Blackjack is the only casino game in which it's possible to achieve an advantage over the house. The only way to do this, though, is to count cards - that is, keep track of how many high cards and low cards remain in the deck. Former professional blackjack player Ken Uston wrote a book detailing his million dollar card-counting system and now there's a computer program that in essence goes along with the book. The documentation is so good, however, that you don't need the book to understand Uston's system completely.

In actual casino play, different locales use different rules and different numbers of decks in the never-ending effort to foil the counters. All this is reproduced in the Screenplay program. You are given the option to play at Las Vegas or Atlantic City. You are even given the choice of hotel you want to play at - the Las Vegas Hilton's game is different from the one at the Sands, for example. The computer will also keep track of the count if you want it to, just so you can check your own accuracy. The program also supplies a drill - if you want to be an accomplished counter, you have to be able to count down a deck in about 25 seconds.

Best of all, this is painless gambling, but if you enjoy the real thing, Ken Uston's Professional Blackjack is a great way to hone your skills before hitting the casinos.