The history of Blackjack is a controversial topic with many historians, authors and players diverging in relation to dates and places. The most accepted and believed version of the story is that blackjack showed up circa 1700 somewhere in France under the name ‘Vingt-et-un’, meaning simply 21 in French. While the French were unfolding this soon-to-be classic, the Italians were playing a slightly similar version called Seven-and-a-half, where you can already guess, the objective was to have 7,5 points and exceeding that would bust the hand. Heading towards West, the Spaniards and Irish would also have a card game called One-and-Thirty, which the main objective was to reach 31 in a quite similar fashion as one would do in a regular blackjack game.
The history of Blackjack is a controversial topic with many historians, authors and players diverging in relation to dates and places. The most accepted and believed version of the story is that blackjack showed up circa 1700 somewhere in France under the name ‘Vingt-et-un’, meaning simply 21 in French. While the French were unfolding this soon-to-be classic, the Italians were playing a slightly similar version called Seven-and-a-half, where you can already guess, the objective was to have 7,5 points and exceeding that would bust the hand. Heading towards West, the Spaniards and Irish would also have a card game called One-and-Thirty, which the main objective was to reach 31 in a quite similar fashion as one would do in a regular blackjack game. Although the game has its origins in Europe, it was in America that the game got widely accepted by the masses becoming almost an instant success. In an attempt to encourage more and more players to try blackjack, many casinos changed the rules a bit and began paying a 10:1 payout when a player’s initial two cards were either a jack of clubs or jack of spades, together with an ace of spades. As a result of this change, Americans started calling the game ‘blackjack’ and well, it got stuck until our present days.
The Untold Blackjack History
But if you think the blackjack game stayed the same old card game since its creation, you could not be further from the truth. The blackjack rules have changed substantially over the years, especially after casinos became legalised around the world – mainly in America – where the game got traction and became one of the favourites in land-based casinos and later on in almost all online casinos as well. With casino made legal in the early ‘30s in America, blackjack gradually made its way inside all casinos in Las Vegas and even having its own local version (Vegas Strip Blackjack). In the beginning, the casino owners didn’t know much about the math behind the game or didn’t care but what they did know was they were making a lot of money dealing blackjack.
Actually, they were making so much money because of the simple fact that players had to act before the dealer, and if a player’s hand exceeded 21, the player’s bet would automatically be lost regardless of what the dealer had in hand. Soon enough the casinos realised this was too much of an advantage against players and since players would soon find that out too, they feared the interest in the game could die so they implemented a few more favourable blackjack rules for players. A 3:2 payout on a ‘natural’ blackjack and the options of doubling down and splitting pairs were introduced – this gave a great advantage for players over the house as they could apply a better blackjack strategy to minimise the casino house’s edge and maximise winnings potential.
These blackjack rule changes increased the popularity of blackjack many folds, even though the math of the game remained some sort of a mystery to both the casino and players alike because many casino owners believed the game was simply too complicated to be mathematically analysed by anyone. This belief was shattered to pieces around 1956 when the so-called ‘Four Horsemen of Aberdeen’ crunched the numbers with their large brains and archaic hand calculators only to came up with a blackjack basic strategy that players could somewhat easily apply and as a result, it would increase the winning chances against the house. But despite the efforts of James McDermott, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and Roger Baldwin to educate players back them, it was only in the year 2008 that recognition came along with the Blackjack Hall of Fame praising the lads for their accomplishments.
Early Blackjack Rules and Chaos
As the blackjack game grew in popularity more players developed strategies, as so that somewhere around the early ‘50s a bloke called Jess Marcum, a nuclear physicist by trade who decided to quit his well-paid job to play blackjack professionally came up with the first rudimentary counting systems – later in the ‘60s a Dr Edward Thorp went further in the subject and published the first winning card-counting system, known as the ‘Ten Count’. The reception by players could not be greater and the frisson took over everyone by storm. But in this industry, casinos and players are never happy at the same time, even more now with this smart guy teaching players how to beat the house without breaking the current blackjack rules. So, on April Fools’ Day in 1964, almost as a bad joke, casinos changed the blackjack rules quite a lot, allowing players to double down only on two cards totalling 11 and a pair of aces could not be split anymore.
These swift changes made players enraged and as a result, they simply stopped playing the game. After seeing this huge fiasco, casinos had no choice but to revert back to the standard blackjack rules with one major, but important change: instead of dealing a hand-held, single-deck blackjack game, almost all of them switched to a four-deck game – everyone was happy and after the episode, multiple-deck blackjack games became more or less the norm in all casinos, with this number even going up to 8 decks depending on the table. It is valid to note that the Vegas Strip Blackjack mentioned earlier is still played with two decks but the dealer hits on a soft 17. There were many changes before we got to the versions and rules of blackjack we have nowadays, but they would soon change once more with the advent of the internet.
The First Online Blackjack Site
Allegedly, the first online gambling website began around 1995 with only poker and later introduced blackjack, but this was still during the first steps for the internet itself, so imagine how they looked like on those low-resolution screens and a sloth-speed internet connection. Since then, a lot has changed in many ways and online casinos and online blackjack mean convenience and speed nowadays. There are many advantages to an online blackjack hand, including the fact that you can play anytime without having to actually go to a physical casino (dressing up, driving and all); online casinos usually have better rules for players than a land-based casino would offer and this is a good point to consider when looking for a place to play blackjack. We believe that being able to play online can help you focus more easily, but players need to embrace financial discipline and play responsibly. One downside of playing online, which comes to mind, is not having the people experience that going to a casino can offer. Finally, a great tip here is to find an online casino that really cares for your enjoyment. LV BET pays great attention to the online security and risk prevention side of the business, as well as to the quality of the games offered (partially thanks to the high-quality providers LV BET works with).
Do you want to get started? Well, visit the site LV BET and place a deposit to enter in a chance to win real money. When playing Blackjack, you’re in for an exciting and entertaining experience. Place a bet and see where your luck takes you.
Remember, gambling should always be fun, which means making careful decisions about how to spend your free time and money.