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Not everyone can make a living by playing blackjack, but it is possible to do it and I am living proof of that. Namely, I have been playing blackjack for more than 13 years now and that is my main source of income. I manage to do this by following a set of rules and principles and constantly learning how to improve my knowledge and skills.

As you may already know, you need both luck and skill to win at blackjack. That is exactly what makes it possible to win consistently and make a living.

I started my website because I believe that anyone who puts enough effort into bettering their skills can start to make a living by playing this casino game.

Below, I will teach you everything you need to know to get started. I’ve outlined the basics for you, so all you need to do is learn them well and try them out in a reliable casino.

How to Start This Journey on Your Own

You might think that making a living by playing blackjack is impossible. I can confirm that it is not easy (at least in the beginning), but it’s far from impossible.

I’ll prove to you that winning consistently at blackjack is not rocket science, and I’ll show you exactly how I did it and how I’m still doing it.

Step 1: Sign up with One of the Casino Rooms Listed Below

The first thing you need to do to start making consistent wins when playing blackjack is to sign up with a reliable online casino. Remember that where you play makes all the difference when it comes to the outcomes of your games.

Contents

• How to Start This Journey on Your Own
  • Step 3: Playing Blackjack for a Living
  • Step 4: Playing Blackjack for a Living II

Since the options out there are maddening and very confusing, I’ve decided to help you out. Below, you will find a list of the best casino rooms for playing blackjack, in my opinion.

Before employing any of my strategies and tips listed below, you should make sure to create an account in one or more of these casinos. They have the best blackjack games and the best playing conditions, which will make your entire journey a lot easier.

Step 2: Playing Blackjack in Land-Based Casinos

Apart from the online casinos I have listed and recommended above, you can also play blackjack in land-based casinos. However, you should think twice before doing that as there are both pros and cons of it.

If you play in a land-based casino, you will get a much better experience because you will feel the atmosphere of a casino first-hand. However, unless you live in Las Vegas or some other gambling hotspot, you might be better off with online casinos.

One of the rules of playing blackjack for a living is to frequently change the casino where you’re playing. When it comes to land-based venues, that is often difficult to do, but it’s a lot easier if you play online. Getting spotted at a land-based casino is much more likely to happen than online since they have cameras above each table, tracking every move you make.

Step 3: Playing Blackjack for a Living

To start winning at blackjack and keep winning, there are some things you should do every single time and others you should avoid.

Let’s start with the do’s!

The Do’s

1. Get a Good Feel for the Rules

   This is the very first thing you need to do before you start playing blackjack. If you’re not certain that you know and understand all the rules of blackjack, you’re not ready to start making a living by playing it.

   The most important thing about blackjack that most people get wrong is the goal of the game. If you think that the goal is to get to 21, you’re wrong. The goal of the game is to beat the dealer. You can do that by having a better hand than them and not busting first.

   Now that you understand what the objective of the game is, you’re ready to start learning how to achieve it.

2. Learn the Basic Strategy

   Learning the basic strategy is a must for anyone who plans to play blackjack professionally or aims to sustain themselves by playing this game. It will provide you with a strong foundation you can continue to expand for as long as you live and play blackjack.

   The basic blackjack strategy is mainly a chart that outlines all the possible hands in the game. It will tell you exactly what and when to do when you are faced with a particular situation.

   This chart teaches you when to hit, stand, double, split, or surrender, based on the cards you and the dealer have. Sometimes, all you need to be good at blackjack is common sense. For example, you won’t hit when you have 19 or 20 in your hand. In other cases, several moves might look good to you. This is when you should use the chart to determine what the best move is.

3. Learn How to Count Cards

   Counting cards is the best way to decrease the house edge and increase your chances of winning against the dealer. We’ll talk about it in greater detail later on in this article, but for now, what you need to know is that counting cards is a way of predicting the probability of drawing a particular card the next time you hit.

   If you know how to count cards, you will be able to raise your bets when you think there’s a good chance the next card will be good for you and lower your bets when it appears to be the other way around. In the long run, you can earn thousands of dollars this way, if you play your cards right.

4. Master Bankroll Management

   If you plan to make a living by playing blackjack, you first need to make sure that you do not end up bankrupt. Making a living from blackjack does not mean winning every single time. You will have good and bad days. The point is to make sure that you have a lot more good than bad days on average.

   Bankroll management refers to the technique used to control and oversee the amount of money you spend on casino games. Make sure to never spend more than you can afford to. If you reach the daily limit you have determined, stand up and walk away.

5. Find a Good Game

   The next step to becoming a professional blackjack player and making a living by doing that is pretty basic. You need to make sure that you are playing the right game. You might have heard of the 3:2 Blackjack and 6:5 Blackjack. This refers to the payout you can expect when you win a round with a 21.

   When you play a 3:2 game, if you bet two dollars, you will win three back when you win with a blackjack. However, in a 6:5 game, you will win six dollars every time you bet five, which ends up being a lot less. Therefore, the house edge in 6:5 Blackjack is much higher than in the 3:2 variant.

6. Play in Multiple Locations

   The business model of the casinos you play in includes you losing. Therefore, if you play in only one casino and you end up winning frequently, you will draw a lot of attention to yourself. As you may know, both online and land-based casinos have the right to refuse to provide their services to anyone, without any further explanation.

   You can avoid this by frequently switching casinos and having several places where you will be a regular. This might be a lot easier to do online than in land-based casinos. However, if you live in a city such as Las Vegas or Atlantic City, you should definitely take advantage of your location from time to time.

7. Negotiate Discounts and Cash Backs

   Both online and land-based casinos love regulars. Therefore, you can easily make this work in your favor by negotiating discounts and cash backs. More often than not, they will be happy to provide you with an offer — all you need to do is ask.

   Moreover, you can take advantage of regular bonuses and promotions. Unfortunately, blackjack-specific promotions are not very common. However, you can make good use of regular ones as well and win some bonus cash to get started.

The Don’ts

Now that we have determined what you should focus on doing every time, it’s time to learn about some things you should avoid doing whenever possible.

Here are some of the “don’ts” that I have learned to stay away from, which has helped me to turn blackjack from a hobby into a reliable source of income.

1. Do Not Drink Alcohol When Playing

   Having a beer or two, or a glass of wine is a great way to relax and wind down at the end of a tough day. However, alcohol is not your friend when you’re playing blackjack., especially if you’re trying to make a living by playing. You would not drink alcohol at your regular job, wouldn’t you? That’s what I thought.

   Therefore, make sure to stay sober and clear-headed whenever you’re sitting at a blackjack table, regardless of whether you’re playing in a land-based casino or online. Even just one beer could change your perception and make you risk more or lose focus during the game.

   When we drink alcohol, we tend to make decisions using our emotions rather than our rationality. As I have already mentioned, blackjack is a game of skill, so you need to make sure that you can stay on top of your game at all times.

2. Do Not Play Side Bets

   Side bets are additional bets you can find in many casinos and blackjack games. They may look very tempting, but you should remember that they are not your friends. Even though they may sometimes help you lose less, that’s not what you should be focusing on.

   The principle behind side bets is such that they are based on luck more than on skill. Because of that, their outcome is difficult to predict. Some of the most common side bets in blackjack are 21+3, Royal Match, Over/Under 13, Super Sevens, and so on.

   Instead of focusing on lowering your losses, you should be focused on increasing your winnings. A lost bet is still a lost bet. Side bets are fun to play, there’s no doubt about that. However, their RTP is much lower compared to the main bets. Therefore, if you’re playing to make a living, you should stay away from them.

3. Stay Away from Insurance

   Insurance is a special bet that lets you protect yourself from the situation in which the dealer wins with a 21. However, that’s only true in theory. In reality, you’re much better off losing your whole hand than losing just half of it. The reason I say this is because the risk is much better than the reward.

   To make an insurance bet, you need to bet more money on top of the main bet you have already placed on the table. In case the dealer does not have a blackjack, you risk losing more than you would if you didn’t pay the insurance.

   Therefore, even though the insurance bet looks tempting and seems like a good idea, it is a terrible move to make if you want to increase your chances of having a positive balance.

4. Play on Tables Where You Can Double Any Time

   Doubling down on your bet is a great way to increase your RTP in the long run, if you do it right. However, some casinos will limit your options when it comes to doubling down and only let you do this if you have a 9, 10, or face card.

   As you can guess, this rule was made because it favors the house. Therefore, you should avoid such casinos whenever possible. Depending on the dealer’s upcard, there are many situations in which you would benefit greatly from doubling down on cards lower than a 9. So you want to avoid any restrictions whenever you can.

Step 4: Playing Blackjack for a Living II

Like any other career, playing blackjack for a living has its ups and downs. Many of the positives of being a Professional Blackjack Player are obvious, like getting paid in cash and enjoying free comps. There are also negatives such as not having company-paid healthcare coverage.

Speaking from experience, I’ve put together a list of the top 5 positive and negative aspects of playing blackjack for a living. My hope is to help people decide if this lifestyle seems right for them before they go out and experience everything first hand.

I’ll go with the assumption that you enjoy playing cards and are interested in card counting, because I would never recommend anyone pursue a career that they won’t enjoy.

Positives

1. Paid in Cash

   The benefit of being handed cash on the same day you earn it is fairly self-explanatory. I don’t know anyone that would rather be written a check than given cash.

2. No Boss

   Doing what you want, when you want, how you want, is a luxury very few people have. Being your own boss and having no one to answer to can be very satisfying and work well for a motivated person. If you’re an extremely lazy person and need someone to babysit you and tell you what to do, then playing blackjack as a job and card counting in general may not be for you. This is an entrepreneurial type of business that provides great financial reward for hard work.

3. Flexibility in Schedule

   Having the ability to work when you want and start or stop on a moments notice is an immeasurable benefit of playing blackjack for a living. You can never be late for work or take too long of a lunch. For the night owls, you’ve got the luxury of playing blackjack any time of day or night any day of the week. Sometimes I like to play as much as possible for a straight week and then take the entire next week off. The point is, as a professional blackjack player, how you manage your time is completely up to you!

4. Environment

   This might not be a positive for everyone, but it certainly is for me. I would much rather spend a Tuesday afternoon at a Las Vegas resort than in a cubicle at an office. When blackjack is your job, you get to enjoy casual conversation at the tables in a vacation setting rather than sitting in a meeting room at work talking about increasing production. What’s more appealing, having a diet coke in a break room at the office or drinking a cold beer out at a pool?

5. Free Comps

   For me this is a huge perk of the job. I’m not the type of guy that goes out and spends $300 on dinner at an overpriced steakhouse. However, when those lobster tails are free, they seem to taste so much better. Playing blackjack for a living allows me to eat at some of the priciest restaurants in the world and stay in some of the most beautiful resorts ever built. While most people save up all year for a summer vacation, my family is able to go to just about any casino resort for free on a moments notice.

Negatives

1. Healthcare

   For those of you that depend on company paid healthcare, you’re simply not going to get that covered playing blackjack as a job. You will be left to buy your own healthcare out of pocket just like any other self-employed person.

2. Retirement

   Along with no company healthcare, you also will not be getting an employer matched 401K. My suggestion is to set up a Roth IRA and make the maximum contribution every year. Your Roth IRA capital gains will be tax-free and can be cashed out upon retirement age. Although you may never want to retire from playing professional blackjack, you will hit what is considered the “retirement age” for a Roth IRA at 59 1/2. Roth IRAs are one of the best things going in the investment world, so take full advantage. Distributions really are 100% tax free!

3. Travel

   This can be a good thing or a bad thing. I have a wife and kids, so I don’t like to travel away from them too much. We’ve chosen to live in a nice area with great weather rather than live where there are a lot of great casinos. This means I have to travel out to where I play. Sometimes that’s a lot of fun, but sometimes it’s just a hassle. You really have to give strong consideration to how you’re going to get to the casinos you plan to regularly play at.

4. No Exact Paycheck

   Playing blackjack for a living doesn’t earn you a bi-weekly paycheck of a set amount. In card counting the money tends to come in waves that simply cannot be planned. Some days a Pro Blackjack Player might make more than he made the entire previous week. Then the next day he might make nothing. If you’ve ever worked a commission job, then you know how this is. If you’re accustomed to a predictable paycheck that you get every two weeks, then this lifestyle takes a little getting used to. Just don’t go spending all your money when you have your first big winning day.

5. Smokers

   This is my own issue and I don’t expect everyone to agree. After all, some professional players are smokers themselves. I personally can’t stand having to sit at blackjack tables with people blowing smoke in my face. Unfortunately casinos are packed with smokers. These days more and more casinos are adding non-smoking tables and are improving their ventilation systems, so this is a continually improving negative aspect of the game. One of my top personal rules is to never sit directly next to someone that’s smoking. If they light one up, I’m getting up and switching tables.

So there you have it, my own personal list of 5 positives to playing blackjack for a living and 5 negatives to consider as well. Only you can decide if this type of work is a good fit for you and your personality. I realize many of you just want to beat the game for when you’re on vacation or to supplement your income on weekends. For you, the issues listed above probably aren’t too significant.

Top Blackjack Playing Tips

Now that we have determined what some things you should and should not do at a blackjack table are, it’s time to learn some handy tips that will improve your win/loss ratio. I have tested these rules multiple times and proved that they work.

# Check the Dealer’s Upcard

This is one of the things a lot of people completely disregard. I don’t blame them because most “expert blackjack guides” out there completely disregard it as well. Remember that the goal of this game is not to get a 21 hand. The goal is to beat the dealer. Therefore, it is very important to consider the dealer’s hand before you decide on your next move.

Unfortunately, only one of the two dealer’s cards is visible. But even that one card can tell you a lot and save you from losing money unnecessarily.

# Start with Small Bets

When you first sit at a table, you should start by betting small. You should use the first several hands to get a good feel of the game, the table, the dealer, and the players next to you (if there are any).

Only when you’re certain that the pace of the table suits you and the atmosphere is right, should you proceed and start raising your bets whenever you feel the situation is right.

# Do Not Listen to Other Players at Your Table

There are many different types of players at a blackjack table. While it’s a great idea to socialize and make friends, both online and in land-based casinos, you should not take advice from other players.

There will always be a player or two who will try to tell you about a secret strategy they developed that changed their life. But what other players at the table do is none of your business. If they become too annoying, you can just walk away and switch tables.

Best Blackjack Winning Strategy

Blackjack is a very old game and a lot of people have tried their luck on it. However, a small percentage of people has realized that you can win much more frequently if you do not only rely on luck.

That’s where blackjack strategies come into play. These are elaborate and reliable methods you can use to play blackjack for a living. Here are my favourite ones that I use most often.

# Card Counting

I have already mentioned card counting above, but now it’s time to elaborate on it a bit more. There are several ways to count cards in blackjack, but the High/Low method is the simplest and the most popular one.

To begin, you should appoint a value to each type of card in the deck. Cards 2-6 have a value of +1, whereas cards 10-A have a value of -1. Cards 7-9 are valued 0, so they do not matter.

One card counting session lasts from the moment the dealer shuffles the deck until they shuffle it again. You need to add/subtract the value of each card that enters the table. Every time the total value is more than 0, you should increase your bets in the next round because the number of high cards in the deck is greater.

Every time the total value is lower than 0, you should lower your bets because the total number of low cards in the deck is higher, which favours the dealer more.

For those looking to get to a professional card counting level and have blackjack as their sole source of income, these are some things you really must consider before quitting your day job. Of course these issues only matter once you gain the necessary knowledge, skill and discipline to be a profitable blackjack player in the first place.

# Double Down on a Hard 11

There are several ways to get a hard 11. No matter which way you get it, you should always double down when that happens. That’s because you will always win more money by doubling down with a hard 11 instead of hitting, no matter what the dealer’s upcard is.

However, as always, there is one exception to this rule. If you are playing a game in which the dealer is required to stand on a soft 17, and the dealer’s upcard is an Ace, you should hit instead of doubling down. In all other cases, you should do the opposite.

# Split a Pair of 8s and Aces

When dealt a pair of 8’s, most players will hit if the dealer’s upcard is a 9, 10, or Ace. Their reason for not splitting is because they believe they will lose even more money that way since the dealer has a strong hand already.

However, people do not understand that their chances of winning in this situation are higher if they split the 8’s and play to separate hands, instead of hitting a hard 16, as there is a high chance they will bust.

When it comes to aces, it is always better to split them and play two powerful hands than hit and play them as a two.

Conclusion

There it is, my simple and applicable guide on how to play blackjack for a living. By using these rules, tips, and strategies, I earn $25,000 every month and do something I love — play blackjack. You can do it as well if you put enough time and effort into reading these pieces of advice, learning them, and perfecting them in real life.

Stay tuned as I will keep sharing more awesome advice on how to beat the house, have fun, and make a living for yourself. Start with these basics and work your way up.

by Steve Bourie Learn more about the author read more »

Anyone who’s played video poker for any length of time has probably heard stories of professional players who can consistently beat the casinos. But, is it really true? Are there actually players out there who can do that? Well, yes there are and I was fortunate enough to track down one professional video poker player who agreed to an interview to give me some insight into his lifestyle and how it came about.

My inital meeting with Johnny Chung (not his real name) was at a restaurant in a 'locals' casino in Las Vegas in November 1998. I ran some general video poker questions past him and it was quickly obvious that he was an extremely knowledgeable player. He lives not far from Las Vegas with his wife and two daughters and relies solely on his gambling winnings to make his living.

Keep in mind that I didn’t ask to see his bank accounts to verify his income but I did check with other knowledgeable players and I am very confident that his story is true. Two months after our first meeting I conducted the following interview by telephone from my home in Florida.

How did you originally get involved in gambling?

Chung: The first time I came to Las Vegas was to play blackjack during the early ‘70s. I would come on the weekends and I was strictly a card counter back then.

Were you successful at it?

Chung: Not as much as I could have been, if I had really concentrated on it.

So, you were just doing this for fun and trying to make a little extra money?

Chung: Yes, and I only played single deck. I didn’t try to count multiple decks. Then, when the video poker machines started coming out in the early ‘80s, I thought it was a lot easier to make money off those than it was from the blackjack games. I started studying them and I began playing them on weekends too.

Did you stop playing blackjack then?

Chung: Pretty much so. It was too hard and the main hassle was that they always shuffled up on you or they kicked you out. I didn’t like that.

Did you ever try to disguise yourself at the blackjack tables?

Chung: No. It seemed to be too much trouble for me and the return didn’t seem to be enough.

When those first machines came out, was it generally known that there were some machines that you could make money from?

Chung: Not really. You kind of had to hand-calculate the returns and I just made estimates. That was really before they had computers and the software that could analyze the games.

What kind of machines were you playing back then?

Chung: Jacks or better progressives.

8/5 (8 coins for a full house/5 coins for a flush) progressives?

Chung: 8/5 and 9/6 progressives.

Were you just playing if the jackpot was above a certain amount that made it a positive expectation machine?

Chung: Yes.

So, you discovered that if you only played progressive machines when the jackpot was above a certain amount, you had a theoretical advantage?

Chung: Yes. Actually, it was Stanford Wong who first started publishing books about the progressives and what levels the jackpots had to be at in order to win.

That was Professional Video Poker? His book that’s still out now?

Chung: Yes, I think it’s been revised since then, but originally he was the first one who published anything about it. Then in the late ‘80s some other books started coming out along with computer software that really let you analyze every game, so you could see exactly what the payback was and also what the strategy was for every game.

But you still weren’t trying to make a living fromvideo poker at this point?

Chung: No, up until 1994, I was just playing on weekends and I would drive there from my home in California.

What happened in 1994?

Chung: Basically, the aerospace industry fell apart and my company laid off everybody.

Then you had the option of going out and finding another job?

Chung: Well, I saw it coming and I knew I was just going to play video poker full time as soon as I was laid off.

When the big change came, what happened? Did you pack up and move to Las Vegas?

Chung: Yes. The whole family: my wife and two daughters. When I first moved here I lived right next to the Santa Fe Hotel in North Las Vegas. We only moved out here to our new home about a year ago.

Were you successful right away?

Chung: Yes, the first year I made about $80,000 and the next two years about the same. Last year was the best: about $135,000.

What’s the worst year you ever had?

Chung: Well, full time $80,000.

Did you ever have a year when you lost money?

Chung: No, never even had a month.

Is this a full-time a job for you? How much time do you put in?

Chung: 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

So it’s like a regular job?

Chung: Well, I can vary that however I want, depending on the conditions. If I find an especially good machine I will play more.

Do you work on the weekends?

Chung: If there’s a special promotion that gets me an added return, I might.

How do you find out about these special promotions?

Chung: Newspaper ads, or friends of mine. We have a message beeper network where we leave messages for each other about what the best plays are and everything.

So there are other people who do this besides yourself?

Chung: Yes, I would say, in Nevada, maybe 25 people do this full-time for a living and maybe another couple hundred part-time.

Are there professional video poker players in other states?

Chung: Well, I haven’t seen anyone outside Nevada I would consider a full time professional.

Besides Las Vegas are there other places to play professionally? How about Reno?

Chung: If there are professionals who live there, I don’t know who they are. I’ve been up there and I don’t think there are enough machines there to sustain them full time.

So, as far as you know, the only people doing this are the ones around Las Vegas?

Chung: Yes, but there are also some who do it by traveling to a few other good spots around the country.

What is a typical day like for you? Where do you go to play?

Chung: Right now I have three places that I go to where the best machines are. I really don’t want to say what they are, but it’s the same game in three different places and I just split up the action among the three places.

These are machines that return more than 100%?

Chung: Yes, 103.2%, plus cash back too.

That’s it? Those are the only machines you play?

Chung: Right. Generally, what I do now is play until I get a royal flush in one place then I go to one of the other two places because I don’t want to get too many royals at the same place.

You don’t spend all your time going to those three places every single day, do you?

Chung: Well, right now, yes. That’s the way conditions are now, but it’s not always that way.

But, if there’s a special promotion somewhere, would you go there instead?

Chung: Yes.

And you find out about those specials by either reading the newspaper or from your friends?

Chung: Yes, and sometimes the casino will also send you monthly newsletters that tell you about these specials.

When do you decide that it’s best to leave Las Vegas and go around the country to try other places?

Chung: Mainly when there is nothing in Nevada that’s over about 102%. That’s what I try to play as a minimum return - 102%. That will give me about $35 to $40 an hour.

On quarters or dollars?

Chung: On quarters.

Do you ever play $1 or $5 machines?

Chung: Not really, because fluctuations are a lot higher on those machines, plus you won’t find nearly as many games offering the higher payback percentages.

So you would prefer to play quarter machines?

Chung: Yes. Unless you find an exceptional play on a dollar machine, which is very unlikely. About the only thing I’ve played on dollars is Williams Blackjack.

If you found a quarter machine with a 102% payback, and you also found that same machine at the dollar level, would youstill prefer to play the quarter machine?

Chung: It depends what the game was and what kind of fluctuations you could expect in that game, but generally speaking that’s probably true. But, you also have the additional problem with the dollar machines that you get tax forms on the royal flushes and you have to report that to the IRS.

One thing I’ve always heard about professional video poker players is that they would rather play a $5 machine, than a quarter machine, assuming they had the same paytable, because the profit per hour is much higher.

Chung: Yes. Except, it’s something you get frequent tax forms on and you have to wait about a half-hour hour for each one. Plus, you need a lot larger bankroll to play the higher machine.

Have your ever played $5 machines?

Chung: No, I’ve never played a $5 machine. You hardly ever find one that’s above 100% to begin with, and if it is, it usually doesn’t last for very long.

The machines you’re playing now are 103%, but if they take those machines out and the video poker inventory become bad, you would then decide to go somewhere else in the country?

Chung: Yes, I would.

But do you know ahead of time when you are going to these places that there is good video poker there?

Chung: Yes, I pretty much know ahead of time before I go.

And how do you find that out?

Chung: I know a couple of people back there that keep me posted on what’s happening. Right now Bettendorf, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri are the only places that have enough to make it worth traveling to. One has blackjack machines and the other has video poker. You could probably make about $40 to $50 an hour, but you could do the same thing here, so there’s no reason to travel right now.

How often do you leave Las Vegas to travel around the country?

Chung: Well, last year I did it a lot because there was very little in Las Vegas, but now there’s quite a bit, so I probably won’t be going anywhere for a while.

Is there a certain kind of machine that opened up in Las Vegas that made it better?

Chung: Well, yes. There are certain types of games now.

You don’t want to mention the game?

Chung: There are two games actually. I can mention one because everybody knows about it. It isn’t the one I’m playing, but it’s the one I would play if something happens to the other one. It’s the quadruple deal Odyssey machine.

There are three or four places here that have them with full-pay jokers. It’s a 101% game and 101% on that is the same as playing about 103% on a regular machine because you can get three times as many hands.

You don’t like full-pay deuces on those machines?

Chung: Well the joker’s a higher pay back. It’s 101% and the deuces is 100.7%.

How much time did you spend outside of Las Vegas last year?

Chung: Last year was virtually 11 months out of 12.

It was that bad?

Chung: Yes.

What do you play when you go to these other places?

Chung: In Kansas City I played All American video poker. That was a 103% game. Then in Illinois and Iowa I played $1 Williams blackjack.

Are those machines still around?

Chung: There are a few of the Williams blackjack games still around, but on the All American video poker they changed the payoffs, so they’re only 100.7% now instead of 103%.

What was the big advantage on those Williams blackjack machines? They allowed early surrender?

Chung: Yes, it was a single-deck game with early surrender and doubling only allowed on 10 or 11. That makes it a 100.35% game (against perfect basic strategy), plus the cash back.

Could you double after a split?

Chung: No. In fact, you couldn’t re-split. Dealer stood on soft 17. And if you got six cards it was an automatic winner. The early surrender was the big difference. You could surrender on your first two cards against a 10 or an ace. So, even if the dealer had a blackjack, you still got half your bet back.

That’s the game they used to have in Atlantic City when they first opened the casinos?

Chung: Yes. It’s about a break even game at six decks. With single deck it’s about a .35% edge for the player, plus many of those casinos had a lot of cash back along with it too.

So you did well on those machines?

Chung: Yes, I made about $50,000 on those by themselves.

Don’t the casinos find out that these machines are beatable?

Chung: Well, eventually, just by the amount of money they lose. I guess if the company that makes the game tells them the payback is less than 100% they believe them for a long time, even if they’re losing money on them. Finally, they have to come to the conclusion, after they lose a couple of hundred thousand dollars, that the company was wrong.

Don’t you think that most people don’t pay properly and they can’t achieve those paybacks and the casinos probably still make money on those machines?

Chung: With the quarter machines you might be right and that’s why a lot of the quarter ones are still there. But the dollar ones attract the pro’s.

When you go out to play do you think you’re going to win money every day? You must have bad days.

Chung: Last year there were 262 winning days and 58 losing days.

So you keep a log every day?

Chung: Yes.

What’s the worst losing streak you have ever had?

Chung: About $3,500.

That’s in quarters?

Chung: That’s in dollars too. But, remember it’s only blackjack I play in dollars and there are a lot less fluctuations in blackjack because you don’t have to wait for any rare hands to win.

How long did it take you to lose $3,500?

Chung: Oh, probably 3, 4 or 5 days. If you lose that much it’s usually over a period of time. Any longer than that and it’s going to come back up.

That doesn’t seem like that much money to lose in 4 or 5 days.

Chung: Well, all I can say is that I‘m a lot more conservative when I play than most of the pros and by playing video blackjack I’ve had a lot fewer bad days than I would have with video poker alone.

Do you put a limit on your losses? Say if you lose $1,000 you stop for the day?

Chung: No, I just play for as many hours as I want to play.

So, when you start your eight hour day, if it’s 9 o’clock in the morning, you decide you’re going to play video poker and you’re not going to stop until 5 o’clock no matter what happens?

Chung: Yes. There’s no sense in stopping. I try to play my game so the expected win is about $300 a day. Total money times percentage makes about $300.

But you don’t stop when you hit the $300? You keep playing?

Chung: Yes, for 8 hours or so. I try and look for a game that would have an expected return of at least $300 for eight hours of play.

So, if it’s a 103% game and you’re putting . . .

Chung: Eight hours and 1,000 hands would be 8,000 hands x $1.25 a hand. So, it’s $10,000 x 3% which is $300.

So, if you started playing at 9 a.m. and at 10:30 you hit a royal you wouldn’t stop? You just say it’s part of your overall win and keep going?

Chung: Yes, and I’ve hit seven in one day.

Seven in one day? That’s pretty good!

Chung: Yes, that was unusual. I’ve had quite a few where I’ve hit three in a day but seven was unusual.

What’s the longest you’ve gone when you haven’t hit a royal?

Chung: Well, not counting all the time I was playing the blackjack machines, probably about two weeks.

How many hands do you play an hour?

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Chung: On one machine about 1,000; two machines about 1,400.

1,000 hands an hour? That’s pretty fast!

Chung: Yes. You have to hit the keys immediately. You can’t have any time to think about what you’re going to do. It has to be automatic.

Does your wife have any problems with your gambling for a living?

Chung: No, actually she plays with me sometimes.

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Does she want to become a professional?

Chung: No, she just plays for fun, but she’s been making money on it too.

How old are your kids?

Chung: One is 20 and the other is 17.

Do either of them have an inclination to gamble?

Chung: I’m sure the older one wants to try it when she’s old enough.

Do you think she might want to become a professional player?

Chung: Of all the pros I know it’s almost exclusively men and I’d say only one or two are women. But, I know she has enough of a mathematical inclination, so she might.

As noted previously, this interview was originally done by telephone in January 1999. I followed up with Chung again in late August and he was back in the Midwest. He said he had left in April to play $1 blackjack machines but he 'found something much better.'

Of course, he wouldn't say exactly what it was, but he did say 'it involved a programming error on certain video poker machines and it was very, very profitable.' Chung was spending all of his time traveling throughout the country searching for these particular machines (he found them at 25 different casinos) and he only returned home for about three days each month.

I lost track of him after that last conversation but I later read some stories about a malfunction with certain video poker machines at casinos in the midwest and, evidently, the casinos had lost millions of dollars to customers who were able to 'milk' these particular machines. Was he one of those people? I don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet on it!