Why is it that I have never heard anyone put a quantifiable definition to the term "long run"? How many people will ever play long enough to get to this far away land? Everybody claims they have a system that works. We know that if you play millions of hands using these systems you will lose in the end. But let's be realistic. Unless you are playing one hand every five seconds online somewhere for most of your life, how many of us are going to play a million hands of blackjack in our lives?

This is what I have always wanted to see. Personally, I play 2 times a month for an average 5 hours a session. So safely I can assume approximately.....

24 sessions a year X 5 hours per session X 60 hands per hour (I refuse to play solo so I think this is a fair average) = 7200 hands per year.

Take any given betting strategy you please. Show exactly where the system leaves you after every 7200 hands.

Sure the system will fail after a million hands but I won't live long enough to see a million hands so why should I care what the numbers say at a point in time I will never see?

I think this is why there's always something. Realistically any system CAN be a success because realistically a vast majority of us will never even come close to the long run.