The game of Blackjack was introduced to the United States of America in the 1800’s but it wasn’t until the middle of the twentieth century that a system was developed to beat the house in Blackjack. This material is going to take a swift peak at the creation of that strategy, Card Counting.
When betting was authorized in Nevada in ‘34, Blackjack screamed into popularity and was usually gambled on with 1 or two decks of cards. Roger Baldwin wrote a paper in 1956 which detailed how to reduce the house advantage built on odds and stats which was really bewildering for people who weren’t mathematicians.
In 1962, Dr. Edward O. Thorp utilized an IBM 704 computer to enhance the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s paper and also developed the 1st strategies for counting cards. Dr. Ed Thorp wrote a tome called "Beat the Dealer" which illustrated card counting strategies and the tactics for lowering the house edge.
This spawned a huge increase in chemin de fer players at the US betting houses who were attempting to implement Dr. Ed Thorp’s tactics, much to the confusion of the casinos. The system was not easy to comprehend and complicated to implement and thusly elevated the earnings for the casinos as more and more folks took to wagering on chemin de fer.
However this large growth in earnings wasn’t to continue as the players became more highly developed and more insightful and the system was further improved. In the 80’s a group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology made counting cards a part of the regular vernacular. Since then the casinos have brought in countless measures to counteract card counters including, multiple decks, shoes, constant shuffle machines, and speculation has itnow complex computer software to observe actions and detect "cheaters". While not against the law being caught counting cards will get you blocked from all brick and mortar casinos in Las Vegas.