The blackjack history believes today that the first ever time that the game was played was in France during the 17th century in the form of Vingt En Un. The name means twenty one in French and it is believed to be the first ancestor of the game blackjack.
Vingt en Un
Vingt en Un was quite similar to blackjack through there had been a few small differences. The dealer was the only one who was allowed to double and there had also been different betting methods. Also, in Vingt en Un, the players had to bet after every round, which is quite different than modern day blackjack. However, like blackjack the goal of Vingt en Un too was to reach 21. It is believed that there had been a special payout when a player had a hand of Ace of spades and Jack which is why the name Black Jack had been given.
Seven and half points
In Italy, at around the same time a game known as Seven and Half had been played. In this particular game, the face cards along the 7, 8, and 9 of all the suits were used. The goal of the game was to reach the hand with seven and half points. All the regular cards had been valued at one point while all the face cards had been valued at half of a point. Like a joker, the King of Diamonds could substitute any other card and had been used as a wild card. When the players succeeded at doing that, they were busted. This is where the term “bust” had been taken from.
Blackjack in America
One of the biggest turn in the blackjack history was when the game came to America after French Revolution. It gained quite a lot of popularity since there had been no laws or restrictions at the time. The professional players understood that there was huge potential in the game and very soon they started working on various strategies which could improve their odds at the game. In the 19th century, the US government had banned gambling and had widely believed that gambling encouraged crime and corrupted the society.
With so many laws and regulations, blackjack was still played by players underground. It even managed to become more popular as in the 20s the rules of the government became tightened. Eventually in the year 1931, the Nevada government legalized gambling and the birth of Las Vegas took place. As the years passed, blackjack continued to attract more people and soon enough people tried to analyze the game themselves.
The first ever attempt made by man to study the game had been in the year 1953 when Roger Baldwin along with his associates tried to study blackjack. This was a great turn in the history of the game. They used various calculating methods and statistical theories in order to reduce the house edge in blackjack. Their findings had been published in the year 1956 and it was the first ever guide on blackjack strategy.
