The history of Blackjack

Blackjack or twenty-one?

Blackjack has appeared during the seventeenth century in France, which had played a game called "Twenty-one. Like all other games, its origins are fairly flues. The twenty-one and other similar games can be considered the first ancestor of blackjack, although the rules of blackjack are not strictly the same: the dealer could double and you bet after each round, which is not the case in modern blackjack. However, as in traditional Blackjack and other variants, the objective of Twenty-one was to achieve a "natural" or a total of 21. The English name "Blackjack" comes to the characteristics of twenty-one, a special bonus when you have a hand with a Jack and an Ace of Swords, the term of Jack Black. It is the ideal hand at the game of Twenty-one.

Seven and a half

Another game called "Seven and Half," emerged in Italy. In this card game played with a card game where you remove the 8, 9 and 10, the objective being to get a hand of seven and a half points. The normal maps (from Ace to 7) from January to July were worth points, while cards with figures worth half a point. The King of Diamonds could take the value of any card, like a wild card. When players exceeded seven and a half points they lost or were "busted". It is believed that the word "bust" of blackjack, still used today, even online casinos, from the Seven and a half. The game is still popular today in Italy.
Jack Black in America - the illegal gambling

After the French Revolution when the game has migrated to North America, the Black Jack gained a strong following, thanks to its flexibility and ease of play and so there was not at that time no law prohibiting or regulating the game of cards. Professional gamblers soon realized the enormous potential of the game and it did not take long for them to develop the basic strategy of blackjack to improve their chances of winning. The game was already very popular in the early twentieth century, when the U.S. government prohibits any gambling activity, whereas play corrupted society and encouraged organized crime.

Thus, pursued by law and by the Federal Marshals, the Black Jack became an illegal gambling. It became even more popular during the 20s, as and as government restrictions s'amplifièrent, Nevada and finally decided to legalize gambling in 1931, giving birth to Las Vegas and causing an explosion in the industry gambling in general and Black Jack in particular, which became a classic in all casinos known world, America, Europe, Russia and Canada. Science also was not indifferent to the phenomenon and decided to investigate too. However, it was still far from playing blackjack in online casinos.
The science of blackjack - card counting to beat the dealer

In 1953 Roger Baldwin and his associates have made the first attempt to scientifically study the Black Jack. They employed statistical theories and methodologies to accurately assess the probability of the game in 1956, they published their findings in the American Statistical Association under the title "Optimum Strategy in Blackjack" (Blackjack Optimal Strategy) The first strategic guide to Blackjack.

Yet the tools that Baldwin and his associates used to study the statistics of blackjack were not sophisticated enough. The next step to understand blackjack via math and science was taken by Professor Edward O. Thorp, who has refined and used the discoveries of new systems and calculating machines. In 1962 Thorp published his book Beat the Dealer (Beat the Dealer), in which he explained the first system of blackjack - the system of counting cards at blackjack. The principle of his theory was that the panel has a memory, that is to say that counting cards if a player can say at some point the bank is favorable or less, and alter its behavior game . Despite the complexity of the subject and explanations, Beat the Dealer became a huge success and in 1963 he achieved first place in the list of best books of the New York Times. Not only Thorp's work had an enormous impact on the blackjack players and many of them believed to have the perfect formula for beating the casinos, but it also sowed panic among gambling establishments

Blackjack at the age of computers and the Internet

Julian Braun, an IBM employee who used his computer skills to study blackjack with a simulator, also contributed much to the history of Blackjack and casinos. His work was included in the second edition of Beat the Dealer.

Another innovator is Lawrence Revere who published Playing Blackjack as a Business (Playing Blackjack as a business), which has inspired thousands of Blackjack players.

But the real hero of Black Jack was Ken Uston, who inspired thousands with his books "Million Dollar Blackjack (Black Jack one million dollars)," Ken Uston on Blackjack (Ken Uston on Black Jack) and "Big Player" (The Big Player). Ken Uston and his colleagues used computers hidden in their shoes, and have won this way millions of dollars a month playing in Nevada casinos.

Ken Uston was not the last to use these methods. In 1990 another group of players came to the casinos with card counting techniques - the MIT Blackjack Team (team of MIT Blackjack). The team members have collected millions of dollars until 1997, when they were banned from casinos after being discovered by Griffin Investigations, a firm of private detectives that identified the card counters and ensured casinos worldwide cons cheaters.

Currently, the Blackjack is a classic game played by everyone in traditional casinos and online casinos. Blackjack on the Internet grew in popularity in recent years and is expected to continue to be the classic it is today, especially with the spread of tournaments blackjack online.

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