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Become Versed in Craps – Tricks and Tactics: The Background of Craps

Be clever, play clever, and master craps the right way!

Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s horsemen wagered on Hazard amid a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was gotten from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. A good many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

Posted in Craps.


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