The Writing of the History of Blackjack Tournaments is Just Getting Started

Information on the history of blackjack is easy to find. Retrieving information on the history of blackjack tournaments, on the other hand, is more of a challenge.

It is generally believed that blackjack got its start in French in the 18th century. The game was very popular in the United States in the 19th century, but it was mostly played by women. In the early 20th century the game grew in popularity, against mostly among the ladies because they were not allowed to play other casino games with the men.

Blackjack began to gain popularity among the male population when Dr. Edward O. Thorp published Beat the Dealer in 1962. Since then, blackjack has become ever more popular, among men and women.

Donald Catlin claims he played in the first blackjack tournament ever in 1979. Whether that is true or not we’ll leave to the judgment of the discerning blackjack aficionado, but there is no doubt that the history of blackjack tournaments can be traced at least to the early 1980’s.

Once land-based casinos figured out that people will pay to play blackjack, they started making new developments in the game. Many of those developments occurred in the 1970’s when Ken Uston and Al Francesco made their millions. But many more have occurred since then. You can find a blackjack tournament in just about any casino, land-based and online, today with very little effort.

Stanford Wong, known as the Godfather of Blackjack, began playing in tournaments in 1985, but it is likely that blackjack tournaments existed before then. Wong wrote his book Tournament Blackjack in 1987. In 1992, he updated the book and changed its title to Casino Tournament Strategy.

While casinos popularized blackjack tournaments in the 1980’s with huge cash prizes, it was not until the 1990’s that blackjack tournament play really took off. The history of blackjack tournaments has not been the same since the advent of the Internet revolutionized the gaming industry. Online casinos began popping up in 1994 and online blackjack took off like a spaceship. This new development took the history of blackjack tournaments to a new level. Online BJT became an instant phenomenon.

In the early 21st century, blackjack hit national TV. Suddenly, everyone was playing in blackjack tournaments, competing for big prizes, and the events were televised. Three such huge tournaments are The World Series of Blackjack, the Las Vegas Hilton Million Dollar Blackjack Tournament, and the Ultimate Blackjack Tournament. These televised tournaments continue to draw new competitors as previous winners return to compete again and again.

The history of blackjack tournaments is still being written, but serious blackjack buffs are anxiously awaiting the future of BJT, which holds great promises for this competitive event. Both TV and the Internet offer tremendous opportunities for blackjack enthusiasts to continue writing the history of one of America’s most popular past times.

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History of Blackjack Tournaments