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History of Card Counting

Complete History of Card-Counting

The father of card-counting, Edward Thorp

Card-counting, the most famous blackjack strategy was created by Edward Thorp. He is the author of the first card counting strategy published in a book “Beat the Dealer” published in 1962. But in fact, he was not the first one to create and use this method to increase player edge.

Edward Thorp still remains the father of card-counting due to the fact that his method proved to be the most powerful and effective system for counting cards and thanks to it players got higher odds and could use it at any game.

But let’s go back to where it all began and familiarize with first steps made in this direction.

Jess Marcum and point-count system

Jess Marcum was perhaps the first who got the idea of searching for the edge in blackjack game by counting cards that were already dealt in the game. He was the one who in 1949 created the counting method that helped him to quit the job of a nuclear physicist at the Random Corporation and become a professional player. Marcum’s counting method is in fact considered to be the first full-fledged point-count system.

I Want to Quit Winners

In 1961 Harold Smith Sr. published a book «I Want to Quit Winners». The book was advising players to bet more when there were lots of Aces in the deck. Harold Smith Sr. was the one who owned and operated the Reno Casino Smith’s Club in the 1930’s.

The book told a story of a famous card-counter, Joe Bernstein, who was a frequent visitor of Nevada casinos in the 60's.

Playing Blackjack to Win

The first accurate book published about the card counting strategies was the one called Playing Blackjack to Win, 1957. There were 16 strategy tips on card counting in the book. Although, this method did not have any tips that would tell how to vary the bets.

The book was than published in a limited quantity, though now you are able to find lots of new editions of the book together with latest info on the game and winning methods.

The authors of the book are well-known as the “four horsemen”, Soldiers stationed in the army’s Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland – Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott. They soon became very popular for publishing the first complete mathematical analysis of blackjack game.

The analysis was developed with the help of first crude mechanical calculators, known then as the “adding machines”.

Beat the Dealer

Beat the Dealer published by Ed Thorp was the first book that contained mathematically correct card-counting system used to beat blackjack. The book boosted confidence and gave a bigger chance to win at the casino. However, this strategy was not accepted by all players and game theorists, well not at first at least.

Top-ten count invented by Edward Thorp was very easy to learn and use in the game of blackjack and the fact it gave a huge chance for all players, boosted up the popularity of the book. Needless to say the book was a huge success and in 1963 (a year after it was published) it became a New York Times’ bestseller. Perhaps the biggest sign of a success of Thorp and his book was the fact that soon after the book was published the casinos had to modify the rules of the game to keep the odds.

The most noticeable thing about this book is the fact that its style makes this book stand out from all the rest written on the blackjack game. The book explains all the main principles together with strategies in a style of self-help books. “Beat the Dealer” was and still is one of the most recommended readings for those who want to make money on the game of blackjack. The second edition of the book, published five years later, was made with the help of Julian Braun, an IBM employee. Braun studied blackjack with the help of a simulator, which made the analysis of the game more profound.

Since than there were a lot of famous names in the history of card-counting and most of them became authors of famous books on blackjack and increasing odds. You can find out about them in our article dedicated to Blackjack Hall of Fame or choose one of the names below to read detailed information on each of the players.