Blackjack is a well-known and popular card game, which is played in casinos and online. Most of the time, people playing this card game don’t even think much about the story of the game and the reason why it is called blackjack. We will try to fix this by telling you the story of the game and what does blackjack mean.
There has been no clear date of creation of the original game, but most agree it probably originated in French casinos around the 1700s, where it was called twenty-one (Vingt-et-Un in French). Blackjack is still known in different countries in variations of the word twenty-one, not blackjack.
Why is This Game Called Blackjack?
Name “twenty-one” was still used till 1931 when gambling became legal in the United States. The reason for creating the Blackjack name appeared after a few casinos added additional rules. If the player got Jack of Spades or Jack of Clubs (any black Jack) and Ace of Spades, the player will get ten( or even twenty) to one bonus, which creates the chance of winning a lot of money with a common combination. So, it answers the question “What does blackjack mean”, it’s any black Jack in the hand with Ace of Spades.
Unfortunately, this wonderful bonus disappeared over time because it was not profitable, but as an advertising campaign, it paid for itself, drawing attention to a not very popular game and making it the best game of its time, and giving it a new name.
First Tactics
Of course, such a wonderful rule created a lot of people who decided to approach this amazing game professionally. So, the first professional game tactics were created, such as:
- Counting cards
- Strategy Charts
- Methods of betting
With the advent of tactics in the game, there were also scientists who tried to write papers on statistics and use them in their scientific work. Thus, the first published article about winning chances and tactics was published under the title “The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack” in 1956 by Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott. This scientific work collected mathematical chances and the first tactics of the game, on which in the future were based, or was connected the following tactics, and after some time they became better and more reliable using more data.
Later Roger Baldwin’s hand calculations was verified and published in the famous book – ‘Beat the Dealer’ by Edward Thorp, and more than 1 000 000 physical copies was sold. This is a very interesting piece of history and tactics. I personally recommend checking this work of art if you want to become a professional, just for your own development and to understand what blackjack is and how to become better at it.
Many professional blackjack players have written their own books in which they describe their tactics, life, and what blackjack means to them personally. They are sold in huge numbers, which once again indicates the passion not only for the game but also for the culture that surrounds it.