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Blackjack: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Blackjack
In the early 1890s, a desperate attempt to lure gamblers to the American frontier resulted in a name that would outlive the bonus itself. When the game of vingt-un arrived in the United States, casino operators in the West offered a ten-to-one payout if a player held the ace of spades combined with a black jack, either the jack of clubs or the jack of spades. This specific hand, the ace of spades and a black jack, became known as a blackjack, and the name stuck even after the special bonus was withdrawn. While popular myth suggests this payout existed during the First World War or the 1930s, French card historian Thierry Depaulis has debunked the story, showing that prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush between 1896 and 1899 gave the name to the game. They associated the mineral zincblende, often found with gold or silver deposits, with the top bonus hand, transferring the mineral name to the card game. No historical evidence exists for a special bonus for having the combination of an ace and a black jack, yet the moniker endured to become the most widely played casino banking game in the world.
From Cervantes To The Casino Floor
The roots of the game stretch back to the early 17th century, where the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes documented the game of veintiuno in his novella Rinconete y Cortadillo, written between 1601 and 1602. In this story, the protagonists are card cheats in Seville who are proficient at cheating at veintiuno, stating that the object of the game is to reach 21 points without going over and that the ace values 1 or 11. The game was played with the Spanish baraja deck, and later references to this game appear in France and Spain, with the first record in France occurring in 1888 and in Britain during the 1770s and 1780s. The first rules appeared in Britain in 1800 under the name of vingt-un, and the game appeared in the United States in the early 1800s, with the first American rules being an 1825 reprint of the 1800 English rules. English vingt-un later developed into an American variant in its own right which was renamed blackjack around 1899, evolving from a global family of casino banking games known as twenty-one.
The Mathematics Of The House Edge
In September 1956, Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott published a paper titled The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, the first mathematically sound optimal blackjack strategy. This paper became the foundation of future efforts to beat blackjack, and Ed Thorp used Baldwin's hand calculations to verify the basic strategy and later published Beat the Dealer in 1963. The game has a house edge, the casino's statistical advantage built into the game, and most of the house's edge comes from the fact that the player loses when both the player and dealer bust. Blackjack players using basic strategy lose on average less than 1% of their action over the long run, giving blackjack one of the lowest edges in the casino. The house edge for games where blackjack pays 6 to 5 instead of 3 to 2 increases by about 1.4%, and player deviations from basic strategy also increase the house edge. The number of decks used affects the house edge, with single-deck games having an edge of 0.16% and eight-deck games having an edge of 0.66%.
When did the name blackjack originate for the card game?
The name blackjack originated between 1896 and 1899 during the Klondike Gold Rush. Prospectors associated the mineral zincblende with the top bonus hand of an ace of spades and a black jack, transferring the mineral name to the card game.
Who documented the earliest version of the game in the 17th century?
The Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes documented the game of veintiuno in his novella Rinconete y Cortadillo written between 1601 and 1602. This story described card cheats in Seville who were proficient at the game using the Spanish baraja deck.
When was the first mathematically sound optimal blackjack strategy published?
Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott published The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack in September 1956. This paper appeared in the Journal of the American Statistical Association and became the foundation for future efforts to beat the game.
What is the house edge for single-deck blackjack games?
Single-deck games have a house edge of 0.16% while eight-deck games have an edge of 0.66%. Players using basic strategy lose on average less than 1% of their action over the long run.
Who was inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2002?
Seven members were inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2002 at the Barona Casino in San Diego. The inductees included Edward O. Thorp, Ken Uston, Arnold Snyder, and Stanford Wong.
Blackjack has been a high-profile target for advantage players since the 1960s, with techniques such as card counting, shuffle tracking, and identifying concealed cards giving players a mathematical edge. Card counting works best when a few cards remain, making single-deck games better for counters, and casinos are more likely to insist that players do not reveal their cards to one another in single-deck games. In games with more decks, casinos limit penetration by ending the shoe and reshuffling when one or more decks remain undealt. Shuffle tracking involves tracking groups of cards through the shuffle and then playing and betting according to when those cards come into play from a new shoe, requiring excellent eyesight and powers of visual estimation. Arnold Snyder's articles in Blackjack Forum magazine brought shuffle tracking to the general public, and his book, The Shuffle Tracker's Cookbook, mathematically analyzed the player edge available from shuffle tracking based on the actual size of the tracked slug.
The Evolution Of Rules And Variants
Blackjack rules are generally set by regulations that establish permissible rule variations at the casino's discretion, with variations such as the dealer hitting soft 17, the number of decks used, and the payout for a winning blackjack affecting the house edge. The rule that bets on tied hands are lost rather than pushed is catastrophic to the player, though rarely used in standard blackjack, and is sometimes seen in blackjack-like games, such as in some charity casinos. Spanish 21 provides players with liberal rules, such as doubling down any number of cards, payout bonuses for five or more card 21s, and player blackjacks and player 21s always winning, but the trade-off is having no 10s in the deck. Double exposure blackjack deals the first two cards of the dealer's hand face up, and blackjacks pay even money, and players lose on ties, and players can neither buy insurance nor surrender.
The Psychology Of The Table
At a blackjack table, the dealer faces five to nine playing positions from behind a semicircular table, and between one and eight standard 52-card decks are shuffled together. To start each round, players place bets in the betting box at each position, and in jurisdictions allowing back betting, up to three players can be at each position. The player whose bet is at the front of the betting box controls the position, and the dealer consults the controlling player for playing decisions, and the other bettors play behind. The dealer deals the cards from one or two handheld decks, from a dealer's shoe or from a shuffling machine, and one card is dealt to each wagered-on position clockwise from the dealer's left, followed by one card to the dealer, followed by an additional card to each of the positions in play, followed by the dealer's hole card if applicable.
The Hall Of Fame And The Future
In 2002, professional gamblers worldwide were invited to nominate great blackjack players for admission into the Blackjack Hall of Fame, and seven members were inducted in 2002, with new people inducted every year after. The Hall of Fame is at the Barona Casino in San Diego, and members include Edward O. Thorp, author of the 1960s book Beat the Dealer, Ken Uston, who popularized the concept of team play, Arnold Snyder, author and editor of the Blackjack Forum trade journal, and Stanford Wong, author and popularizer of Wonging. Video blackjack machines generally pay a 1:1 payout for a blackjack, and video and online blackjack games generally deal each round from a fresh shoe, using a random number generator for each deal, rendering card counting ineffective in most situations. The game continues to evolve, with new variants and rules being introduced, but the core mechanics of the game remain the same, with players competing against the dealer to reach 21 points without going over.