Blackjack is one of the oldest and most popular card-games, which is played in several variants in every casino and online casino world-over. The reason for the popularity of the game is a simple and straightforward one: it is one of the few casino games where skilled players can reduce the house edge, and under special circumstances, even turn it around. The game is so old that its exact origins are quite unclear. What is known though is that during the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a game played in France known and Vingt en Un which translates as Twenty One and which was the predecessor of blackjack. The game was brought over to America by French immigrants and given the lack of gambling-related laws there, it was quick to spread all over the country.
Blackjack is also related to an Italian game known as Seven and a Half. The rules of that game were largely similar to blackjack rules, with the difference that the goal of the player was to make a value of seven and a half.
It is indeed probable that each of these games have had their own influence on modern-day blackjack.
The origins of the “blackjack” name are a lot clearer than the actual origins of the game itself. The name of the game was changed from 21 to “blackjack” in Las Vegas, where a special bet involving one of the black jacks and the Ace of spades was introduced and later dropped. The name stuck though.
Unlike the history of the game, the history of online blackjack is an extremely short affair. When technology made online gaming possible, blackjack proved to be an ideal candidate for real money online gambling action. Nowadays, blackjack is among the bread and butter games of online casinos everywhere. Blackjack is featured in an astonishing number of variants, with slight rule-differences among them. While in live blackjack players can actually count cards and thus secure an advantage over the house, in online blackjack card counting isn’t really possible. All players have online is basic strategy, which can indeed reduce, but never beat the house edge.
Although there are entire websites out there dedicated to various blackjack tips and strategy, all there really is to it is basic strategy. Once a person learns that, he’ll be able to reduce the house edge on the game to around 1%.
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