The earliest recorded game of Blackjack dates all the way back to the 16th century, making it one of the oldest and most popular casino games around. Since then, Blackjack has only continued to evolve, and you can now play Blackjack online or even live, somewhere like Karamba live casino, maintaining its place at the top of the casino scene.
With such a long and rich history, there are a whole host of Blackjack facts and findings that you may not have heard before. Read on if you want to be in the know – and wow your friends with the following top six Blackjack facts.
- Keeping things natural
The chance of getting a “natural” outcome of 21 is around 4.8% based on a single Blackjack deck. This will of course change depending on how many decks of cards are being used in a game – if you’re opting to play live action Blackjack then as many as eight decks can be used at one time.
- Unlucky for some
Ending up with a total of 16 is the worst hand that anyone can be dealt in a game of Blackjack. However, you’ll be interested to know, it’s actually one of the most frequent hands.
- Find your edge
Blackjack has one of the smallest house edges out of all of the top casino games. In its classic form, Blackjack has an impressively high return to player (RTP) rate, all thanks to that minimal house edge. The RTP will usually equal somewhere around 99.87% – making it well worth a game or two.
- The curse of a winning streak
When it comes to Blackjack, a streak is actually considered to be an extremely unlikely feat. Finding yourself in some kind of a streak is essentially just an old wives’ tale. When you join a game of Blackjack, you will have up to three possible outcomes – win, lose or a tie/push. On average, you will have roughly a 50% chance of losing, 42% chance of winning, and an 8% likelihood of a push. After each win, there will be less of a chance of landing another, with the likelihood of having seven wins in a row pitched at around 0.99%.
- Napoleon’s court
Back in 18th century France, Blackjack was known as “Vingt-et-un” and was often played in the royal courts. None other than Napoleon Bonaparte, the famed military leader and Emperor of France, was one of the many historical figures who found a place in their heart for the iconic game. Upon his infamous exile on Elba, Napoleon really got to perfect his Blackjack-playing skills, also forming the belief that the game was so captivating that he banned his soldiers from playing so that they wouldn’t be distracted!
- Know your goals
On the surface, you might think that the objective in Blackjack is just to reach 21. However, if you’re a true Blackjack aficionado, then you’ll know that the actual objective is to beat the dealer. This isn’t to say that reaching 21 won’t help your cause, but that shouldn’t be your main focus.
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Gambling can be addictive, please play responsibly.
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Away from the world of online slots, as far as casino gambling is concerned, Edward Thorp is best known for his academic research into the application of probability theory to blackjack strategy, which eventually led to the publication of the ground-breaking book, ‘Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One’, in 1962. Inspired by his observations while playing blackjack in Las Vegas, shortly after receiving a doctorate in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles in the late Fifties, Thorp discovered that by keeping track of the cards during the game a player can determine when the odds are most favourable.
In his seminal treatise, Thorp introduced the so-called ‘Ten Count’, which was the first mathematically proven, publicly available system for card counting. The Ten Count was only really applicable to single-deck games, which were commonplace in the Sixties, but spawned numerous other card counting systems, which are equally applicable to multi-deck games and have been used successfully by generations of blackjack players. Thorp is often called the ‘father’ of card counting; he was inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2003.
By no means a ‘one-trick pony’, Thorp also turned his attention to roulette and, together with Claude Shannon, a.k.a. the ‘father of information theory’, co-invented the first wearable computer. Although strictly illegal in Nevada, the analog device, about the size of a cigarette, was tested in Las Vegas in 1961 and produced predicted improvement in the odds when playing roulette, but its invention was kept secret until 1966. The computer divided the roulette wheel into eight octants and attempted to predict not the exact number, but the octant, in which the ball would land, based on the speed of wheel and ball.
The late Tommy Carmichael was a television repair man-turned-inventor, who devoted nearly twenty years of his adult life to devising innovative ways to cheat slot machines. Carmichael began his life of crime with a nuts-and-bolts device, known as a ‘top-bottom joint’, to which he was introduced in the early Eighties. A crude affair, consisting of a curved piece of metal and a guitar string, the top-bottom joint effectively short-circuited the coin hopper of older, electromechanical slot machines, causing an illicit payout. Carmichael was arrested, convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for using the device in Las Vegas in 1985.
He served just two years in prison but, on his release in 1987, slot machine had become more sophisticated. In response, Carmichael acquired a state-of-the-art machine and created a novel cheating device, known as the ‘slider’, or ‘monkey paw’, which was effective against the latest technology. Again employing a guitar string, together with a piece of sprung steel, the slider could be inserted into the payout chute, tripping a microswitch and causing the illegal release of coins from the hopper. If you think it is too difficult you can try your luck playing all slots games on the 1xbet page.
By the early Nineties, slot machine technology had moved on again, rendering the slider obsolete. Nevertheless, posing as a prospective buyer, Carmichael examined the inner workings of of a cutting-edge, computerised machine and devised a fresh device, known as the ‘light wand’. As the name suggests, the light wand employed a miniature light bulb powered by a camera battery – making it nigh on undetectable – and effectively ‘blinded’ the optical payout sensor when shone into the machine.
Carmichael was subsequently arrested in 1996, 1998 and 1999, on the latter occasion pleading guilty to running an illegal gambling enterprise, for which he was sentenced to time served plus three years’ probation. He died, at the age of 68, in 2019, but for the last 16 years of his life his name appeared on the Nevada Gaming Control Board List of Excluded Persons, a.k.a. the ‘Black Book’, so he was officially banned from every casino in the state.
No matter the shape or size of your e-business, your success will depend on your ability to identify and engage your target audience effectively. As an entrepreneur, you have probably spent countless hours trawling through guides to online marketing and following all of the time-honoured mantras of SEO, SMO, and the rest.
However, while SEO is certainly important, it is not enough to launch a successful brand that is able to engage with the people you are trying to target. In 2021, digital branding and marketing are more competitive than ever before, with a sea-change occurring in how people consume online content that necessitates a different approach. With that in mind, read on to find out the digital branding strategies that actually have an impact in 2021.
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1. Transparent Branding
One thing that is clear is that no matter the industry you are in, your customers are savvier and more value-focused than ever before. Research from Falcon.io has shown that brands that are seen to be purposeful and honest with their customers grew twice as fast as those brands that were not perceived in the same way. This means having a clear mission statement, making your values clear, and being transparent with your customers is essential for success.
2. Hybrid Campaigns
It is no longer enough to go it alone. One of the cornerstones of brand marketing in 2021 and beyond will be the use of hybrid campaigns involving collaboration with other brands. Recent examples where this has been successful are almost too numerous to count. Think the sellout Gucci x North Face campaign, or the Kith x BMW campaign from Christmas 2020, or the brand collaboration between the uber-chic perfume retailer Byredo and the furniture giant Ikea. The list goes on.
3. Authoritative Reviews
Customers now spend more time researching brands and trying to determine whether they offer value for money. This means having your company listed on an authoritative review site, rather than just having a good Google reviews score, is crucial. Let’s look at the example of online real-money gaming, one of the fastest-growing tech entertainment sectors in the world. Customers are more likely to consult an expert review site that is owned by impartial industry insiders such as Vegas Slots Online, which reveals the discounts, offers, game offerings, and user experience of all major casino brands. Having a good review on a relevant site such as this will do wonders for your brand.
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4. Cross-Platform Micro-Influencing
The age of the mega-influencer has well and truly come to an end. Successful brands now realize that investing $100,000 in an Instagram post from a celebrity no longer pays off in the same way that it used to. It is clear that micro-influencers and nano-influencers (with less than 25K followers) have much higher engagement rates and a more loyal following than large-scale profiles. Successful user campaigns of the future will consist of cross-platform, hyper-targeted posts involving a series of micro-influencers, something that Amazon’s Audible service has done with great success in the past year.
5. Add That Chatbot
You will already have read countless articles about the importance of automating as much of your time-consuming marketing and branding processes as possible. However, you do not need to re-invent the wheel here. Rather, you just need to stick to the well-established tools that have a proven track record of success. Chief among these is the humble chatbot. Research has shown that as much as 90% of all online queries will be handled by chatbots by 2022. Invest in a smart chatbot that will answer the questions your target audience will have, and keep them engaged.
6. UGC Never Went Away
Finally, it bears emphasising the importance of user-generated content is here to stay. USG has been consistently proven to outperform brand content in terms of reach, engagement, and leads. This trend has been reinforced by emerging platforms such as Tik Tok, which is being leveraged by brands to great effect. If you can encourage a user-generated trend on an app such as Tik Tok, this will do much more for your brand than any ad campaign could ever do.
Business success depends on being able to stay ahead of the curve. By following these essential brand strategies, you will be able to rise above the competition and grow your business in the year ahead.
