You certainly do not think that casinos rent huge premises, invest hundreds of thousands in equipment and employ all their personnel just to entertain you and to let you profit from the games you play. Of course not. Casinos constantly earn a lot of money without being dependant on luck, a factor that may seem important from the point of view of a common player. In fact, luck has nothing to do with the casino business.

The House Edge:

Casinos charge you for every game you play, no matter if you win or lose. How is it possible? The answer is a statistical advantage called the house edge. Statistics is a much more reliable factor than luck and it always works for casinos. Odds and payouts of all casino games without exceptions, are accurately balanced the way players will occasionally win, but casino will always win in the long run. In other words, if you had luck and left the casino with more money than you brought, you can be sure, the next time you come to play, you will lose more than you won this time, or if not the next time, the time after the next or some other time in the long run. One thing you should remember is that the only way to profit from casino games is to open your own casino.

The House Edge in Blackjack:

Blackjack is not an exception from the global rule. Blackjack, as well as all other casino games has a house edge and is detrimental for the player in the long run. However, blackjack is somehow different from other games, first of all because the decisions made by a player during the game really affect the result, and besides, it is played with the same deck (or several decks) of cards until the deck ends. So, the cards that already were dealt have a lower probability to be dealt again from the same deck.

These two factors allow a player to develop a blackjack strategy that will allow him to decrease the house edge of the game or even to profit from blackjack in the long run. The first part of such strategy deals with the decisions of the player and is called basic blackjack strategy. The second part takes advantage of the deck effect and is called blackjack card counting. Any of these techniques alone will not eliminate the house edge, but a player that masters both of them can count on some profit.

One thing we should warn you about is that using blackjack strategy is not easy at all. In fact, blackjack strategy converts the game into a never-ending challenge that has nothing to do with entertainment. So, if you play blackjack to relax and have fun, you should better play it low stakes and forget about profiting from it. If your goal is to win money, you can convert blackjack strategy into some kind of exotic profession and forget about relaxing and having fun.

Counting Cards in Blackjack:

We have all heard about players that became rich using blackjack card counting technique, and some of us probably consider blackjack card counting some kind of mystical art. The truth is that the technique itself is quite simple. The most difficult part of it is the performance. The advantage blackjack card counting gives to a player is so insignificant that a small mistake can ruin hours of play. And besides, most casinos have strict anti-counter policy, and blackjack card counting must be done under total conspiracy.

As was said before, blackjack card counting alone may decrease the house advantage, but does not eliminate it and certainly does not profit the player. Blackjack card counting must be used together with basic blackjack strategy in order to provide any advantage. Blackjack basic strategy is not easy, indeed. There is not global scheme, but tables that specify the actions a player must take depending on his cards and the card of the dealer. Besides, a perfect basic blackjack strategy is unique for each set of rules, so, if a player wants to apply basic blackjack strategy at different casinos, he must learn an awful lot of information.

Even if the player succeeds to master basic blackjack strategy and learns to perform card counting technique, he still gets a miserable advantage, and to get some significant profit, such player must invest a lot of money into the game. Investing such money into stock market or a private business, most probably would result more profitable, but it is up to the taste of the person.