Black Jack Strategy

There’s a book on the market for every possible Black Jack strategy around, from statistically proven methods to those a bit more dubious. Players know that Black jack is more than a game of chance - it’s a game where a bit of know-how can actually change the odds, and even turn the game in the player’s favor. But although this has been common Black Jack knowledge for quite some time, players didn’t always know exactly how to play the best game of Black jack possible. It wasn’t until the first Black Jack book was published on the subject, in the late fifties and early sixties that Black Jack strategy became a widely understood subject of study.

The Early Days of Black Jack Strategy

Who were the mathematical geniuses behind the first Black Jack strategy books? Well, one of the very first Black Jack books written was Playing Black jack to Win, by Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott, sometimes called the “Four Horsemen.” These bright young men were in the army in the 1950’s when they used nothing but calculators and brain power to develop the first true basic black jack strategy. At the end of their research, they published a paper followed by a book, but surprisingly, their astounding observations went unnoticed for several years.

Card Counting: The Next Step in Black Jack Strategy

It was 1960 when Edwin O. Thorp, a mathematics professor at MIT, discovered their findings, and used a high-speed computer to develop a more accurate black jack strategy. His famous book, Beat the Dealer, described a new Black jack method called card-counting, which gained fame throughout the U.S. for its ease of use and winning technique.
Thorp refined Basic Strategy to give players an advantage of 1%, rather than the traditional casino advantage of 5%. He tested his theories using $10,000 in seed money given to him by a member of the mob. After a brief foray into Vegas, Thorp’s card counting theory was proven, and he published his first book.
First published in 1962, Beat the Dealer sold over 700,000 copies, and appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List. Today, it is considered to be the first authoritative book on Black jack strategy widely available to the public. It was Thorp’s research that led to new rules at Black jack tables in casinos all over Vegas.

More Black Jack Strategies

These rules had a serious impact on Thorp’s methodology. But that wasn’t the end of Black jack card counting strategy. In the next section, find out how great thinkers and Black jack players persevered, to discover and publish new ways to beat the dealer.