Master Craps – Tricks and Techniques: The History of Craps
Be brilliant, play clever, and pickup craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about one hundred years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when expelled by the English, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the nation. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
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