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The Beginnings of Black Jack
The game of black jack was introduced to the United States of America in the 1800’s but it was not until the middle of the 20th century that a technique was created to defeat the casino in Blackjack. This article is going to grab a rapid peak at the development of that system, Counting Cards.
When gambling was approved in Nevada in ‘34, black jack screamed into recognition and was commonly played with 1 or 2 decks of cards. Roger Baldwin published a paper in ‘56 which explained how to reduce the casino edge founded on probability and stats which was very complicated for players who weren’t math experts.
In ‘62, Dr. Edward O. Thorp used an IBM 704 computer to refine the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s paper and also created the first strategies for card counting. Dr. Ed Thorp wrote a tome called "Beat the Dealer" which outlined card counting techniques and the strategies for lowering the casino advantage.
This spawned a huge increase in twenty-one competitors at the US casinos who were trying to put into practice Dr. Thorp’s strategies, much to the alarm of the casinos. The system was not easy to comprehend and complicated to put into practice and therefore improved the earnings for the betting houses as more and more people took to wagering on chemin de fer.
However this huge growth in profits was not to last as the players became more sophisticated and more cultivated and the system was further refined. In the 80’s a group of students from MIT made card counting a part of the regular vocabulary. Since then the casinos have brought in countless measures to counteract players who count cards including but not limited to, multiple decks, shoes, constant shuffle machines, and rumor has it, complex computer software to scrutinize actions and identify "cheaters". While not illegal being discovered counting cards will get you blocked from most if not all casinos in Las Vegas.
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