Craps Tips

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Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the British, the French relocated south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. Later, he established the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.