Craps Strategy

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps formed from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s paladins wagered on Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French relocated down south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the bad luck throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.