The casino game of Blackjack was introduced to the United States of America in the 19th century but it was not until the mid 20th century that a system was created to beat the house in black jack. This material is going to grab a quick peak at the creation of that technique, Counting Cards.
When wagering was legalized in Nevada in ‘34, Blackjack sky-rocketed into universal appeal and was usually played with 1 or 2 decks of cards. Roger Baldwin published a paper in ‘56 which described how to reduce the house edge founded on odds and performance history which was very difficult to understand for individuals who were not 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 card counting techniques. Dr. Thorp wrote a book called "Beat the Dealer" which summarized card counting strategies and the tactics for lowering the casino edge.
This created a huge increase in chemin de fer competitors at the US betting houses who were trying to put into practice Dr. Thorp’s techniques, much to the bewilderment of the casinos. The strategy was not easy to understand and complicated to implement and thusly heightened the earnings for the betting houses as more and more folks took to playing Blackjack.
However this large increase in earnings was not to continue as the gamblers became more highly developed and more accomplished and the system was further refined. In the 1980’s a bunch of students from MIT made counting cards a part of the everyday vocabulary. Since then the casinos have introduced numerous measures to thwart card counters including but not limited to, multiple decks, shoes, shuffle machines, and gossip has it, complex computer programs to read body language and detect "cheaters". While not against the law being caught counting cards will get you barred from many brick and mortar casinos in sin city.