Blackjack is popular with a lot of people because it is a fun, fast paced game that doesn’t leave you at the mercy of the odds, but gives you a chance to win money through skill. Unlike poker, blackjack has simple rules and you don’t have to get into playing mind games with your opponents. Instead, you can focus on enjoying the game and winning money. Plus, blackjack is enjoyable for both novice and expert players, because you can play with as little or as much strategy in mind as you want.
Here are some fun facts about blackjack. I bet you won’t know all of them!
- The first known reference to blackjack is in 1601, in a short story by Miguel Cervantes. The game itself is even more ancient than that story.
- The original name for blackjack was twenty one.
- Twenty one became known as blackjack because when it was first introduced to the United States, casinos put a ten to one bonus on drawing a black jack, in an effort to get more people to try the new game.
- Blackjack is believed to be the world’s most widely played casino game.
- Blackjack is not to be confused with the British game black jack, which is not a betting game.
- The World Series of Blackjack began in 2004. It only continued for four years.
- There is a Blackjack Hall of Fame. It was created in 2002.
- Until a book called Beat the Dealer by Edward Thorpe was published in the 1960s, most people didn’t believe that it was possible to win at blackjack consistently, because they didn’t understand how to use card counting and basic strategy.
- There are several different systems for counting cards in blackjack, including Hi-Lo, which is the most popular system, and Wong’s Halves, which is more advanced.
- There are other strategies besides card counting for blackjack, like card steering and shuffle tracking.
- The more decks that are used in the game, the higher the house advantage becomes