Craps Strategies

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Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps formed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, however Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard during a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the English, the French headed down south and found refuge in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was acquired from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and all over the country. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he invented the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.