Poker....I love the game. Casino poker, let me see if I can put forth an average scenario (or maybe not that average, but we gotta start somewhere).

Have 8 people all buy into a 1-4-8 game at $100 each. Lets say the dealer deals a conservative 25 hands an hour. Say the average rake is $2.50 a hand. Lets imagine that all players go back and forth in winning pots, they're all still in after eight hours. Of the $800 original buy-in by the eight players, $62.50 times eight has found its way into the rake. That's $500 of the original $800 that everyone bought in for, and while no one has actually made a pile of money as a player, the house took more than half of their cash from the table as the rake. ...In this game, if you are gonna play it in a casino, you either have to hit a good streak and walk, or you might have to sit for 2 or 3 hours at a time without making a bet other than the forced bet of you having the button. It's possible to be successful playing this game, but patience as a virtue is more than most players find themselves capable of maintaining. If you're gonna play for long periods of time, patience will keep you playing without having to keep pulling $$$ out of your pocket. It's hard to do sometimes, because the reason you're playing is you want to be in the action EVERY hand. THAT is impossible.

BJ Counters?!? Give me a break.....I'm sure that most people who buy books on counting or attend seminars on the subject (be it solo or team. single deck or muliti-deck shoe delivery) have no idea that most if not all of the people who conduct the seminars or write the books on how to beat the casino ALSO have jobs as casino consultants to inform casino security how to spot THE VERY SAME STRATAGY THAT THEY SOLD YOU!!!! If you want to play both sides of one fence, come up with a team attack on the BJ tables, then sell your knowledge to security.......you get paid by both the suckers who buy into your system and the casinos that want to easily spot it in action. ...don't get me going on this subject unless you happen to believe that the counter teachers should only teach and not advise on how to catch and release their own students.

Correct me if I'm wrong on both games please,
Bob