Blackjack (aka Twenty-one, Pontoon or Vingt-et-un in France), is the one of the most favorite and widely played casino game all over the globe. The blackjack’s popularity is mostly based on the fact that the game involves luck and skills. Furthermore there are a great number of myths and theories around the game asserting that blackjack can be easily beaten with the help of card counting or other strategies. Indeed, it is the game with the smallest house advantage, and everybody who possesses a good strategy, who is disciplined, who goes persistently towards the aim can make profits while playing blackjack.

One of the theories says that the precursor of Blackjack is a game “twenty-one”, the game that is unknown where it came from. We can found the first written reference concerning the game in one of the books of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of well-known Don Quixote and also a gambler. In his Novelas Ejemplares we meet Rinconete y Cortadillo, a couple of cheaters who work in Seville. Those two are good at cheating while playing “Veintiuno” (the Spanish word meaning twenty-one). In his book Cervantes also says that the aim of the game is to get 21 points and not going over and that the Ace counts 1 or 11. The game used the Spanish deck, which has no tens, all this makes that game alike the modern Spanish Veintiuno. Cervantes wrote this story in somewhere 1601 and 1602, hence we know the game was popular in Castilia since the early 17 century or maybe earlier. Then we can find later references in France and Britain.

When in the 18 century the 21 was introduced in the USA it did not enjoy popularity, therefore the gambling venues started to offer numerous promotions to attract players to the game. One of those bonuses was a 10:1 payout if the player had an ace of spades together with a black Jack (that is the Jack of clubs or of spades). So the hand got the name “blackjack” and this name glued to the game regardless of the fact that the casinos soon stopped giving that bonus payout. Now a blackjack is any hand consisted if an ace and any face card or a ten.