The History of Chemin de Fer

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The casino game of black jack was introduced to the US in the 19th century but it was not until the middle of the 20th century that a system was created to beat the house in chemin de fer. This material is going to grab a rapid peak at the birth of that strategy, Card Counting.

When casino gambling was made legal in the state of Nevada in 1934, twenty-one sky-rocketed into recognition and was most commonly bet on with one or 2 decks. Roger Baldwin published a dissertation in ‘56 which explained how to lower the house advantage founded on odds and performance history which was quite complicated for gamblers who weren’t mathematicians.

In ‘62, Dr. Edward O. Thorp used an IBM 704 computer to refine the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s dissertation and also developed the first techniques for card counting. Dr. Ed Thorp wrote a tome called "Beat the Dealer" which illustrated card counting techniques and the strategies for reducing the house advantage.

This spawned a huge growth in twenty-one gamblers at the US betting houses who were trying to put into practice Dr. Thorp’s tactics, much to the anxiety of the casinos. The system was hard to comprehend and difficult to put into practice and thusly expanded the earnings for the betting houses as more and more people took to betting on Blackjack.

However this huge increase in earnings wasn’t to continue as the players became more sophisticated and more insightful and the system was further improved. In the 1980’s a bunch of students from MIT made card counting a part of the day-to-day vernacular. Since then the casinos have developed countless methods to counteract players who count cards including but not limited to, multiple decks, shoes, shuffle machines, and rumor has itnow sophisticated computer software to read body language and identify "cheaters". While not illegal being discovered counting cards will get you barred from the majority of brick and mortar casinos in sin city.