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History of BlackJack
Like most games, black jack wasn't invented at any one time. One version of black jack was knows as Vingt-et-un, which is French for "21." (some still calles the game 21 blackjack) The game traveled to North America with French colonists and spread throughout America.
The history of black jack in the states began around 1800. When the game was first introduced in US it wasn't very popular. First the gambling houses tried various bonus payouts to get the players to the tables. On such bonus was a 10 to 1 payout if the player's hand consisted of the Ace of Spades and a black Jack. This hand was called a "black jack" for obvious reasons and the name stuck, and has now become an essential part of the history of black jack.
By 1919 special Black jack tables were being made and by 1931 Black jack was the third most popular Nevada casino game after Roulette and Craps. Professional gamblers realized soon that Black jack is a wonderful playing field for manipulating the odds and bets.
As a gambling game, Black jack wasn't avoided by the science either. The scientists of late fifties took a great deal of interest in Black jack. It is not a simple game mathematically, and calculating best gaming strategies seemed to be an attractive task for some maths and statistics scholars.
In 1953 the first attempt to study black jack was made by Roger Baldwin and his associates, a great turn in the history of black jack as well. They used statistics theory and calculating methods in order to reduce black jack's house edge. In 1956 they published under the title "Optimum Strategy in Blackjack", the first ever black jack strategy guide.
In 1970's, Ken Uston and his merry band of creative gamblers used hidden computers to win hundreds of thousands of dollars. Read more about card counting.
Many gamblers wrongfully perceived the black jack-theories as an instant and unbeatable way to win over the casinos. The theories 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!
Today black jack is a classic game played all around the globe. Internet black jack is growing in popularity during the last few years, and hopefully black jack would continue to be the classic casino game.
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