Have you ever wondered how a casino game got to be the way it is? Here at Slots Play Casinos we do think about the history of some casino games. We find it a fascinating subject. We have just enough space here to cover the history and evolution of one online casino game. So, let’s take a look at the history and evolution of blackjack.
How Old is Blackjack?
Miguel de Cervantes, of Don Quixote fame, mentioned a game that he called ventiuna. This is almost the way the number 21 is said in modern Spanish. So, around 1600, there was a game called 21. We don’t have any historical reference to the rules of this game.
Who Else Played 21 in Europe at That Time?
In French, the same game was called vingt et un which naturally also means 21. There is some indication that the Spanish game was played without some numbers probably the 8’s, 9’s, and 10’s. In the French version, the dealer had the authority to bet.
When Did the Name Become Blackjack?
The game was not yet called blackjack. That had to wait at least another century as the game was played only in European Casinos. The game crossed the Atlantic sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century.
Poker was the most popular saloon game in the United States at that time. There also were no recognized casinos in the United States and the religiosity of American culture frowned upon overt public recognition and acceptance of gambling.
So, poker was played in saloons in the eastern cities and in the Wild West.
Why Was 21 Unpopular in 19th Century America?
We don’t know for sure but poker and 21 are two very different games even though they are both games of skill. The skill in poker lies in understanding opponents while the skill in 21 was in understanding odds and probabilities.
That was likely the reason gamblers at the time preferred poker.
The owners of gambling joints at the time wanted to attract gamblers to that new 21 game. So, they offered a special payout for a 21 that consisted of a black Jack and a black 10. Thus, this combination became known as a blackjack and soon the game itself was called blackjack!
When Did Casinos Come to the US?
It was only in 1931 that gambling was legalized in Nevada. That was the impetus to build casinos that made gambling an open activity. Of course, people have been gambling for as long as people have walked the Earth!
Blackjack as a Game of Skill
Blackjack fans have long sought a good playing strategy for every hand. In the 1950s a man named Roger Baldwin did a study of blackjack that made the game a lot more accessible to observant players.
Who Knew That Players Could Win by Counting Cards?
In the 1960s Edwin Thorp developed a card counting method that brought the return to player rate close to 100%. The casino operators at first wanted to make it impossible for players to count cards. Then they realized that very few blackjack players could count cards successfully. So, they didn’t do anything to discourage card counting. That is, until kids from MIT got into the card-counting action.
What Did the MIT Kids Do?
In the 1990s, a few students at MIT decided to try to win a lot of money by counting cards at Las Vegas casinos. They were so successful that Vegas casinos introduced the shoe. When the game was played with six decks in a shoe, it was a lot less easy to win substantial amounts of money by counting cards.
Now Vegas casinos employ perpetual shuffling machines so card counting no longer offers players a 100% or better return to player rate. Still, blackjack fans still wanted to learn the best strategy for the game on all hands.
Enter the Computer
At some point, computer people started studying every possibility in blackjack. They fed information into powerful computers and the result was today’s blackjack strategy card. The return to player rate in blackjack if the gamer uses the best strategy on every hand is about 99.5%.
Land-based Casinos Had Another Trick up Their Sleeves
A blackjack table takes up a lot of space at a land-based casino. The big casinos have two or more blackjack tables but they are not always full. In fact, they are usually not full! That means that the casino operators saw profits that they could have in slots frittered away at empty blackjack tables or at tables where the players were using a strategy card.
The answer for many land-based casinos was to lower the payout for a blackjack from 3-2, as it is at all reputable online casinos, to 6-5. Don’t be fooled by the 6. 6-5 is less than 6-4 which is the equivalent of 3-2. In other words, a land-based casino that pays only 6-5 for a blackjack literally takes a dollar from the player every time.
Blackjack Has Many Variations
Online casinos can offer as many as 10 variations of blackjack. No land-based casino can offer that many blackjack tables. A land-based casino might have a single terminal for Double Exposure Blackjack and they hide it in a corner so players are encouraged to play either regular blackjack or the far more lucrative slots.
Graphics and Animation Have Made Online Blackjack a Lot More Fun
Animation in blackjack will be in the way the cards are dealt. This is a very underrated aspect of online blackjack. A poorly designed blackjack game will find it difficult to keep gamers interested. With Instant Play so prevalent in the online casino world, a gamer who really wants to play blackjack can find a casino with a blackjack game with better animation.
Graphics is about how the table looks, how the cards themselves look, and all other background visuals the game provider puts in.
Slots Play Casinos Covers Blackjack Too
We may emphasize slots but we cover all of the online casino games. We have a player’s guide to blackjack and we have written many articles about blackjack strategy.
You can benefit a lot by reading our guides and articles.
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