The card game of twenty-one was introduced to the United States in the 1800’s but it wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that a technique was created to beat the house in Blackjack. This article is going to grab a quick peak at the development of that strategy, Counting Cards.
When casino gambling was approved in Nevada in ‘34, Blackjack sky-rocketed into popularity and was usually bet on with 1 or two decks. Roger Baldwin published a dissertation in 1956 which described how to reduce the house advantage built on odds and statistics which was very confusing for people who weren’t math experts.
In 1962, Dr. Edward O. Thorp used an IBM 704 computer to better the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s dissertation and also developed the first card counting tactics. Dr. Thorp wrote a tome called "Beat the Dealer" which detailed card counting strategies and the tactics for lowering the house advantage.
This created a massive increase in black jack competitors at the US betting houses who were attempting to implement Dr. Ed Thorp’s techniques, much to the anxiety of the casinos. The strategy was hard to comprehend and difficult to put into practice and therefore heightened the profits for the betting houses as more and more folks took to gambling on chemin de fer.
However this large growth in profits wasn’t to continue as the players became more highly developed and more aware and the system was further refined. In the 80’s a group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology made counting cards a part of the regular vocabulary. Since then the casinos have brought in countless measures to thwart players who count cards including (but not limited to), more than one deck, shoes, constant shuffle machines, and rumour has it, sophisticated computer software to scrutinize body language and detect "cheaters". While not illegal being caught counting cards will get you blocked from the majority of betting houses in Las Vegas.