Blackjack

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Black Jack – also referred to as ‘twenty-one’ and ‘pontoon’ – is a card game that nowadays is generally found in a casino with people trying their fortune on acquiring the elusive ‘twenty one’. It is commonly presumed that the game originated in France amid the 1600’s. However, as with most other casino games the precise development of the game is a mystery.

Black jack was brought to the US after the French Revolution, but the game didn’t become popular in the casinos until the casino provided payouts as a bonus. This was the only method that seemed to get players betting on twenty-one. One variant on the bonus payment was for a player to acquire ‘twenty-one’ with the black jack card (given a value of ten points) and an ace (given a value of eleven points). With the growing appeal of the game the payouts were canceled but the name of the game ‘chemin de fer’ lasted.

Blackjack is not just about acquiring a straight ‘twenty one’, but the primary adventure is to defeat the dealer without going ‘bust’. The betting house clearly has a house edge over the chemin de fer players in the long term, but with pontoon the gambler retains an element of choice.

Since 1931 when America initial legalized wagering, pontoon has grown into a traditional gambling den game. Furthermore, it’s the combination of both skill and math employed in pontoon that has made the game massively popular. Chemin de fer gives an alluring proposition to any academic, math guy or wagering player wanting to examine the tactic of the game.