[AaronBrown]

It is virtually impossible to be $80,000 ahead after two years of playing blackjack with a -0.5% expectation and a maximum bet of $500. Your chance of being $80,000 ahead is at a maximum around 20,000 hands played, a month or two of hands depending on how diligent a professional you are. Even then, the odds are something like 1 in 6 million.

Therefore, either your friend had an edge or some bad accounting.

I've met some very good card counters, and not one actually made money over the long term at the blackjack itself. Between deceptive measures to avoid detection, being cheated or not paid, mistakes and other problems, it's very rare to make money for more than a month or two. Now casinos track your actual winnings, so it's virtually impossible to fool them for long.

On the other hand, any moderately disciplined person can learn to play break-even blackjack, and that requires no deception. I know several people who made nice livings for many years playing break-even blackjack and cheating on the comps. For example, you book rooms in five Vegas casinos (all comped) and get two first-class roundtrip airline tickets from each; which you cash in and fly coach by yourself. You circulate among the casinos playing some high stakes break even blackjack.

This never appealed to me, it's petty embezzlement, not gambling or play of any kind. It's only an appealing life to the extent you enjoy being wined and dined at casinos, that pales pretty fast. It makes you fat and stupid, and sooner or later you do get caught.

The other people who made real livings at blackjack did it by writing books and teaching. They were good counters and had no trouble winning over a few sessions most of the time. But there's a world of difference between demonstrating your skill over an evening to get paying customers, and taking steady money out of casinos.