Craps Strategy

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Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about one hundred years old. Current craps formed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when banished by the British, the French moved down south and located sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was gotten 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 scows and across the nation. A great many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the current craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he developed the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.