History of Blackjack

Blackjack origin

The history of Blackjack as well as many other casino games is covered with the mystery of centuries. It is very difficult for scientist and researches to discover the true history of such old games. There always exist different versions of the game origin. Talking about Blackjack, historians have more or less common view to its roots. The scholars believe that it appeared in France in 17th century in the form of a game called «Vingt et un» or «twenty one». «Vingt-en-Un» means «21» in French. Vingt en Un was probably not the first ancestor of blackjack but it was obviously very similar to it with few differences. Game received the name «Blackjack» from an early version of Vingt-en-Un. In this version of the game the player received 10:1 payouts if he dealt both a black jack of spades and a (black) ace of spades. The goal of Vingt-en-Un as well as other versions of Blackjack was to reach a total of 21.

Spread of Blackjack

In the 19th century after the French revolution, Blackjack and several other casino games as roulette and craps moved from the France to America. Though gambling was mostly illegal in the United States, card games were unrestricted. Blackjack started to gain its popularity after the gambling became legal in Las Vegas. In the second half of 1900s books that used mathematical analysis were published. They teach players how to beat the dealer. Soon there appeared many professional gamblers who realized all the benefits of manipulating the odds and bets. Casinos were scared and changed many of the rules but it didn’t work out and soon the old rules were restored. Despite the growing number of professional gamers of blackjack, casinos receive millions of dollars every year from their blackjack tables. Mostly it happens because very few players maintain excellent strategy all the time. Many people believe their intuition and even more people make mistakes.