I was re-reading an old Tommy Hyland interview the other day, and at at the end he mentioned:

>>> Learning to keep track of the cards only takes 15 to 20 hours.
>>> You just get a deck of cards, you flip them and you practice.
>>> Even if you don't learn anything else, that's enough to give you
>>> a slight edge over the house.
>>> If you just keep the running count and play basic strategy you
>>> can get an advantage. It's not a daunting mission to learn it;
>>> it's not that difficult.

...and this got me thinking about what would really be the *absolute* bare-minimum that some totally-novice casino patron could learn to DO, so that they'd actually have a slight long-term EDGE against the house?

Back-counting blackjack and only wong-in on +2 or better, even with simple flat betting but sticking to strict Basic Strategy (maybe incorporate a couple indexes in a "modified BS" chart). Maybe use KO or other unbalanced count so there's no deck estimation or TC conversion (very little math, no division in your head, etc)...?

Or maybe ONLY play coupons, match-plays, etc...?

Maybe just scout games and play ONLY "scavenger blackjack"... taking a part of good double-down-for-less opportunities from some people?

Stuff like that?

What would REALLY be the absolute LEAST that someone could do, to have an advantage (thus, technically, turning them into an actual "advantage player" by definition...?)

-DBJT