Craps Tips

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Current craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French moved down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and all over the country. Most acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.