Blackjack History
As is the case with many casino games, the exact history of blackjack remains unknown. The game has been around since at least the 1600s, but nobody knows where and how the game originated. In all likelihood, the current form of blackjack is the result of a slow transition and merging of even older games.
Some of the first written references to blackjack date back to Spain in the 1600s. A short story in Novelas Ejemplares mentions a game in which the goal is to get to 21 without going over. This is definitely a reference to a similar game but it’s not known where the game was played at the time.
Many sources credit the French with offering some of the first blackjack games in a casino format. It wasn’t the same game we know today, but the rules were similar and the name, Vingt Et Un, translates to twenty one. French casinos in the 1700s offered this game and it eventually came to the United States during the 1800s.
The game wasn’t a big hit with US players in the beginning because the payouts were low and the house had a large advantage over the player. In addressing these complaints, casinos added a rule that offered players a special bonus payout if the player ended up with a hand that consisted of an Ace of spades and either of the two black Jacks. The game quickly became known as “blackjack” and the name has stuck ever since.
Blackjack continued to be played in the United States over the years and even managed to survive the prohibition era. When gambling was finally legalized in Las Vegas, blackjack was introduced to the casinos there and it became a popular casino game. By this point, blackjack had already become the game we all recognize today.
Blackjack Strategy Becomes Public Knowledge
In the 1950s, Roger Baldwin published the first study of the math behind the game. It was published in an academic journal and explained blackjack strategies players could use to reduce the house advantage. It was a fairly technical writing and so didn’t appeal to as wide an audience as later works on blackjack would.
The first book to be sold to the general public was published in 1963 by Edward Thorp. His book was called Beat the Dealer and it ended up being a major success. This book expanded on the math offered by Roger Baldwin and introduced card counting to the general public for the first time.
Since then, a slew of other books have been published about blackjack. In response to the publicity of techniques such as card counting, casinos have had to change their rules and update their shuffling techniques. Continuous shuffling machines have been introduced to some casinos in order to render card counting useless. Other casinos make it a point to identify and ban card counters from their premises.
Over the years, other blackjack variants have been introduced by casinos and some of those have become almost as popular as the original game itself. Today, blackjack is the most popular table game in the world. Whether it’s the mystique of card counting or the simple rules, blackjack is going strong and probably will for as long as we have casinos.