Blackjack History

Blackjack History

Blackjack is a really popular casino card game that many people around the world are familiar with. The game has been played for ages, but where did this game actually come from? As popular as this game may be, blackjack history has a few holes that historians can’t seem to fill. It’s still unclear where the origins of the game lie, but it is with the French who are often credited for inventing blackjack. It is believed that blackjack was an off shoot of an old French card game called “chemin de fer”. The original blackjack game is believed to have been known as ‘vignt-et-un” (twenty and one) and this game cropped up in French casinos around the 1700’s. The rules of the game are a bit different from blackjack. In vignt-en-un only the dealer was allowed to double, and bets were placed after each round. But the major similarity between the two blackjack games is that the ultimate goal was to make at ‘natural’ 21 points.

Another game that contributed to the game is Seven and a Half. This was a gambling game that was being played in Italy around the same time. The game was played with face cards and the 7, 8 and 9 cards. The goal was to reach a total of seven and a half points. But when players went over seven and a half points they busted. It is believed that ‘busting’ in blackjack was picked up from Seven and a Half.

It was after the French Revolution that the game moved to North America in the 1800s. There were no laws prohibiting card games at the time and the game started gaining a lot of popularity. However, soon enough the government banned all gambling games and the games went underground. Many secret gambling venues sprouted up. Gambling houses tried offering bonuses to entice players. One significant offer was that if the player got a Jack of spades and Ace of Spades he would win a huge bonus payout. It is believed that it was after this that the game started being called Blackjack’.  Later Nevada was the first state to legalize gambling and the blackjack made its way to all the top casinos on the Strip.

Blackjack had become very popular, but it was in 1953 that the first attempt to study this game was made. Roger Baldwin and his associates used statistics theory and calculating methods in order to reduce blackjack's house edge. In 1956 they published their findings in the American Statistical Association under the title "Optimum Strategy in Blackjack", the first ever blackjack strategy guide. But Baldwin’s tools weren’t sophisticated enough to fully investigate blackjack statistics. It was Edward C Thorpe who made a real breakthrough in understanding blackjack. He published the book ‘Beat the Dealer” in 1962 which discusses the card counting technique. This is one of the most successful blackjack guides in the history of the game.

Today, blackjack is one of the most widely played casino card game all over the world. The introduction of blackjack games online has increased its popularity even further. I hope you found this blackjack history page fascinating.