BlackJack is one of the most popular card games found in casinos today. Card games are believed to have been invented in the 10th century by the Chinese. The 52 card deck was implemented by the French circa 1600, which the English and the Americans would later adopt.
Early card games in France such as "French Ferme" and "Chemin de fer" (railroad) are believed to be the predecessors to another French game called "Vingt et Un" or "twenty one". This game that came to the United States in the 1800's and appeared in casinos. Around that time, casinos began offering players a substantially larger payout (such as 10:1) if the player was dealt an Ace of Spades and a Jack of Spades. Hence, the name BlackJack was born. Today a BlackJack is awarded if the player draws an Ace and a ten or any face card. However, the payout nowadays is typically 3:2.
BlackJack has been played in Nevada casinos since the 1850's, with the exception that from 1910 to 1931 gambling was outlawed and BlackJack had to be played "underground". Once gambling became legal again, BlackJack's popularity became a favourite of gamblers because of its odds.
Mathematicians took a formal interest in BlackJack in the 1950's. Roger Baldwin's paper "The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack" was published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association in 1956. He found that probability theory could be applied to raise the odds in the player's favour.
In 1967, Edward O. Thorp released his book titled Beat the Dealer. Professor Thorp refined Baldwin's by developing a card counting technique. The book made it to the New York Times best sellers list. Thorp's "Ten Count" method, as difficult as it was to understand, induced casinos to change the rules of BlackJack so that the odds were in their favour. The gambling public responded by avoiding the game, which forced the casinos to revert back to the old rules.
Julian Braun used IBM mainframes to simulate Blackjack hands for hours on end and he was able to develop a basic strategy and card counting techniques.
Computers were actually used in a casino by a team led by Ken Uston to beat the casino in 1977. Small computers in the shoes of five teammates were used to relay card information to a main computer. As the cards were counted, signals were relayed back to the players via a small ear-piece to tell them whether to hit or stand. One of the computers was confiscated and turned over to the FBI for evaluation. Since no laws were broken, charges weren't laid. However, Ken had a tough time getting back into a casino without disguising his appearance.
Changes to BlackJack have occurred over the years to counter the effectiveness
of card counting, such as:
Other changes give the player more options, such as insurance and surrendering.
If the dealer is showing an Ace, the player is offered the opportunity to purchase "insurance" at a cost of half the wager. If the dealer has Blackjack, the player will breakeven on the bet as the original bet is lost but the insurance bet pays out 2:1. If the dealer doesn't have a blackjack, the player loses the insurance bet, but hopefully recovers it with a winning hand.
An exciting innovation to casino BlackJack is the ability to play online in the comfort of your own home or office.
Hot Pepper Casino offers an exciting version of online BlackJack that allows players to play up to five hands concurrently with bets of up to $200 per hand. Hot Pepper Casino is also offered in Euro and British Pound versions. The download process is simple and you can be playing in a matter of a few minutes.
Hot Pepper Casino also offers a Progressive Blackjack game. In Progressive Blackjack, a player may place an extra $1 bet on each hand and win a specific jackpot portion if the first 2 or more cards dealt are aces. Hot Pepper Casino's version of Progressive blackjack is played using European Blackjack rules and four 52-card decks that are shuffled after each hand.
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