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Be a Master of Craps – Tricks and Strategies: The History of Craps
Be clever, play clever, and pickup craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard during a blockade on the fortress 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 18th century, when banished by the British, the French headed down south and discovered refuge in southern Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. Most acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the current craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. Later, he invented the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.