Craps Strategies

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Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps formed from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when displaced by the British, the French moved down south and discovered refuge in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the non-winning throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. A good many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.