You’ll hear the stickman shout, “Ten easy, the hard ten is down.” The 5-5 pair is called “hard” because there’s only one way to make it, compared to the two ways to make the non-pair combinations (i.e., 4-6 and 6-4). You’ll hear the stickman shout, “Ten hard!” The 6-4 and 4-6 outcomes show different values on each die, so they’re the easy ways to make a 10. Of the three possible outcomes for a 10, which is considered the “hard way?” Very good! The 5-5 outcome means the dice show a pair, or equal values, so it’s the “hard way” to make a 10.
You can roll a 10 three different ways as shown in the following table. The following tables assume you’ve read our other lessons, particularly the one about basic craps math, where you learned the number of ways to make each potential outcome 2 through 12. The “easy way” is when the dice show two different values. The “hard way” to make one of these four numbers is when both dice show equal values (i.e., a pair).
