Craps Tricks

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps formed from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for sure the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is supposed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the British, the French relocated south and discovered sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is derived 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 river boats and across the nation. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.