by Mark Pilarski

• Keep your emotions under control.
  
• Always remember you can win. You didn't bring $100 to a casino to play with and lose. If you are losing at a particular table, set a three-losses-and-you-move routine.
• Focus on the dealer and his up card, not your neighbor's cards. If other players at the table are upsetting you with their playing strategies, you can move.
• Drinking and gambling do not mix. 
  
• You must have discipline, so set loss limits and win goals.
• Only bet what you can afford to lose. Rent, car payments and other day-to-day expenses have no place in a casino.
• Most players don't even consider the rules before they sit down and play. If you don't know the rules or any of the playing stratagies of blackjack, learn the game on a 25-cent video blackjack machine. A five-dollar blackjack game should not be your classroom.
• When you feel tired, it's time to call it quits, or at least take a break and rest for an hour or two.
• Compared to a single deck, a two-deck game handicaps your play -0.35%, four decks, -0.48%, six decks, -0.54% and eight decks -0.58%. As you can see, it is always to your advantage to play on a game that offers the fewest decks. Also note, the house edge goes up substantially when you go from one deck to two, but the change is less dramatic as you add more decks. How much is this costing you in dollars and cents? If you were to play 100 hands per hour at $5 per hand, each -0.1% would cost you approximately 50¢ per hour. Playing on a game with two decks versus one deck will cost you $1.75 per hour, with each additional deck costing you increasingly more.
• Smart blackjack players always play in a casino that offers the best rules. To avoid hostile playing conditions in blackjack, look for the following combination of rules that are favorable to the player:

1. a single deck game
2. surrender, both early and late
3. double down allowed on any two cards
4. double down allowed after splitting pairs
5. multiple pair splitting allowed, plus resplitting aces
6. dealer stands on a soft 17
7. deep deck penetration