The Beginnings of Twenty-One
The game of black jack was brought to the United States in the 1800’s but it was not until the mid 20th century that a system was created to defeat the house in twenty-one. This article is going to take a swift peak at the creation of that technique, Card Counting.
When betting was made legal in the state of Nevada in ‘34, chemin de fer sky-rocketed into recognition and was most commonly played with 1 or 2 decks of cards. Roger Baldwin published a dissertation in 1956 which detailed how to lower the house advantage built on probability and statistics which was really bewildering for individuals who weren’t math experts.
In 1962, Dr. Edward O. Thorp used an IBM 704 computer to advance the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s dissertation and also developed the 1st strategies for counting cards. Dr. Ed Thorp authored a book called "Beat the Dealer" which detailed card counting techniques and the strategies for reducing the casino edge.
This spawned a huge growth in chemin de fer competitors at the US casinos who were trying to put into practice Dr. Thorp’s strategies, much to the awe of the casinos. The strategy was hard to comprehend and hard to execute and therefore expanded the profits for the casinos as more and more folks took to wagering on black jack.
However this massive increase in profits wasn’t to last as the players became more sophisticated and more insightful and the system was further improved. In the 80’s a group of students from MIT made counting cards a part of the everyday vocabulary. Since then the casinos have brought in countless methods to counteract card counters including, multiple decks, shoes, constant shuffle machines, and rumor has it, sophisticated computer software to observe body language and identify "cheaters". While not against the law being discovered counting cards will get you banned from most betting houses in Las Vegas.