if you play blackjack, and want to really make money at it, here are a few things i learned in about 2 weeks of play that really changed my perspective on the game, money management in gambling, and perspective when it comes to having $300 to your name, to winning over $50k in 17 days. recently i was blessed with what is probably the most profound experience i will ever witness as far as financial means are concerned. lets look back 3 weeks ago as primer to this insane true story i lived. i paid $130 recently at ceasars palace in las vegas to play a no limit poker tournament, that i somehow ended up winning, putting $2310 in my pocket (along with a W-2G irs tax form carbon copy) and setting me on the most wildest 17 days i have ever had that ended in me winning $51k and walking away a true winner at the tables. i recently moved to las vegas from anchorage, looking to play in the world series of poker this year, and building up my bankroll. so not long after having this money burning in my pocket, (yes i carried it with me) i decided to hit some blackjack. but since all my money was winnings, i felt like i could walk away with $500 and still be happy about my win. and that is the key to this whole article...i was not afraid...and that allowed me to bet, and bet big. after sitting down at my first table i didnt see a negative day for 17 days. everyday ended with me in the black, be it $100, or $10,000...and yes i made $10,000 in one day. now i have played blackjack for many years, all of that experience has been small beans, i mean maybe $100 is the most i ever played with in total. i knew the game...knew the rules, the odds, the smart plays...and the dreaded "book". oh you dont know what the "book" is? its this phantom publication that dealers, pit bosses, and even players refer to for decisions that greatly influence the size of the bettors chipstack. i hate the book. i want the book burned. i want the author shot. the book is bs, if you want to win anything, if that matters to you at all. now ive never seen this book, but i keep hearing and have heard for years about what you are supposed to do when certain cards are showing. im not going to even compare my play to the book, as it is more likely copyrighted and all i can really do is speculate on what it says, and only give my first hand account of my experiences with these so called rules of the book. what prompted my hatred for the book was the number of times that dealers said i wasnt playing by the rules, or the book...and that got me questioning alot of peoples play, especially since i was doing so well. ok, this is my take on blackjack now, since i feel like i have learned alot more in the last 3 weeks about this game than in the last 10 years i have played it. i think that it is invaluable information that any blackjack player that aspires to make money should heed to. first off, start with a big stack...i mean like $3000. there is no real way around this, since if you want to make money you need to come with a chunk. i figure 40 bets is the minimum amount you want to be able to cover, meaning the swings in the game can take you pretty low, and you dont wanna bust. this number is meant for a $75 bet. now i know it seems high, and it is for alot of people, but once you get around the amount of the bet, its a hell of alot easier to play. when you dont have so much riding on the bet itself, then there is little to worry about. this touches on the mental aspect of the game, but i will touch on that in a minute. ok, so $75 bets will allow you to play at a $50 minimum table, which there arent many of in vegas, but there are some in every casino. you can always ask the pit boss to make it $50, especially since you have $3k in front of you and they want that money bad. so they will acommodate. you may play 5 minutes, or 3 hours...allow for time to wait for that perfect shoe...you dont want to stay too long, never mind the leaving too early. that is another factor here, i left while my run was hot...i never got greedy, i looked at it like $200 in 10 minutes is a great hourly rate! if you win your first hand at $75, then you made off with a nice win, and you can easily walk away a winner, with the intent that you are coming back to do it again. another major ingredient is people at the table. i love to play in first position, with one other person at least in 3rd postition, so i can play 2 hands, and that is also important, because of the fact that not every shoe is a 1 or 2 handed shoe, sometimes you need 5 hands just to break the shoe, meaning to change the cards from the dealers favor to yours. now if it is just you, you will need to play 2 hands probably, but start out small to feel the shoe first. if it is cold then you need to play tight in order to come out on top. also important, i think it is best to play a 6 deck shoe. this is an unpopular idea, but i think that it makes for more opportunity for the dealer to bust. now common sense dictactes that i would have just as much opportunity to bust, but i have an advantage...i dont have to hit...the dealer does, well until he busts or qualifies. so where the book would say i should hit, like when the dealer has a 10 showing and i have 15, i wont hit, based on the fact that he might have a low card underneath, and that there are a hell of alot of 10s in the show since there are 6 decks in it. but coupled with that is the option to play another hand at the same time. here is an example of what i mean... dealer = under card is a 8, next 2 cards are anything over a 7. odds are they are. showing 10 hand 1 = stand 15 hand 2 = stand 19 conclusion, i ended up pushing, because i lost one hand but won another. the idea is to get the dealer off good hands and get him to show low cards, enabling me to play with less stress, less forced strategy. so switching from 1 to 2 to 3 hands to offset good hands for the dealer is encouraged, even though this is mainly a gut feeling based strategy. i think that you will find you are more psychic than you are willing to allow yourself to believe. i have stayed on 12 many times when the dealer is showing a 10 and ended up winning, although this is solely based on instict, and a 6th sense if you will. i let my $51k speak for itself. anyway, the main idea is that the dealer will bust when you have 2 hands out there, and the odds that you will push or win are better than the dealer winning in one swoop. ive found that i will push more than win or lose with this system, but i also have learned that i cant just play 2, i need to go back to 1, or 3 hands. the cards are constantly changing, as is the small decisions you make in play. a decision to hit when you have soft 17 is a huge one. there is not just one hand you are taking a card for. you are effecting every hand after that. so dont take that so call by the book "free card", cause that card may be the difference between being up $300 or down $1k. you do not want an idiot for a partner at the table. this meaning that you want someone who recognizes your play, and goes with the flow. you dont want someone who gets pissed that you didnt hit when the book says to. you want someone who asks you what they should do...not a novice, but someone who respects the amount you are at the table with. i have sat at a number of tables with over $10k and the other guy will have like $1k, but he will see that i have a $500 investment on the table and will morph his play to compliment my risk. almost like he is playing my hand as well. you will find more of these kind of people at higher stakes tables. look i base my whole play around this simple kernel of knowledge i gained...you can have the best run of your life with blackjack at $5 a pop and walk away with $200, but you can have the same run at $100 a pop and walk away with $4k. now looks more appealing? to get to that frame of mind, you need to not look at a chip like its a tangible thing. in other words, dont look at a $100 chip and say, "this is half my car payment", or "this is a week of groceries". instead you need to be able to detatch from the perspective of 'money equals'...this is the mark of a professional gambler. once you live your life from the perspective that money is the least important thing, and that life and love and freedom and safety and family are the most, then being a consumer, a money haver if you will, falls short of things to be in this life. sorry, but gambling has all the trademarks of a life in zen...had to bring more reality into the bubble of this article. just being able to train your mind into being calm and cool when large amounts of money are on the line is the key to winning big. dont sweat the things that dont matter so much, and always have a backup plan for when things get tight.