On this day in 1956, John L. Kelly, Jr. published a report entitled "A New Interpretation of Information Rate".  Kelly's Criterion was a formula to determine a correct size positive expected value bet to maximize rate of return.  That's exactly what future card counters would be looking for.

In September of 1956, Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott wrote a paper titled The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack.  Published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, it would become the foundation of all future sound efforts to beat the game of blackjack.

On this day in 1961, the New York Herald Tribune wrote about a 28-year old professor of mathematics - Edward O. Thorp.  Can a 'Formula' Beat Blackjack? A Casino Dares Professor to Try?

In November of 1962, Edward Thorp published his famous book Beat the Dealer.  The book presented, for the first time, a validated winning blackjack strategy (Ten count) based on computer simulation.  He would later publish (in 1966) a revised edition which included the Hi-Lo count with the help of Julian Braun.

On this day in 1963, at 8PM, Harvey Dubner presented a paper on the the first High-Low count at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in the Las Vegas Convention Center.  The High-Low count is used by many blackjack card counters today.

On this day in 1964, Ed Thorp disclosed a computer system for beating the Wheel of Fortune gambling game in LIFE Magazine.

On this day in 1976, Ian Andersen published the ground-breaking book Turning the Tables on Las Vegas.   Andersen is a 2012 member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame.

On this day (approx) in 1977, Stanley Roberts' Gambling Times was first published.

On this day (approx) in 1977, Ken Uston's book The Big Player was published. The book described how a team of blackjack players won over a million dollars playing blackjack in Las Vegas and Europe.

On this day (approx) in 1979, Stanford Wong's Blackjack Newsletter was first published.

On this day (approx) in 1979, Ken Uston published his first Blackjack Newsletter.

On this day (approx) in 1981, the first issue of Arnold Snyder's Blackjack Forum was published.  This quarterly magazine for blackjack players and card counters was published from 1981 to 2004.

On this day in 1981, the Philadephia Inquirer published an article by Eddie Olsen titled  "Ken Uston: Big Player Without a Game".

On this day in 1981, Arnold Snyder published the two-level Zen Count with  25 index numbers.   It was the first counting system designed to take into account the actual relative gain from using various index numbers. [ blackjackforumonline.com ]

On this day in 1983, Arnold Snyder published the book Blackbelt in Blackjack: Playing 21 as a Martial Art.  Snyder's unbalanced Red and two-level Zen counts were described.

On this day (approx) in 1986, the first issue of Eddie Olsen's Blackjack Confidential Magazine was published.

On this day in 1987, The New York Times published an article on R. Kent London (aka Ian Andersen) regarding his involvement in the Webtech affair.  Andersen is the author of Turning the Tables on Las Vegas.

On this day in 1988, the first issue of Card Player magazine was published.  Although primarily devoted to poker, this magazine would occasionally include excellent information on blackjack over the years.

On this day in 1990, the New York Times published Persi Diaconis and Dave Bayer's study entitled "Trailing the Dovetail Shuffle to its Lair".   Their paper proved it takes 7 riffles to randomize a single deck of cards.

On this day (approx) in 1990, Stanley Roberts' Win Magazine was first published.

On this day in 1990, the first issue of Rec.Gambling's 21 News was published.  Edited by Michael Hall, only 3 issues were ever published.

On this day (approx) in 1990, Michael Hall published his 21 News newsletter.  Unfortunately, only 3 issues were ever published.

On this day in 1992, the first issue (Summer 1.1) of Michael Dalton's Blackjack Review was published.  This quarterly magazine for blackjack players and card counters was published from 1992 to 1998.

On this day in 1992,  the anti-card counting software Blackjack Survey Voice 1.0 for DOS was completed. Casinos could use this software to help identify card counters.

On this day in 1993, Michael Dalton's 3rd edition of Blackjack: A Professional Reference was published.  This book would later become the foundation for The Encyclopedia of Blackjack.

On this day (approx) in 1993, Norm Wattenberger published the first release of Casino Verite, a Windows based blackjack software product. This software would evolve over the years to become one of the most popular tools for the professional blackjack player.

On this day in 1995, the last Rec.Gambling.Blackjack FAQ file was modified.

On this day in 1997, the last hard-copy issue of Michael Dalton's Blackjack Review was published.  Featured articles included The Most Important Play Variations by Michael Dalton and Optimal Wagering and Betting by Karel Janecek.

On this day in 1998 (approx), the book Blackjack and the Law by I. Nelson Rose and Robert A. Loeb was published.

On this day in 1999, Michael Dalton's Encyclopedia of Blackjack became an online living document on BJRnet.com (now BlackjackReview.com).

On this day in 2000, RGE published Bill Haywood's book BeatWebCasinos.com which had a main rule of thumb:  Don't beat the house - beat the marketing department!

On this day in 2001, the first issue of Henry Tamburin's Blackjack Insider Newsletter was published.  This electronic newsletter contains strategy and other information on blackjack (and other casino games) for recreational blackjack players.

On this day in 2003, the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich was published. 

On this day in 2005, Pi Yee Press (BJ21) began publishing a free weekly online newsletter.

On this day in 2005, Clarke Cant published a very strange but entertaining treatise called Blackjack Therapy - which can be found in the BJRnet archives.

On this day in 2006, Arnold Snyder's book The Big Book of Blackjack was published.  This book has one of the best discussions of the history of blackjack and advantage play.

On this day in 2007, Ken Smith published his excellent e-book How To Win More Blackjack Tournaments.

On this day in 2011, Ken Smith published his excellent e-book How To Win Even More Blackjack Tournaments.

On this day in 2012, Renee Taft Meloche's book High-Tech Gambler: The True Story of Keith Taft & His Astonishing Machines was published.

On this day in 2013, Pi Yee Press (BJ21) published their last free weekly newsletter.

On this day in 2016, a major update of Michael Dalton's Encyclopedia of Blackjack was completed.  Of course, this is a living document that will never really be complete 🙂

On this day in 2017, Ed Thorp published his auto-biography, A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market.

On this day in 2017, the last regular monthly issue of Henry Tamburin's Blackjack Insider Newsletter was published.  This electronic newsletter contained strategy and other information on blackjack (and other casino games) for recreational blackjack players.