What is Blackjack Game?

France is widely believed to be the original home of blackjack or the game of twenty one as it is commonly called. Miguel was a gambler who played card games like blackjack very early in the history of gambling. The title of his book is not very popular but the contents are, plus the idea that his book carried the earliest writings on blackjack. The main characters in this blackjack book were known to professional cheats at Veintiuna - a Spanish name which means twenty one. The game of twenty one was more common in France than in other places in the 17th century though there were minor variations. The basic requirement for a player to hit 21 without busting was retained in all the variants of the game and the provision for counting an Ace as either 1 or 11 also remained uniform throughout all the variants.

The Spread of Blackjack

The game of blackjack spread to North America after the famous French Revolution. The Americans were not very enthusiastic about the game and casinos offered bonuses to attract players and draw more interest to the game. There was a bonus of 10 to 1 if a player had an Ace of spade and black Jack on his hands. The bonuses soon disappeared once the game started gaining popularity but the use of the term black jack stuck.

The United States government was not particularly happy with gambling games which were thought to encourage organized crime and corruption in society. The U.S. government moved to ban all forms of gambling in the beginning of the 19th century. Blackjack games were outlawed as well as all forms of gambling. But this move did not deter the blackjack adherents from playing the game only that it moved from being an open casino game to underworld game.

With time the US government found it more challenging to control the game with a ban on since it had spread underground and the government did have sufficient mechanism to control it. Some states thought that it could probably be better dealt with if it was legalized to make it come to the surface and then regulate it from that point. Nevada legalized gambling in 1931 and the Las Vegas blackjack emerged.

Edward Thorp published a book entitled Beat the Dealer in 1962 with elaborate details of blackjack card counting strategies which served to even popularize the game further. More books about different blackjack variations were published later on.