Craps Strategies

Be clever, play clever, and master craps the correct way!

Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Current craps developed from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the English, the French moved south and located sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is gotten from the name of the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and all over the nation. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the current craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.