All arise from an article published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, in 1956. There, four men (Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel and McDermott) developed a system or basic strategy that served to obtain positive results in the long term in the game of blackjack.
The truth is that at that time this article didn’t have much impact, as it had been published in a technical paper that few certainly accessed. The only one who read the article was Dr. Edward O. Thorp, and he did it with great enthusiasm, because it occurred immediately to add a count of letters that, if it was used correctly, it would give him an edge over the players home.
That initial count that occurred to Thorp was of five letters, later he would come up with counting ten letters, which led to write his book “Beat the Dealer” in 1962, which was the blackjack book that sold more in the history of the game. This book had it all, the alternative count of aces, the use of counting points as a guide to bet, counting of ups and downs (from the second edition). This book was the one that convinced people that the blackjack game is statistic and that you can have a system to win.
Ultimately we could say that Thorp’s “Beat the Dealer” changed the history of blackjack. From the edition of this book, the game of blackjack has become one of the most popular games. On the other hand, casinos had to take certain measures against counting cards. Also has led to changes in the counting letter systems so that everyone can use it without complications and with amazing efficiency.
This great popularity of the game of blackjack can be seen today reflected in the success of the sites that offer online play. Increasingly more fans overturn this modality that it is growing every day