The first time you played blackjack you were probably a kid back in elementary school and you knew it by a different name, that of “Twenty-one”. You’d get that period at the library and the books that then school had were kind of boring, so one of you would dig out a deck of cards and ask your mates if anyone was up for a game. “Sure, what about rummy?” someone would inevitably say. “No, it’ll take too long. It’s got to be something quicker in case the teacher sees us.” “How about 21 then?”
And all would agree. No money was ever bet. The association between betting money and the game of 21 was never made. Besides kids back then usually bet on things like marbles or whether someone could sneak into the girl’s bathroom. So the cards would be dealt out and everyone would try to get a close to 21 as possible. Years later at some point you’d be playing with friends in restaurant or coffee shop and a grownup would notice you and ask if you were playing blackjack? You would answer no, that you were playing 21.
At that point if the grownup was cool around kids he’d tell you that 21 and blackjack were the same thing and that it was a popular game in the big casinos in Las Vegas. And he was really cool with kids he’d sit down for a few minutes and give you all a lesson on how blackjack was really played. What the significance of a “blackjack” was, how to really play it and how the betting worked. And the world of your little card games would never be the same.
Suddenly your Saturday pocket money would find a new destination other than the comic book store. You’d head over to your one friend at whose house everyone could hang out without a parent getting too suspicious about your activities. Out would come your wallets with a few quarters to a few dollars nested in them and a prepubescent Vegas would happen in the “one friend’s” tree fort. This also meant that any cigarettes that had been nicked from a parents pack would be shared with all. Chips were usually something like matchsticks or toothpicks and the game would begin.
Now that Im older, wiser and less likely to hit the road for Vegas (since I live in Australia now) its easier to play online. A simple search led me to an Online Blackjack Australia review website and its actually fun, not as fun as my younger days, but still good.
Nothing like the road to adulthood being paved with brotherhood and money earned at blackjack played in a tree fort.