Winning at Blackjack is done in two separate stages; the first of which is to learn the basic strategies of the game, which will lower the house advantage over you to less than 1%; the second step, the step that can give you the edge over the casino, is to learn to count cards and implement the strategic changes for the different counts you will be faced with.

When it comes to the basic strategies of blackjack you need to understand when to hit, stand, double-down, split cards, and surrender, but you also need to understand why you are doing these things in order to take your game to the next level and become a proficient card-counter –which involves not only keeping an accurate count, but also sizing your bets according to your count and even altering your basic strategy when the counts are really high and really low.

Just memorizing what to do in different situations is great for the casual blackjack player, but when a player is actually trying to beat the casino they will need to understand the logic behind these decisions in order to adjust on the fly and make logical decisions –not simply play by rote memorization.

Another aspect of playing winning blackjack is to stay focused and alert. As a card counter you need to keep an accurate count, stay focused to what is going on around you, and at the same time to not telegraph the fact that you are counting cards; although legal, casinos frown on card-counting and are within their rights to ask you to leave or even ban you.

In order to stay focused and alert you should make sure you are not tired, drunk, high, etc. You should also make sure you are acting like any other gambler in the casino –so continue to chat up your table mates, order a few drinks here and there, and make sure you are not simply staring at every card dealt and mouthing your current count!

Like anything else, winning at blackjack requires a lot of hard work –working on keeping an accurate count, memorizing and understanding different plays that need to be made, etc—so if you’re looking for quick, easy money card-counting and blackjack is not for you. That said; if you’re willing to put in the time and effort you could make a solid living as a blackjack player.