5. Enjoy playing longer on the same budget. When you play perfect basic strategy, it might not always feel like you’re doing the right thing, but in the long run, your buy-in will last much longer. We have all seen crazy players come to the table, play wildly, and lose all of their chips in less than 5 minutes. The closer you get to perfect basic strategy, the less likely you will be the victim of such an event.

4. Laugh when people think you are the crazy one. When you double down with a Soft 18 against a dealer showing a 6, some people at the table might glare at you for “breaking” your made hand. But knowing blackjack basic strategy, you can rest assured that you are giving yourself the best chance to win by increasing your wager and taking another card.

3. Help your friends out at the tables. The next time you are in Vegas or Macau with your buddies, you can give them a few tips at the blackjack tables that could save them quite a bit. They will appreciate it, and your group of friends will probably have a better time because there will likely be fewer big losers in your group when you’re finished.

2. It’s the first step to becoming a card counter. You have to master perfect basic strategy before even thinking about counting cards. You could know the exact composition of the remainder of the shoe, but that information would be useless if you can’t get basic strategy 100% correct. Once you can play basic strategy in your sleep, though, you can start working on the fundamentals of card counting.

1. Save money. It’s all about the bottom line in the end. Basic strategy will not make money for you in the long-run. But it will definitely improve your chances of winning during a particular session, and it will definitely help reduce the size of your losses. Keep playing basic strategy and you could save yourself some big money over time.