The history of blackjack is generally unclear. Blackjack apparently originated in French casinos around the 1700's where it was called "vingt-et-un" (French for twenty-and-one) and has been in United States since the 1800's and elsewhere around the world subsequently.

The actual name "blackjack" came from an early bet (no longer in usage) that paid 10 to 1 if the player got a jack of spades and an ace of spades, both black cards, as the first two cards.

In the late 1950's and the 1960's mathematical information was published that showed sophisticated gamblers how they could play nearly even with the house and perhaps gain a slight edge . One of these books became so popular that it made the New York Times bestseller list. This information sparked the interest of the public and made it the number one table game in the U.S. in the 1960's as it has remained right into the modern day. The casinos made a healthy profit from the games newly gained popularity and all of the media attention it's popularity generated.

The casinos, however, were not happy with the success of a book that told the public how to beat the house. They tried to change the rules of blackjack to make it more difficult to win. This didn't last long as people protested by not playing the new rules version of blackjack, and the resulting loss of revenue quickly forced the casinos to revert back to the old rules.

The Casinos, however, did make changes to increase their odds. They introduced multiple decks, shuffling machines, and frequent and early shuffling among other changes. These changes plus the reality that the methods described in the books were difficult to master (if indeed you could understand them) and restored the casinos edge to odds they considered acceptable.

The most well known method of increasing the player's advantage is through card counting- this was extremely effective until the casinos began to use the methods described above- most importantly, multiple decks.

The most well known card counters were the six MIT students who, by employing card counting techniques, made millions of dollars playing blackjack in Vegas casinos on the weekends. Your typical card counter can be spotted easily because they tend to make large bets for no apparent reason, but these counters had four individuals spread out making them as a group much harder to detect. They used a back-spotter that would stand and count cards, but not play. A spotter, who would make small bets at the table and relay messages to the Gorilla. The Gorilla would move around from table to table placing huge bets when the spotter and back-spotter indicated that there might be an advantage at a table. And finally, you had the Big Player, who would play large hands and count the cards.

Casinos fastidiously keep track on card counters by employing agencies that seek out, and monitor suspected card counters. They were caught when someone from their own inner circle sold their names to an agency in Las Vegas. After that, anytime they entered a casino; they were shown the door.

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