Earning Capabilities

You should consider professional BlackJack to be like owning your own one-man franchise operation. This operation pays extremely well, requires only a modest investment compared to other franchises, has working conditions second to none and is a lot of fun.

Let's be clear - you will not win every session you play. But then again, you don't need to. Casinos don't win against every player every day, but make their money based upon having a mathematical advantage built into their game. We teach our students to do exactly the same thing. Our students play in such a manner to create an in-built mathematical advantage on the game. Professional players on average win 11 sessions and lose 9 sessions out of every 20. In addition the average win is about 7% larger than the average loss. So while you will not win every time you go to the casino you are about a 55% favourite to win on each visit. It is like turning the tables on the casino. Now you are the casino and the casino is the losing gambler. If you go to the casino 100 times in a year, you can expect to win 55 of those sessions and lose 45 of them, with the total amount won on the winning sessions about 131% of the total amount lost on the losing sessions.

There are four levels of professional BlackJack play and these are known as red, green, blue and black plans. The plan you play depends on the minimum bet at your BlackJack table. The red plan is for a $10 minimum bet, the green is for a $25 minimum bet, the blue is for a $50 minimum bet and the black plan is for a $100 minimum bet table. For each of these plans we have outlined below the expected winnings estimates. These annual winnings are net of your annual losses, so these amounts represent your "profit" for the year.

The expected winnings varies dramatically from casino to casino due to differing playing conditions. On this page we provide an honest, realistic and proven discussion of the earning capabilities at each of the casinos around Australia. Soon we'll be expanding this page to include earning capabilities for other casinos throughout the world. Check out the earnings capabilities at different casinos here:

You might wonder why some casinos are better than others. The reason is that the rules of the game and the local conditions vary from casino to casino, much as they might for playing pool from State to State or golf from course to course. You might wonder why don't all the casinos contrive their conditions to be bad for skilled players. There's a very good reason which financially motivates some casinos to keep their conditions favourable for skilled players, and you can learn more about varying conditions and profitability from casino to casino here.

Winnings estimates are over and above the money you originally started with. Our earning capabilities amounts are mathematically proven for an average year, assuming 1,500 hours are played a year. But it is important to understand you do not need to play this much. In fact most of our students don't. Generally only full-time BlackJack professionals play as much as 1,500 hours per year. Your winnings are directly related to the amount of hours you play. If you play half as many hours, your expected win is half as much. If you can only play a quarter of the hours, you'll expect to win a quarter of the amount. If you can play twice as many hours you'll win twice as much money!

Most graduates will choose to play less hours and/or make concessions to ‘cover’ which reduce the annual winnings, but also reduce the chance of identification by the casino as a skilled BlackJack professional. These cover concessions could range from minor to a substantial amount of the annual winnings. Some very conservative students choose to give even as much as half of their annual winnings back to the casinos to try to appear to be a normal losing player. Generally it is unnecessary to make many, if any, concessions to cover at the lower betting levels (red and green plans) but most of our higher stakes students (blue and especially black plan) choose to intentionally "win a little less" to throw the casino off the scent. Students are normally happy to do this since high stakes is so financially lucrative. They choose to win a little less in order to maximise the chance that they can continue to play for an extended number of years.

It is important to note that whilst the red plan annual winnings are relatively modest, red plan is a useful training level for graduates to start before building their skill levels in order to attack the green, blue and black plans.

Consider these other advantages of professional BlackJack:

• Your winnings are all cash.
• Casino winnings are FREE OF TAX in Australia, even for card counters (AAT precedent set by case 49/96, 96 ATC 478). For example, a green plan win of $59,000 per annum is equivalent to a taxable salary of $90,000.
• Even as a full-time professional you ‘work’ only 1,500 hours per year (30 hours per week).
• You have basically no overheads or expenses (once you start travelling the casinos will pay for your airfares, hotel rooms, limo rides and restaurant meals).
• You ‘work’ when you like.
• There are no bosses, customers, debtors, creditors or inventory to worry about, as there are in most businesses.

Of course when you first walk in to the casino you will need to take some money with you to get the ball rolling, and you are no doubt wondering how much is required. This money is known as a bankroll. We go into bankroll issues in great detail in the course but the following discussion is provided to give you a general idea. To answer the question of bankroll amounts it's best to let you know what kind of wins and losses you can expect on each of the plans. Let's use the red plan as an example (to translate the following discussion into green, blue, and black plans you can roughly multiply the dollar amounts by 2.5, 5 or 10 respectively).

While playing the red plan, most of your sessions results (about 70%) will be under $1,000. Approximately 15% of your sessions will be wins of more than $1,000 and about 15% of your sessions will be losses of more than $1,000 (you are actually slightly more likely to have a win of greater than $1,000 than a loss of over $1,000 but we are keeping to round figures here). It is very unlikely to have a loss of more than $2,000. The chance of a loss of more than $2,000 in a single session is around 2%.

Once you have been playing for an extended period of time and you have clocked up a reasonable number of hours you can be very sure of the total amount you have won on winning sessions being more than the total amount you have lost on losing sessions. Naturally, it is possible to have a number of losing sessions early on in your BlackJack career. In order to be sure that you don't run out of money should this eventuality occur, it is wise to have a substantial bankroll behind you (just as the casino does). Many of our students have started their careers with substantial bankrolls, but have only needed to dip in to that bankroll by a thousand or two dollars before kicking away to hit the front. On the other hand it is important to note that, just like the stock market, a small percentage of our students first "enter the market" and are confronted with a run of losing sessions before things pick up. The more money you have behind you the less likely you are to run out of money before your mathematical edge kicks in. How much initial bankroll you need depends on what percentage of certainty you want of not running out of money. If you have an initial bankroll of $6,000 you are about 85% sure of not running out of money. If you have an initial bankroll of $12,000 you are about 97% sure of not running out of money (which is extremely safe!). Of course mathematically speaking you can never get to 100% sure since it is theoretically possible to lose every single bet you place just as it is theoretically possible to win every single bet you place. However the probabilities of these extremes occuring are so unlikely that bankroll analysts (both on the side of professional BlackJack players and casino executives) agree that they are not worthy of serious consideration.

To start your new career as a professional BlackJack player simply enrol for our course. If you would like more information, read our course information page.

Crown Casino, Melbourne

While Crown casino is not the most profitable casino in Australia in theory, we believe it is the best place for professionals in Australia to play. This is because it's a very large casino which is easy to move around in, it's usually quite busy and the Crown management is very comfortable with large betting.

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Star City, Sydney

Star City used to be a great place to play, but now it is quite poor, one of the worst two casinos in Australia. Conditions here are not good for professional BlackJack players. You can still win some money, but it is a struggle. However, it is a good place to master the art of winning play over a period of several months before then moving to another city or taking trips interstate. Many of our students have started out in Sydney but then have been lured to Melbourne or Adelaide by the big money on offer in those casinos.

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Sky City, Adelaide

Sky City is a great place to play. Adelaide is the second best casino to play in Australia that is large enough to take decent sized bets. We have many successful students who operate in Adelaide.

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Wrest Point, Hobart

The game here is mathematically the same as in the Crown. But Wrest Point's hey-dey is long gone. Being Australia's oldest casino and the casino where Andrew Scott and other skilled players fine-tuned their craft this casino is quite paranoid about skilled players. It's a good place to go for a quick hit-and-run trip. However, as a regular, don't expect to play anything higher than green plan here. Long term blue and black plan play are not sustainable at this casino. You'll win too much money and they will soon ask you to leave. The high stakes skilled Tasmanian player is well served by taking the short trip to Melbourne.

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Launceston Country Club

The game here is mathematically the same as the Crown game. But the comments above in relation to Wrest Point casino in Hobart also apply to Launceston, in fact even more so. This casino is quite paranoid about skilled players. It's a good place to go for a quick hit-and-run trip, perhaps a weekend. However, as a regular, don't expect to play anything higher than green plan here. Even green plan play is seen as big money here. Long term only red plan is sustainable at this casino. Bet any bigger than that and you'll win too much money and they will soon ask you to leave. The high stakes skilled Tasmanian player is well served by taking the short trip to Melbourne.

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Burswood, Perth

Burswood is also a terrible place to play, because they have installed continuous shuffling machines (CSMs) on their main gaming floor. These machines effectively negate the advantage of skilled players, but there are a number of valid reasons why most casinos choose not to use them. Learn more about continuous shuffling machines here. There has been talk of removing the CSMs from the casino, which would make red plan viable again. There are tables in the International Room (Burswood's high stakes room) where you can play green, blue and black plan without the CSMs. All in all, while our Perth students may practice a little at Burswood when they first start, the serious students always end up heading East. The following figures only apply on non-CSM tables.

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Casino Canberra

Canberra is a very good place to play, with a very relaxed atmosphere. It is quiet mid-week but gets quite busy on the weekends. They have a separate high stakes area. The company which owns this casino doesn't seem too concerned about skilled players at all. Red spread is not ideal at Canberra as their lowest limit tables are $15 and the $15 non-CSM tables are not available all the time.

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Sky City Darwin

Another small casino with a mathematically good game. Sky City is excellent for hit-and-run action. However, it is small and long term high stakes play should be reserved for the larger Southern casinos like Crown, Adelaide, Jupiters, Treasury and Canberra. In a small casino like this if you win too much too quickly and they will ask you to leave.

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Lasseters, Alice Springs

Lasseters has the same great conditions as Sky City Darwin- another small casino with a mathematically good game. Again, you can use Lasseters for excellent for hit-and-run play. However, it is small and long term high stakes play should be reserved for the larger casinos like Crown, Adelaide, Jupiters, Treasury and Canberra. In a small casino like this if you win too much too quickly and they will ask you to leave.

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Jupiters, Gold Coast

Another great casino to play in, especially during holiday season when there are lots of tourists around. Jupiter's has a great game mathematically. You see quite a bit of large betting on weekend nights and you can blend in quite well.

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Treasury Casino, Brisbane

Very similar conditions to Jupiters - a great game mathematically. Treasury is able to handle quite large betting.

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Jupiters Townsville

Jupiters Townsville is a blackjack wasteland at present. CSMs are present through the whole casino. These machines effectively negate the advantage of skilled players, but there are a number of valid reasons why most casinos choose not to use them. Learn more about continuous shuffling machines here. However, we have information this could change in the future - keep your eyes on this space for changes.

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The Reef, Cairns

This casino has had a lot of financial problems in the past and does tend to sweat over large betting. The Reef is another one of those places which can't handle sustained high stakes play as you can certainly hurt them.

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