Seen as one of the most popular casino games around, second only to Texas Hold Em poker, Blackjack is a fascinating game that has been played, in one form or another, for hundreds of years.

Dating back to the middle 1600s, although an exact origin is not known, the game of Veintiuna, Spanish for 21, was being played in Castile, generally by lower class citizens. The aim of Veintiuna was exactly the same as Blackjack is today, which is to have a hand worth 21 in value, without going over, known as going bust. The only difference in these days was that the game was played with a Spanish deck of cards, which lack the number 10 cards.

Veintiuna, or Vingt et un, as it was called in France in later years, was brought to North America throughout the 1800s. Although an easy game to play, it never really caught on at first. However, as most casinos could see the potential for the game, especially in their favour, a lot of casinos began to try to increase the popularity of the game by offering bonuses depending on the hand which won the game. One of these bonuses was given to any player whose hand consisted of the ace of spades and either the Jack of spades or the Jack of clubs, both black jacks, this winning hand coined the term Blackjack and began to be a nickname for this new game.

One of the reasons why Blackjack is such a popular game and has been since people became aware of the game, is due to its variety in play, making it suitable for card players of all abilities. For beginner Blackjack players, the game is extremely simple, have your cards dealt and then if you feel you are far enough away from 21 in value, take another card. If not, then stick. Playing Blackjack this way is almost solely based on chance, with a small amount of skill involved. However, for the more experienced and seasoned professional Blackjack players, the game can become much more skillful. For example, players can split hands, double down or look at the probability of a certain card being dealt next, a skill known as card counting that has thrown Blackjack into the public light on many occasions.

Card counting is the act of counting and memorising the cards that have been dealt out onto the table. With these cards in mind, skillful players can have an educated guess to which cards may be dealt next, giving them much more of an advantage over other players who are not card counting. Popularised in many films, most recently 21 which sees a group of MIT students travel to Las Vegas after becoming professionals at card counting and win millions of dollars by using their skill.

For centuries Blackjack has been a popular game around the world. Varying in name and some more detailed rules depending upon the geographical area, the game of Blackjack is one that any one can play, regardless of ability or experience, with the opportunity to take away substantial sums of money.

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