Craps Strategies

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Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps come about from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the British, the French moved down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is gotten from the term for the bad luck throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. A good many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.