Black Jack, or twenty-one, as it is often called, at first seems deceptively simple. After all, you just have to draw cards until you are as close as possible to twenty-one without going over that number. However, if you try to play without any clear tactics to win, you will quickly find yourself consistently losing to the dealer. Just like in any other casino game, the odds initially favor the house. In the case of Black Jack, this is because in a few cases where the dealer and player do equally well, the dealer still wins.

The difference between those other games and Black Jack, is that by taking the time to develop a solid approach, you can reduce the house's advantage and even tilt the odds in your favor. Casinos are just betting that you won't bother to do this. Prove them wrong and you can win - and consistently and reliably make money through gambling!

This is possible because the dealer has only two options at any point: he or she can hit (take a card), or he or she can stand (stop taking cards and finish the turn). In contrast, the player has the option of doubling down (doubling the bet and agreeing to take one more card, after which he or she must stand), splitting (playing two hands at once while doubling the bet), and, at some casinos, surrendering (where the player forfeits half the bet and ends the turn). Knowing when and how to use each of these methods in a Black Jack game significantly increases the chance that you will win.

Once those techniques are mastered, the one additional factor that tilts the odds decisively in the player's favor is learning how to do some basic card counting. This means that the player must pay attention to what cards have been dealt up until this point, and by inductive reasoning determines what cards he and the dealer are likely to be dealt. Obviously, this means that the smart Black Jack player's odds improve as the dealer gets nearer and nearer to the end of the deck. Since more cards have already been dealt out, there are fewer possible cards left to be given, and therefore, the player has a better chance of correctly guessing the value of the next card he or she will be dealt, so long as he or she has been paying proper attention.

Learning proper Black Jack strategy is fun, it is not difficult, and it can make an enormous difference in your life. Imagine being able to reliably win money playing a game; this is what strategic Black Jack players are able to do. By taking the time developing and refining your game and learning strategy in order to maximize your odds of winning, you can easily learn to play Black Jack like the pros and become a winner. When you learn to make the rules of the game work to your advantage, the sky is the limit.