Blackjack History

Although the origin of Blackjack is somewhat vague, it is widely believed that Blackjack as we know it today originated in France. The first recorded mentioning of Blackjack is "vingt-et-un" (twenty and one) in the 17th century. 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 the big casinos but is also very popular among every day people, at home, who play it passionately. Other known names for Blackjack are "pontoon" and "California Aces". The English name "Blackjack" came about when you were rewarded for receiving an Ace of Spades and a Jack, which can be a Club, or Spade, hence the name Blackjack.

Shortly after the French revolution, Blackjack arrived at the United States and rapidly became one of the most popular casino games. Professional gamblers soon realized that Blackjack is a rare game where it is possible to manipulate the odds and bets. Without government regulation, gambling was flourishing and only in the beginning of the nineteenth century did the government of United States realize that the gambling industry was leading to corruption and encouraged organized crime. The government then wrote a law in 1910 that playing casino games was a crime. The situation was of course unfair for decent players while the industry went largely underground and soon became extremely criminalized. Eventually things went so horribly bad that the Nevada authorities finally made gambling legalized, but created laws that protect the players and inserted overseeing bodies in the government, and so Las Vegas was reborn. As all other states were conservative and did not seek to rehabilitate the casino gambling, Las Vegas quickly became the gambling center of the United States, and maybe even the world.

As a gambling game, Blackjack wasn't avoided by scientists either. The scientists in the late fifties took a great deal of interest in Blackjack. This is largely because it is not a simple game mathematically, and calculating best gaming strategies seemed to be an attractive task for some mathematicians and scientists. A great deal of effort and money was invested in the search for the "Blackjack holy grail", an in 1956, a mathematician 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. 

Edward Thorp took Baldwins strategy and using newly available machines, gave birth to the modern card counting techniques. Even though the theories that Thorp brought up were not easy to understand for an average gambler, his work has undoubtedly contributed to the Blackjack game overall. Many gamblers wrongfully though probably expecting perceived his theories as an instant way to win and cheat the casinos. Which of course caused fear and loathing among the casino owners; but by large it greatly contributed to success of gambling industry.