending on the roll phase, or where pre-conditions are met.

No need to dwell on One-roll bets. They’re pretty straight forward. Click here for descriptions and payouts.

The roll phases: Come Out roll, Point roll

If you want to understand the Multi-roll bets, you need to understand the bet phases: the Come Out roll and the Point roll.

Come Out roll

The game starts with the Come Out roll. This is indicated with the puck set to OFF (top left of real table, top right of virtual bet table).

craps come out

Come Out roll – puck set to OFF

Key Multi-roll bets available during this phase are Pass Line or Don’t Pass. If the roll total is 7 or 11 (Pass Line bet wins), 2 or 3 (Don’t Pass wins) or 12 (Don’t Pass pushes, Pass Line loses) another Come Out roll will follow.

If 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 are rolled this number becomes the Point and the Point roll phase follows. Pass Line or Don’t Pass remain live until either a 7 (Don’t Pass paysor the Point (Pass Line pays) is rolled.

Point roll

Once the Point is established (ie 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 rolled on the Come Out) we’re in the Point roll phase. The pucks (real table and virtual bet table) are set to ON and are placed alongside the Point that is set.

craps Point roll

Point roll – puck set to ON and 8 is the Point

During the Point roll phase, we are waiting for already placed Pass Line or Don’t Pass bets to resolve.

Also, other key Multi-roll bets become available: Come and Don’t Come (see below).

The Point roll phase continues until a 7 or the Point (number 8 in above example) are rolled. This marks a return to the Come Out roll.

The bets

You can click here for a full description of all bets. Below concentrates on key Multi-roll bets only.

bet selector

  • Pass Line
    Available on Come Out roll (puck OFF)
    On Come Out roll: wins with 7 or 11; loses with 2, 3, or 12. Otherwise resolves during Point roll.
    During Point roll phase: wins if Point rolled before 7 (otherwise lost).
  • Don’t Pass
    Available on Come Out roll (puck OFF)
    On Come Out roll: wins with 2 or 3; loses with 7 or 11; pushes 12. Otherwise resolves during Point roll.
    During Point roll phase: wins if 7 rolled before the Point (otherwise lost).
    Pays 1:1
  • Come
    Available during Point roll phase (puck ON)
    Wins with 7 or 11; loses with 2, 3 or 12. Any other result establishes another point marked by your chips and the bet remains live and is won if that point rolled before a 7 (otherwise lost).
    Pays 1:1
  • Don’t Come
    Available during Point roll phase (puck ON)
    Wins with 2 or 3; loses with 7 or 11; pushes 12. Any other result establishes another point marked by your chips and the bet remains live and is won if a 7 is rolled before that point (otherwise lost).
    Pays 1:1

All seems a bit confusing at first. But you’ll find that if you stick to your favourite bets (eg Don’t Pass and Don’t Come) you quickly become familiar with the outcomes you’re looking for.

The Payouts

craps-bet-payouts

Playing Craps Live

Craps Live comes wrapped in Evolution’s familiar game interface. It’s a completely new table (and virtual betting table) to anything we’ve seen before live online. But the chip selector, help, information and navigation buttons are consistent with all their other games.

One subtle addition, is the Dealer Assist button, bottom right. More on this below.

And despite the complexity of the bets (to game newbies like me anyway), the technology guides you to some extent. It lets you place bets that are available and doesn’t let you place those that aren’t. And you’re clearly shown when your open bets resolve.

craps-placebets

Also helpful are the dealers who are clearly practised in the nuances of craps. They give a nice explanatory commentary along the way and are eager to answer any questions that players have.

Probably helps pass the time given their only other tasks are moving the puck, retrieving the die and loading them in the launcher.

If that’s not enough to get you comfortable with how things work, there’s also a nice little tutorial available when the game first opens.

Fast tutorial

When you launch Craps Live, you’re first greeted by a welcome page giving you the option to:

  • ‘PLAY CRAPS’ and be taken straight to the table, or
  • ‘LEARN CRAPS’, which gives an overview of any bet chosen on the selector.

craps-come

Dealer Assist & Easy Mode

A couple more features are offered to help you through the learning stages of craps. Bottom right of the interface (next to +TABLE & LOBBY buttons) is the Dealer Assist button.

dealer-assist

Using this button, you can at any stage of the game either select:

  • LEARN CRAPS, and be taken to the fast tutorial to get a refresher on the bets, or
  • EASY MODE, which gives you a simpler bet selector.

The Easy Mode bets selector only presents available bets for that roll. It also presets them in a slightly more descriptive way.

easy-mode

Personally, I preferred diving in and getting the hang of the more authentic selector. But the addition of these features is a recognition from Evolution that craps is not a familiar game to all.

Some hand holding is required, and probably appreciated.

Introducing the Launcher

No hoards of players around this table. And no shooter rolling the dice.

In Craps Live the shooter’s job is taken by a mechanical arm. Evolution call it the Launcher. I like the Flinger.

What ever you want to cal it, the dealer places the dice in the contraption’s cradle. After bets close it flings the dice into the wall at the opposite end of the table giving us the result.

craps launcher load

Doesn’t quite have the same feel to it as a shooter throw. Or indeed a shooter throw after a sexy stranger has blown on the dice for some lady luck. But a human throw just wouldn’t work here would it?

The Flinger brings unquestionable impartiality and randomness. If not romance.

Craps Live House Rules

If you haven’t already checked them out above, may be ready here.

Theoretical return

Craps Live offers a pretty solid optimal return to player of 99.17%. You need to be playing the right bets though.

Hint: stick to Don’t Pass and Don’t Come. This should be easy to remember as presumably you DON’T want to lose too much.

Craps Live Video

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