Origins of the Most Popular Casino Game - Blackjack
When it comes to studying the history of gambling of casino, there is always a lot of inconsistencies and gray spots. The origins of the most popular table game "Blackjack" have been lost in history. The earliest mention of this game refers, to the beginning of the 17th century in Spain - a game called "Ventiuna", or in other words "21". The main difference between ventiuna and blackjack games is that ventiuna has not eights, nines and dozen. The similarity was that the players had to get 21 points without busting and ace could be from 1 to 11 points.
Later, the French played the game with a slightly modified rules. Their casino of gambling game was called Vingtet Un, which means as "21". In this game, players can bet after each round, and the dealer could double it. Some historians and experts included in the list of best online casino games like blackjack Italian game "Seven and a half". A set of cards for this game was as follows: seven, eight, nine, and all the cards with pictures. The player had to collect seven and a half points. When this card had the following values: 7, 8, 9 - one point, for all the other half a point. The player loses if scored more than seven and a half points. King of diamonds was Wildcard.
How Blackjack came in the North America
French brought the game Vingtet Un ("21") in the North America after the revolution. The most popular table game has evolved to its current form in the USA casino. Initially, the game was not very popular. Therefore, the casinos offer additional bonuses to attract players. The bonus rate was 10 to 1 if the first two cards, the player who will get to be the ace of spades and a black jack suit. This combination of cards called "Blackjack".
As soon as the Americans began to play actively this game, casino bonus amount decreased by 3:2 and paid to the player when they have collected a combination of: ace card of any suit and card with rated 10 points (Ten, Jack, Queen, King). And until now, such a combination is called Blackjack.
The modern history of blackjack
The history of blackjack since the mid-20th century is very fascinating and well-documented. In 1958, Roger Baldwin for the first time published a book of basic blackjack strategy. In 1962 Edward Thorp published his theory of counting cards in blackjack. Players should closely followed at the discard pile and were therefore better informed about the cards remaining in the game. This strategy has helped to make a decision in favor of the player.
Thorp's book «Beat the Dealer» has been on the bestseller list in the New York Times, and has done much to promote the game of blackjack. However, players will soon realized that counting cards in blackjack was a rather difficult task.
Ken Aston and his team used the method of counting cards with minicomputers which were hidden in their shoes. In this way, he earned a lot of money in the 70s. Some people argue that this amount was more than $300 000. Casino representatives appealed to the court to decide the use of electronic mechanisms for all kinds of illegal and it is time to suspend the use of the method of counting cards in blackjack.
In 1980, Bill Kaplan formed a team of MIT students and has developed a very sophisticated method of counting cards in blackjack. Film "Twenty-One" ("21", 2008) was filmed on the basis of these events. This team, which became known as the MIT Blackjack team, quite profitably worked in the 80s and 90s. After that, the casino began to shuffle the cards after half of the card went to the bump. This significantly reduced the benefits of counting cards in blackjack, which led to its gradual disappearance of all.