Blackjack Facts
Blackjack is a card game that is also popularly known as “Twenty-one”, and somewhat less commonly as “Vingt-et-un”–which is French for “Twenty-one”–and Pontoon. Blackjack is by far one of the most popular of all the card games played in casinos. A lot of the game’s popularity can be attributed to its unique game play, which combines skill with some elements of chance.
Blackjack is actually an adaptation of the “vingt-et-un” card game played in French casinos since the early 1700s. There is also a British card game of the same name, but it is a variant on the “Crazy Eights” and not the same as the game we now know commonly as blackjack.
The game first came to the United States as “21”, where it was not very well-received. In an effort to draw in more players, gambling houses began to offer bonus payouts to the players. One of these was a 10-to-1 bonus given to a hand that included the ace of spades and either of the “black” Jacks–the Jack of clubs or the Jack of spades. Today, the bonus in no longer given, and a “blackjack” does not necessarily have to include a jack or even any black cards for that matter.
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