Being the most popular blackjack strategy, card counting can also boast with a rich history of its appearance and development. Though this strategy is rather young (1962 is considered to be the year of its official appearance), card counting has already become the gambling strategy every blackjack player wants to learn and use for winning.
First mentions
Nobody knows for sure when card counting was invented, and the names of first counters were lost in history; the year of 1962 is believed to be the birthday of this blackjack strategy though it is possible to find the mentions of card counters who used this system before:
Card games blackjack
1949 - Jess Marcum, a professional blackjack player who counted cards and even left his daily job in order to devote his life to gambling.
Card games blackjack
1956 - Roger Baldwin. Together with his colleagues he published a set of recommendations about how to count cards in one American journal; these recommendations were very close to that basic blackjack strategy all players use today.
1957 - Roger Baldwin published the book Play Blackjack to Win where described counting strategy.
1961 - Harold Smith Sr., a card counter who always made big bets when many Aces were left in a shoe. He published a book I Want to Quit Winners in 1961, and he owned a casino in 1930's.
Edward Thorp
Edward Thorp is believed to be the father of card counting because he was the first who mathematically proved it worked. He was not the inventor of the system itself but he was able to systemize the strategy and determine the fact some cards of a shoe were more profitable for gamblers and other ones - for dealers.
Thorp made all these calculations with the help of special computer device; he also went to casinos in order to check whether his system worked.
In 1962 Mr. Thorp published his bestseller Beat the Dealer where explained the principles of card counting in a way understandable for average players. Such a blackjack system as Hi-Lo Count was described in details there, and all gamblers had understood the fact blackjack was possible to beat!
Counting Teams
The 1970s have given a birth to card counting teams: professional blackjack players gathered in order to use card counting technique and beat casinos out of really big money. They worked as a team, every member had his role, and they were a real nightmare of all casinos which try to catch such counters and ban them forever.
1970's - Al Francesco: the first blackjack player who brought the idea of team play at blackjack. His blackjack team won a lot of money using card counting and the principle of 'Big Player'.
1980's - Ken Uston: the student of Al Francesco and the manager of a successful blackjack team.
1990's - MIT Team: 6 former students of Massachusetts Institute of Technology gathered the team of card counters who beat casinos out of millions of dollars! The perfect proof of the fact card counting strategy really works, is not it?
1980's-2000's - Tommy Hyland: the manager of the long-running blackjack team which still exists. He teaches new members and organizes everything by himself, that is why Tommy Hyland is called to be the most successful and famous blackjack team manager ever. https://blackjack77nf.com is probably the best casino you have played, nice and friendly support, payment within minutes!