Until now, I had been under the impression that if you played for a significant amount of time using card counting, you would beat the game of blackjack. But I recently read this on this site, in the FAQ's:

4.5 Is casino blackjack a "beatable" game?

(thunk)

Background: Many books have been written that claim that BJ is beatable.

Answer: Simulations performed by rec.gamblers show different amounts of potential player advantage in theory in BJ, depending on strategies, exact rules, and playing conditions. These numbers typically approach 1% (an average penny gain for every dollar bet), though in certain particular, ideal circumstances this can get somewhat higher. There is disagreement on the net about how much advantage this translates into in "real-world" casinos, but it's generally believed that players can play with a small, long-run advantage in BJ. The variance is very high in this game, however, which makes the slight advantage in BJ far from a sure thing.

Which raises the question. In the long term, is blackjack for sure beatable, or no? Is all my effort spent on learning a card-counting system going to pay off?

Thank you.

Ali Baba