The game of black jack was introduced to the United States of America in the 19th century but it wasn’t until the mid twentieth century that a technique was created to defeat the house in Blackjack. This article is going to take a swift peak at the birth of that system, Card Counting.

When wagering was approved in the state of Nevada in ‘34, black jack sky-rocketed into popularity and was usually bet on with 1 or two decks of cards. Roger Baldwin published a dissertation in ‘56 which explained how to reduce the house edge founded on probability and stats which was very bewildering for players who weren’t mathematicians.

In 1962, Dr. Ed Thorp utilized an IBM 704 computer to better the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s dissertation and also created the first card counting strategies. Dr. Ed Thorp wrote a tome called "Beat the Dealer" which outlined card counting techniques and the practices for lowering the casino advantage.

This spawned a massive growth in twenty-one gamblers at the US casinos who were trying to implement Dr. Thorp’s techniques, much to the anxiety of the casinos. The system was difficult to understand and complicated to carry through and therefore elevated the earnings for the casinos as more and more people took to playing twenty-one.

However this massive growth in earnings was not to last as the players became more refined and more aware and the system was further refined. In the 1980’s a bunch of students from MIT made counting cards a part of the everyday vernacular. Since then the casinos have brought in countless measures to thwart players who count cards including (but not limited to), multiple decks, shoes, shuffle machines, and rumour has itnow sophisticated computer software to scrutinize body language and identify "cheaters". While not against the law being caught counting cards will get you barred from the majority of betting houses in Las Vegas.