Once you find a not too crowded blackjack table with playable rules and decent penetration, you need to be able to sit down and play without being subjected to anti-card-counting measures. The casinos know that fundamentally, blackjack can be beaten. They also know that not one gambler in a hundred, perhaps a thousand can play well enough to get the job done. But if they think you might be that one player, you will draw heat!

The floor people will begin to observe your play very closely. The cut card will probably be placed further from the bottom of the shoe, or deck. Some pit persons may actually count right along with you and have the dealer shuffle up when the deck goes positive, even if the cut card hasn't come out yet! They can tape you from the surveillance room and re-evaluate your play later. You might have your picture taken from several angles and never be aware of it. The pit boss may drastically reduce the maximum betting limit at your table. And when you move to another table, the limit may be reduced there too, and brought back to normal at the table you just vacated.In the state of Nevada, they can flat out tell you to leave!

Turning the tables on the house's edge is what all playing and betting strategies are about. Ensuring that you. the player. make that extra dough for e~-em hundred Nicks wagered, instead of giving it to the house is what is 4zcl'. Can it be done You bet! ICs done by thousands of folks every day of the year. Can you make a living doing it? Absolutely. But would you want to? Probably not because it's a tough way to make a liv¬ing, although the working hours are great! Let's say you need to make $400 a clay to live.

You'd have to bet at least S25 to S50 per hand and get ten to twenty chips ahead in any given day. So you think, gee, that doesn't sound too tough; I could do that pretty easily. Wrong! Did T forget to mention that sometimes you'll need to bet possibly 5250 to go with some of the strategies we've discussed in earlier chapters, especially CLB strategy Model-1 in Figure 9-2? It puts a lump in your throat, doesn't it? Exposing your bankroll to the house is always very dangerous. The element of risk is astounding!

Making a living playing 21 has other shortcomings, too. The tension of having to make a profit daily is a tremendous drain on your brain_. Trust me, I've been there. So is having to put up with folks who get mad because they lost everything, or with drunks from time to time, or strangers wanting to bor¬row money. (Can you believe that? Strangers, no less. The nerve of those folks!) Then there are the dealers who are less than cordial, pit bosses who love to see you suffer or distract you (never me, that's for sure; I never give them the pleas¬ure), and people who get so excited they spill their drinks all over you or the layout on the table. These are just to name a few. But I digress-I was telling you about the house's edge.