The origins of the popular casino game 21, also known as blackjack, are somewhat obscure. The Spanish claim blackjack as a direct descendant of their thirty-and-one. The Italians like to think that it’s derived from baccarat. The French consider it to have evolved from their vingt-et-un (twenty-and-one). All three card games arrived in America in the 1800s and swept through the states. But it took a 100 years for modern 21 to catch on.
The earliest record of the game as it’s played today has been traced to the back-room casinos at Indiana racetracks in the early 20th century, where dealers paid a $5 bonus for a two-card count of 21 when one card was a jack of spades or clubs — hence the nickname. Blackjack made its first appearance in Nevada casinos as soon as they became legal in 1931 and within 15 years, it had replaced craps as the most popular bank game (in which players competed against the casino).
It took 25 years for the first advanced information on the game to appear. In 1956, four mathematicians in Maryland analyzed tens of thousands of hands of blackjack on primitive calculators and produced the “basic strategy” for 21. Since then, sophisticated card-counting systems have been developed, resulting in blackjack, today, being the only table game in which, with enough skill, the player can achieve a long-term advantage over the casino. It challenges the most cerebral of casino customers.
Of course, it’s extremely difficult to beat the house at its own game and this eventually discourages all but the most serious blackjack players in their quest to derive profit from their play. But by learning the rules, procedures, and an abbreviated basic strategy, you can be playing an informed game of blackjack in no time, without jeopardizing in the least your enjoyment of the game.
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