You know. . .like the guys shooting dice against a wall in an alley.
A google search turns up a useless listing where the guy says,
Which is pretty dumb sounding, actually. And, since the house has an edge in regular craps, I don’t know why anyone would want to be the shooter if they had the choice.
I mean, you could play it with free odds as if the “point” had already been made and so one guy is just offering other guys correct odds on the roll of the dice.
Or, maybe you do get a street game going where you’re the bank, and guys just line up to play regular craps against you.
Presumably they don’t just offer even odds on these bets, but I wonder how versed the street players are in statistics. My guess is that it’s often a rube’s game, where the newcomer is offered some atrociously bad odds.
My dad used to play it all the time. When he had the dice, people would bet against him making the 7 or not. If he established a point, they would bet on whether or not he’d make it. Just like bank craps. Except that he’s betting he will against another person directly, or against several people. Also, others can make side bets amongst themselves for just about anything. For any odds you want, as long as someone accepts the bet.
Back in the 50’s, he actually won my mom a new pair of shoes playing craps. She had several pair on layaway at the shoe store. He was playing with a group of guys, one included the owner of the store. He wanted to bet against my dad, didn’t have the cash. Dad said “Fine, bet the shoes my wife has on layaway”. Guy did, dad won. Brought her her 3 pair of shoes.
I guess now that I think about it, some easy rules changes would make it doable. The only edge the house has in craps comes from the betting before the shooting starts, so as long as you evened that out, you could play easily.
Let’s say that shooter/bank have decided to play against each other in a fair game.
Shooter rolls 7 or 11 (8 ways) he wins $1. Shooter rolls 2, 3, 12 (4 ways) he loses $2.
Anything else, no money changes hands, and the roll becomes the point.
Now, the shooter and bank can just pay each other fair odds on the point.
If shooter rolls an 8, shooter agrees to pay 6-5 on the point. Depending on how seriously you want to keep track, you could continue to establish “points”.
Whether guys playing on the street actually play this way, I don’t know. Maybe they have simplified systems of just betting the 7 against 4,5,6,8,9,10 at 4-1 or just betting High-Low (although that’s pretty boring).
I have. Street craps–at least, the form I’m familiar with–are actually quite simple.
Imagine craps with only a pass line, and the only person allowed to play the Pass line is the shooter. The shooter (the wannabe-shooter, really, at this point) says he’ll play for, say, $10. Somebody steps up with $10 and agrees to play. Or, two guys with $5 each will do the same. The idea is to cover the sum that the shooter is putting up. This is “fading,” but we didn’t call it that. The guy (or guys, but I’ll keep it simple with one) who agrees to put his money up against the shooter is playing the Don’t Pass line.
The shooter shoots. The game plays out just like in a casino: a roll of 2, 3, or 12 is craps and wins for the Don’t bettor; 7 or 11 wins for the shooter; any other roll is a point. If the shooter establishes a point and makes it before rolling a 7, he wins and collects the Don’t bettor’s money. If he rolls a 7 first, the Don’t bettor wins and collects the shooter’s money. Game over. Anybody else wanna play?
Note that it was always for even money. Neither the shooter nor the Don’t bettor played an odds bet of any sort. That doesn’t mean a side bet with odds couldn’t happen among the spectators who weren’t playing at the time but the shooter and his Don’t bettor played for even money always.
Additionally, there is no House or Bank–the shooter and the Don’t bettor play each other directly. Notice also the lack of any bets other than Pass (for the shooter) and Don’t Pass (for his opponent). No place bets, no Come and Don’t Come, no hardways, no propositions of any kind.
Anyway, this is how we played it, quickly and simply. Guys and Dolls wasn’t too far off the mark.
Faders could also pay the shooter half his bet if he nats (rolls 7 or 11 on the come-out) and could win 2:1 if he craps with 2, 3, or 12. Then true odds pays on Point passes would be as usual: 6:5 to the shooter, 5:6 to the faders on Six or 8; 3:2 or 2:3 on 5 or Nine; and 2:1 or 1:2 on 4 or 10; all assuming that the players would be willing to fade up to double the shooter’s bet. But, at least there would be no “faders’ edge” to deal with - all odds would be exactly fair.