The History of Blackjack
by: kenny
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Word Count: 484
Just like anything other card game, poker has an interesting and unique background. Blackjack originated from France during the 1700's, which eventually made its way to the United States in the 1800's. At first however, blackjack was not a popular card game compared to other popular card games of the time.
Roger Baldwin had published his strategy of the game blackjack in 1956. His theory stated that the game of blackjack can be easily won with some mathematical strategies applied to the game. Other ideas that Roger Baldwin was able to deploy in his paper were the use of statistics, calculators, and probability in the game of blackjack. His research paper was approximately ten pages long. Baldwin is best known for changing the way blackjack is played today.
Professor Edward Thorp was able to help prove Baldwin's theory of applying mathematical theories behind the game of blackjack. He was known to be an outstanding blackjack player. Thorp published a book in 1963 explaining various ways to win at the game of blackjack. His book became a national best seller. Many casinos across the United States began to change the rules of blackjack because of his influential impact about blackjack. However, during Thorp's lifetime, many casinos began using automatic card shufflers. This again changed the way blackjack was played, giving casinos an upper hand. Shortly after though, Julian brown who worked for IBM, was able to program computers that would simulate a poker game. This helped in the development of winning at blackjack even further. His findings were later published.
In 1971, a new computer device was deployed, but to those who made it. Ken Uston was responsible for this card sized device. Uston and his team took these devices to local casinos where they ended up winning close to $100,000 in a matter of days. When his team along with the devices were turned into the FBI, the men were released. The devices only contained public information about blackjack. Another group of blackjack players emerged in the early 1990's where they would also win hundreds of thousands of dollars. This group however, did not have any computers to assist them. They used basic knowledge from people like Edward Thorp and Roger Baldwin. As they continued to win lots of money over a short amount of time, casinos caught onto their winning streak. Many casinos banned the group from playing at their casinos.
The history of blackjack has really changed throughout the twentieth century. With the help of computers and new technology, the game of blackjack has morphed into something totally different from what originally was. Despite the changed game, blackjack is still one of the easiest games to play. It will continue to be one of the most popular game played in casinos worldwide.
About the Author
Like games? Play live roulette for fun or real or if you live in the UK watch casino tv You must keep the hyperlinks working if you publish this article. Please see the authors site for more great articles to read.
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