Blackjack Fun Facts & Trivia
Blackjack is an immensely popular table game that most people are familiar with, but we bet there are a few things you may not know about this fascinating game:
- There is great dispute amongst the Italians and French as to who first invented the game of blackjack, although most think it to be the French.
- The game was originally called vingt-et-un (meaning 21).
- It is well documented fact that Napoleon loved the game of 21 and played it when he had time to kill on his exile in Elba.
- The name Blackjack came about due to a variation in the rules of the original game where payouts were given if a player held the black Jack of Spades.
- Blackjack was banned in the US at the turn of the 19th century and went ”underground” until 1939 when the state of Nevada removed its bans as it gave birth to Las Vegas.
- In the early 60”s Edward O. Thorp wrote a book entitled ”Beat the dealer” detailing the mathematical workings of the game and is known as the father of card counting.
- The publishing of Thorp”s book lead to increased player attendance and winnings at casinos. The casinos then altered some of the standard rules, bringing about new variations of standard games.
- Al Franesco was the inventor of blackjack team play, earning him and his team millions of dollars and resulting in the formation of many famous card counting teams over the years including the famous MIT card counting team document in the movie ”21”.
- The seats positioned around a dealer at the blackjack table are called ”bases”, and referred to as ”first, second or third base” , however these are the only baseball terms that appear in the game.
- There is a Blackjack Hall of fame. It was launched in 2002 and honours blackjack experts, authors, and professional players who have made significant contributions to the game.
Always bear in mind that blackjack is a game that requires a great deal of practice, and the more you play the better you will get!
So play at William Hill Casino regularly to improve your game!