Blackjack and Casino History
History of Blackjack
The beginning of most popular casino game
It is widely believed that Blackjack as we know it today originated
in France. The first recorded mentioning of this game is found as
"vingt-et-un"
(twenty and one) in the seventeenth century. Just like with the rest of
games we do not know precise origin of Blackjack and there are only
guesses left as to what is the true beginning of this excellent game.
Blackjack is thought to have descended from other alike French games
but as the gambling games are built upon precise and well balanced
calculations, this is very unlikely. Casino games seldom mutate one
into another all on their own.
Blackjack is a very popular card game in Russia, where it's traditionally called "21" or "Ochko" ("the hole"). The game is not just played in fashionable casino but is also very popular among the folk, who play it passionately. Other known names for for Blackjack are "pontoon" and "California Aces". The English name "Blackjack" comes from the original French game where a played was rewarded to draw a Jack of spades and an Ace of spades as the first two cards. The first card to draw was Jack and spades is black, hence the name Blackjack.
Soon after the French revolution, Blackjack hit the United States
and rapidly became popular because of its flexibility and freedom.
Professional gamblers realized soon that Blackjack is a wonderful
playing field for manipulating the odds and bets. Without government
regulation, gambling was flourishing and provided a fine ground for
this unique game until almost the beginning of nineteenth century which
is when the government of United States realized that uncontrolled,
gambling industry was leading to corruption and encouraged organized
crime.The State of Nevada written gambling into law as a crime in 1910,
and the situation was rapidly deteriorating for decent players while
the industr went largely underground and became majorly criminalized,
together with other ridiculous conducts of the government forming the
very core of gangsters as we know them today. Eventually things went so
horribly bad that the Nevada authorities finally got a clue, and the
gambling was legalized, along with creation of laws that protect the
players and overseeing bodies in the government. As the Las Vegas was
reborn, Blackjack spread like wildfire throughout the casinos,
momentarily winning the hearts and the minds of the players. As all
other states were conservative and did not seek to reabilitate
the casino gambling, Las Vegas quickly became the gambling center of
United states. extremely reluctant to legalize
casino gambling, Illegal and underground casinos were not and will
never be competition to Nevada even though there are few other places
in US where gambling is legal.
Today, Blackjack is played eveywhere around the globe. It is considered a classic in Canadian, European, Russian and American casinos all alike.
As a gambling game, Blackjack wasn't avoided by the science either.
The scientists of late fifties took a great deal of interest in
Blackjack. It is not a simple game mathematically, and calculating best
gaming strategies seemed to be an attractive task for some maths and
statistics scholars. Quite some effort and money was invested in the
search for Blackjack holy grail; and some success was doubtlessly
achieveed. In 1956, a matematician named Roger Baldwin and his
associates published what we now know as the "Basic strategy" for
Blackjack in Journal of American Statistical Association: cue cards
with printouts of optimal strategy in Blackjack. Cantey, Maisel,
McDermott and Baldwin created the framework for further development of
basuis strategy. It was not in any way ideal, and there were known
quirks, but the work of these gentlement inspired the rest of
scientific commnunity, and so it was: prof. Edward Thorp reworked the
strategy using newly available methodics and machines, and gave birth
to the modern card counting
techniques. The theory of card counting says that the card
decks have "memory"; that is, under certain conditions and employing
certain methodics, a player can tell whether the deck is favourable or
unfavourable to him or her. The mathematical research that was spun off
these theories was published in Thorp's "Beat the dealer" in 1962. Even
though the theories that Therp brought up were not easy to understand
for an average gambler, his work has definitely contributed to the
popularity of Blackjack in the gambling community. Many gamblers
wrongfully perceived his theories as an instant and unbeatable way to
win and cheat the casino. His work caused a storm in the media
and caused fear and loathing among the casino owners; but on and by at
large, it greatly contributed to success of gambling industry as a
whole.
Thorp's work led to Ken Uston's
journey into the world of Blackjack. Dubbed the "Mr.
Blackjack" and called a prima donna celebrity of the gambling world,
Ken found a way to make a living off the Blackjack tables. His
adventures produced even more chaos and awe in the casinos than Thorp's
research.
In 1978 gambling was legalized in Atlantic City, making it another popular destination for American and not so american gamblers.