The History of Twenty-One

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The card game of Blackjack was introduced to the U.S. in the 1800’s but it was not until the mid twentieth century that a system was developed to beat the casino in Blackjack. This article is going to grab a quick peak at the development of that system, Counting Cards.

When casino gambling was legitimized in the state of Nevada in 1934, Blackjack sky-rocketed into recognition and was most commonly wagered on with one or 2 decks of cards. Roger Baldwin published a dissertation in 1956 which described how to lower the house edge founded on probability and statistics which was very complicated for those who were not math experts.

In 1962, Dr. Edward O. Thorp used an IBM 704 computer to enhance the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s dissertation and also created the first strategies for counting cards. Dr. Thorp wrote a book called "Beat the Dealer" which summarized card counting techniques and the tactics for reducing the casino edge.

This created a massive increase in Blackjack competitors at the US betting houses who were attempting to implement Dr. Thorp’s strategies, much to the awe of the casinos. The system was hard to comprehend and complicated to execute and thusly heightened the profits for the betting houses as more and more folks took to wagering on Blackjack.

However this large growth in profits was not to last as the players became more sophisticated and more cultivated and the system was further refined. In the 1980’s a bunch of students from MIT made counting cards a part of the everyday vocabulary. Since then the casinos have brought in numerous measures to thwart players who count cards including (but not limited to), multiple decks, shoes, constant shuffle machines, and rumor has it, sophisticated computer software to scrutinize actions and detect "cheaters". While not against the law being caught counting cards will get you barred from many betting houses in sin city.