Craps Tips

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Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps evolved from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed south and found safety in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was gotten from the term for the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the country. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he invented the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.