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Blackjack HistoryBlackjack's history is difficult to trace. Most sources claim the game evolved from other French games, like "chemin de fer" and "French Ferme." The history of blackjack's name can be traced back to an early a bet which paid the player 10 to 1 if his/her first two cards were a jack of spades and an ace of spades, both black suites.Blackjack was called "vingt-et-un" (twenty-to-one) in the 1700's when the game first began to rise in popularity. Its popularity spread to the United States in the 1800's. With the rise of interest in the game came books explaining the game's strategy and the mathematical systems involved in blackjack, one of which made the New York Times bestsellers list. The information published in these books provided the players with leverage that could allow them to play even with the house. These publications taught its readers how to beat the house. This infuriated the casinos and as a result they changed the rules to make it more difficult to win. These rules, however, never made it into Blackjack history. The players protested the change in rules and insisted on playing by the old rules. Casinos began introducing other means of complicating the games, like multiple decks, shuffling machines, as well as shuffling the cards frequently to increase the house's odds. These changes restored the odds to the casino, made the books not as reliable and ultimately returned profits to the casino. |
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