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Learn to Play Craps – Tricks and Plans: The Background of Craps

[ English ]

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

Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps evolved from the old English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French headed south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it 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 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he invented the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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