Standing opposite the boxman is the stickman, who is part of the dealer's crew. He is called a stickman because of a flexible stick he holds in his hand, which is used to push the dice around the table. (The dealers never touch the dice with their hands.)

The stickman, being part of the crew, is on break one quarter of the time, and on the stick one quarter of his shift. Most crews move their dealers around the table, so that each in turn is on base, that is, a standing dealer at one of the two end sections of the table, or on the stick or on break.

The following are the duties of the stickman:

-	He is in charge of the dice, pushing them to a new shooter at the commencement of his or her roll. After the shooter has picked two from a choice of four to eight dice, the stickman returns the unselected dice to a box, which he keeps in front of him at all tunes.
-	The stickman calls the game, announcing each roll of the dice and whether it is a winner or loser. For example, on the come-out, if the shooter has rolled a 7, the call might be "7, a winner on the pass line." If a 7 has been thrown after a point was established, the stickman might say "7, loser on the pass line, line away," or words to that effect. There are no standard calls, this being mostly an individual matter, and each stickman has his own method of calling a game.
-	After each roll of the dice the stickman returns the dice to the shooter, just waiting for all payoffs to be completed. At times, while waiting for the payoffs to be made, the stickman will fiddle with the dice, turning them over to make certain that each die is correctly numbered. This often happens during a hot roll, when the casino wants to make certain that the dice in play are legitimate and have not been tampered with.
-	The stickman is in charge of the center of the layout and places all bets made on these center proposition situations. He also informs the standing dealers when to make payoffs from winning center layout bets. If a center bet is lost, he removes the chips and hands them to the boxman.
-	He keeps up a continuous patter during the game, even when the dice haven't been rolled. For instance, while the shooter is shaking the dice, the stickman may say, "Hot roll coming up, bet those hardways, bet the craps eleven, get those field bets down." His patter is generally used to entice the players to make disadvantageous bets and also to make legitimate bets, such as on the come, in order to keep the game exciting, and to make certain that there is plenty of betting action at the table.

Some common terms the stickmen use are "yo-leven," when an 11 is rolled, "9, center field," when a 9 is thrown, for the 9 is at the center of the field bet. If a 2, 3, or 12 is rolled, the usual call is simply "craps," rather than the more exotic terms used for those numbers in private games, such as snake eyes for the 2, and boxcars for the 12.

After a shooter sevens out, the stickman generally calls the point that had been established and then the losing roll as follows: "Seven, line away, five (the point) was." A good stickman can really talk up a game and make it hum. Some stickmen root for the shooter; others, either through indifference or through house policy, root against the shooter or remain neutral.