A Brief History of Blackjack

Where Do Game Cards Come From?

history of blackjack

Chinese are said to be the primary players of cards called paper tickets in 900 A.D. The original cards are made of paper shuffled and played in different combinations. The Islam descendants incorporated various patterns and designs into these paper tickets and called them playing cards. In no time the game had been widely acknowledged and laterpresented to Spain and Italy. To give honor to the Royalties the patterns were changed into Royal positions like the Kings. It was Johann Gutenberg who released the first full set of cards in 1440 in Germany. The card Queen was later introduced in 1500's as replacement for one of the male rank card. It was in 1600 then when the full deck consisting of 52 cards called French Pack was first introduced and later on played by the Englishmen as well.

Origin of Blackjack

Blackjack is one of the card games played by French aside from French Ferme and chemin de fer. The famous vingt-et-un which means 21 was widely played in casinos in France way back in 1700 A.D. Later on the game was adopted in 1800 by the Englishmen in the United States.

An Italian card game known as "Seven and Half" was believed to influence the game Blackjack. The game used only the face cards with worth of Half and the number cards 8's, 9's and 10's only. The player to get more than seven and half counts lost the round.

Another game from the Spanish called One and Thirty was associated to the Blackjack. It worked the same way with 21 but instead of 21 the player had to get 31 total counts of cards.

21 or vingt-et-un became popular to Europe and America in 1800. In fact, it was presented in the American Hoyle in late 1875. 21 evolved in gambling houses in 1910 prior to its presentation in 1905 at Foster's Hoyle as initially broadcasted in Indiana in the city of Evansville.

Russians have own versions of Blackjack as well. They call the game as Ochkowhich means the "The Hole". Pontoon is also associated with Blackjack which is believed to be another adaptation of the game together with Spanish 21 and California Aces.

Masters of the Blackjack Game

Edward O. Thorp - A mathematician who formulated theories about the Blackjack game called Fortune's Formula in 1961. He presented regularly presented his theories in the AMA (American Mathematical Association) in annual conference of the organization. He became a teacher at MIT after gaining his PhD known with his extraordinary smartness. Learning from the best, you can apply your favorite blackjack strategy.

Emmanuel Kimmel - a fair businessman in New York who went with Edward Thorp in a Blackjack game adventure in Nevada in the city of Reno. The two were bound to test the efficacy of Thorp's theories by having a bankroll of $10,000. The two applied the theories while playing the game and endedthe night with money doubling their bankroll on hand. This marked the evolution of the Blackjack game with Fortune's Formula. Only in the current ear of online casinos people are offered the blackjack bonus.