Craps Strategies

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the British, the French moved down south and found safety in southern Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the non-winning throw of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. Most acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he developed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.