Blackjack History
Here you can read all about the history of blackjack. Playing card have been around for well over a thousand years, and so it is no surprise that the history of cards games spans back just as far into the past. The history of Blackjack is very long and quite complicated, having made its way around the world in many different incarnations and under many different names. Therefore we’ve divided up this history section into a number of different pages covering different chapters in the history of Blackjack.
The Early History of Blackjack
The history of Blackjack can be traced all the way back to 1440, when its Spanish predecessor Trente-Un was first mentioned in an anti-gambling sermon written by a French monk. From there it can be traced, via various other card games, to Napoleonic France. Here you can read more about the earliest history and development of Blackjack, from 31, through 15 and 7-and-a-half to our own favourite number: 21.
Blackjack in the Wild West
This section is dedicated to the origin of modern Blackjack, which originated in the American Old West. Here you can read about the rules that changed, blackjack becoming a house banked game, and about the first Twenty-One pro. Read about blackjack during the gold rush and on the riverboats of the Wild West in this history section.
Modern History
There’s a lot happening in the world of blackjack between 1950 and the present, and so we’ve split this section up into two pages, the history of blackjack from 1950-1970 and
1970-present. In the first part you can read all about the development of math-backed basic strategy and card counting. The second part features the rise of the blackjack teams, and developments such as the modern hi-lo card counting system.
