Craps Strategies

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Dice and dice games goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard amid a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French headed down south and found refuge in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the current craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he established the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.