Bob --- while casinos have, for the most part, made blackjack unbeatable (via multiple decks and shallow deals), thorough statistical analysis proves that it is possible, over the long run and at least in a single deck game, to gain a slight advantage over the house by counting (that is, by knowing what cards are going -- or at least likely -- to be dealt, for that is what counting is) and varying bets accordingly.

It is certainly true that very few players have the patience and ability to concentrate which is necessary to play and count properly; and fewer still have the time to do so for the extended periods of time over which it would be necessary to play to make the small advantage profitable.

BTW, it isn't necessary to attend a blackjack school or even study a blackjack book to figure this out, but it does help to be very good at math <g>. It is also not necessary, as some of the book writers claim to have done, to have had a computer play thousands upon thousands of "simulated" hands to determine the probabilities. It can all be done by application of relatively simple mathematical formulas.

Of course, sitting in a noisy casino trying to watch several hands being dealt and keep track of the cards while trying to remember what to play when defeats most would be card counters before they can even get started. And a single misplay can wipe out an hour's worth of concentration and counting.

It is easy to debunk counting because 99% or more of the so-called counters can't do it right. But, just as there is a mathematical possibility that it can be done, you can be sure that there is a mathematical percentage of players out there who are in fact doing it (I don't know any, but that doesn't prove to me that they don't exist). They're probably not getting rich, either, but they're doing at least as well, vis-a-vis the casinos, as the rubes playing roulette/craps/keno, etc. ----- jim o\-S