But to win at blackjack, where players have to accumulate cards worth more than the dealer, but less than 21, Pappadopoulos stresses five rules: bankroll, basic strategy, money management, table trends and discipline.

"You have to have a win goal and a loss limit," he said. "Your win goal should be 50 percent of your bankroll, and your bankroll should be forty times the amount of the table's minimum bet. So at a $5 table, your bankroll should be $200, and your win goal should be $100. Once you win, you color in your chips and you're done."

"My betting system is two-one-two-three-four-five," he said. If the minimum bet is $5, you should first bet 10, the next five, the next 10, then 15, 20 and so on. If you lose a hand, you start from the beginning.