Craps TipsBeginner Craps Tips

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps formed from the old English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the origin of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French headed down south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was acquired from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.