The casino game of Blackjack was introduced to the United States in the 19th century but it wasn’t until the mid 20th century that a system was developed to defeat the casino in black jack. This article is going to take a swift peak at the development of that strategy, Counting Cards.
When wagering was authorized in Nevada in ‘34, twenty-one screamed into recognition and was most commonly played with one or two decks. Roger Baldwin published a paper in 1956 which detailed how to lower the casino advantage based on odds and performance history which was very bewildering for individuals who weren’t mathematicians.
In 1962, Dr. Edward O. Thorp utilized an IBM 704 computer to refine the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s paper and also created the 1st card counting techniques. Dr. Ed Thorp authored a book called "Beat the Dealer" which outlined card counting strategies and the tactics for lowering the casino advantage.
This spawned a massive increase in black jack competitors at the US casinos who were attempting to implement Dr. Thorp’s tactics, much to the alarm of the casinos. The system was not easy to comprehend and difficult to carry through and therefore elevated the earnings for the casinos as more and more people took to gambling on chemin de fer.
However this massive increase in earnings was not to continue as the players became more sophisticated and more accomplished and the system was further improved. In the 80’s a bunch of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology made counting cards a part of the regular vernacular. Since then the casinos have introduced countless methods to thwart card counters including (but not limited to), multiple decks, shoes, constant shuffle machines, and speculation has it, sophisticated computer software to observe actions and detect "cheaters". While not illegal being caught counting cards will get you blocked from all brick and mortar casinos in sin city.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
