The card game of black jack was brought to the United States of America in the 19th century but it was not until the middle of the twentieth century that a technique was created to beat the house in twenty-one. This material is going to grab a swift look at the birth of that strategy, Card Counting.
When wagering was approved in Nevada in ‘34, black jack screamed into universal appeal and was commonly gambled on with 1 or 2 decks of cards. Roger Baldwin wrote a dissertation in ‘56 which described how to lower the house edge based on odds and statistics which was quite confusing for individuals who weren’t math experts.
In ‘62, Dr. Edward O. Thorp utilized an IBM 704 computer to enhance the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s paper and also created the 1st card counting strategies. Dr. Ed Thorp authored a book called "Beat the Dealer" which detailed card counting strategies and the practices for reducing the house advantage.
This created a large increase in Blackjack competitors at the US betting houses who were trying to put into practice Dr. Ed Thorp’s techniques, much to the bewilderment of the casinos. The system was difficult to comprehend and hard to execute and therefore increased the earnings for the betting houses as more and more folks took to wagering on Blackjack.
However this large increase in profits wasn’t to last as the players became more highly developed and more insightful and the system was further refined. In the 1980’s a bunch of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology made counting cards a part of the day-to-day vernacular. Since then the casinos have developed numerous methods to thwart card counters including but not limited to, more than one deck, shoes, shuffle machines, and gossip has it, sophisticated computer software to scrutinize body language and identify "cheaters". While not illegal being caught counting cards will get you barred from many casinos in Las Vegas.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
