Card counting, basic blackjack strategy, blackjack counting systems

 << Casino games theory

The dream of capoting a casino is as old as the notion "casino" itself. Every casino player wants to win. Every other invents his own "system". Every hundredth attempts to carefully analyze the game. And only the few of millions succeed.

The most famous achievement in the sphere of "system" game against the casino was the so called "card counting" at blackjack - mathematically based methods of casino game allowing to get some advantage over the casino. The casinos, surely, knows about the existence of "counters" and are trying to oppose them - from changing the rules to banning the game. Sometimes even exceeding the limits of reason and legality. In fact, all the history of the blackjack is the struggle between the gamblers and the casino which is more clever.

More than half a century passed since the first attempts of beating the casinos in black jack, based not on the marked cards and intuition. There has been a peck of salt eaten since then, but the struggle is still going on...

Mammoth.
Probably the first person in history who applied mathematic analysis to the game black jack was Jess Marcum (originally Marcovitch) was born on 30th December 1919.

It happened at the turn of 1949 and 1950, when Jess, being an excellent mathematician and physicist-theorist got to Las Vegas. Then his mathematic flair prompted him that most possibly not everything depends on intuition in black jack.

Marcum started analyzing casino black jack. First, the uniqueness of his attempt is that he performed absolutely all calculations with his pen on the paper, on principle without using any technologies whatever weak they might be at that time. Second he had found the solution!

Jess manually developed what is now called Basic BlackJack strategy and BlackJack counting systems ten years before someone else has done that. He counted that theoretically he had an advantage over the casino of about 3% - under the conditions of that time it was quite real. Moreover, Markum had been playing black jack in all known to him casinos - both in the USA and abroad. His name appeared on the pages of the newspapers as an example of "lucky man" who managed to hit the casino jackpot.

Jess Markum also went down to casino history as probably the first man thrown out from the casino because of cards. Though at that time casinos did not understand that such system existed. Jess lived in Las Vegas for about a year. The casino owners exchanged the information when they gathered at the general meeting. And they were terrified. After that casino player, Markum was not admitted at all Vegas casinos. He went to Reno. The same story - in half a year after unbelievable "luck" the casino owners started making inquiries about the incredible casino player. Then other states and cities. Then Cuba, the Bahamas. Nobody knows how much casino money he has won during that time. One thing is known for sure - in fact, Jess Markum started the war between the casino players and casinos in black jack, that is still going on and getting more and more strained.

He did not share his calculations with anyone, and completely gave up playing against casino after a wide public publication of black jack methods by other authors.

Jess Markum died in 1992, at the age of 72.

The four of Neanderthals.
The next effort of great influence on the blackjack math was made in 1956 by the group of four mathematicians - Roger Baldwin, Wilbert E. Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott.

These people had never played in casino before, having spent a great number of m/hr, they created BlackJack basic strategy of playing blackjack according to the most popular at that time rules and published it together with the calculation methods in the specialized math journal for statisticians - Journal of the American Statistical Association entitled "The Optimum Strategy In Blackjack".

They made several slight mistakes in calculations which is nothing serious taking into account their enormous contribution. A year later they issued a small book "Playing Black jack to Win", which is now a bibliography rarity.

In fact their book and the article did not spark much furor, and remained almost without attention regardless of their innovative approach. However, the word almost turned out to be the key for all the casino gambling industry, as someone did paid close attention to the research of the excellent four.