History of Blackjack
Blackjack, also referred to as Twenty-one can be played in many variations in online casinos as well as traditional casinos all over the world. The origin of the game can be traced back to French gambling houses, where a game called Vingt-et-un (21 in French) was played. A story describing a game similar to Spanish 21 was written in 1601 leading players to believe that Blackjack has been around for well over a thousand years. Blackjack is currently one of the most popular casino card games because of the great odds it offers. It is considered the only game in which the player can significantly lower the advantage the house has by retaining information, remaining observant and using basic strategy.
The reason Blackjack is considered a beatable game is a strategy called card counting. Dr Edward Thorpe published a best selling book entitled Beat the Dealer, in which he introduced a gambling system based on mathematics, and countless card counting players have successfully adopted methodology from this book. When it comes to team play in blackjack, the person who is considered the pioneer in the field was the late Ken Uston. Uston was a professional blackjack player who in the 1970’s became famous for perfecting the system that enabled a group to count cards together with the purpose of reaching an optimal hand against the dealer on a recurring basis. Uston also won a high profile lawsuit against casinos in New Jersey making it illegal for a casino to ban a player just for counting cards.
Online Blackjack
Playing Blackjack at a web-based casino has many advantages. Players can find a game online at any hour of the day and play from just about anywhere. People enter games from the comfort of their own home or office and their privacy is safeguarded. Traditional casinos can often be loud and overwhelming while playing from home allows calm gambling. Players often have to travel in order to attend a land-based casino as some states do not allow gaming, while online blackjack can be played from anywhere that has an internet connection or cell phone service. Online Blackjack can also be played with very low limits, tables do not close and £1 minimum bet is common in a web-based casino yet very rare in a traditional one.
Dr. Edward Thorp and Ken Uston were inducted to the Blackjack hall of fame. Other prominent members include the author and editor of Blackjack forum, Arnold Snyder and Stanford Wong, the author of the book Professional Blackjack. Stanford Wong is also the person who has pioneered the Wonging technique in which a player only wagers cash when the count is advantageous to the player.
