CountingEdge is owned, edited and published by Sam. He is the site’s named editor and reviewer. These standards govern blackjack education, mathematical claims, history, legal information, commercial pages, corrections and responsible-gambling guidance.
Editorial position
CountingEdge is evidence-first. We explain probabilities, separate mathematics from opinion, reject guaranteed-win claims and state risk clearly. We do not promise that readers will beat the casino.
How an article is reviewed
- Define the question. Identify the wager, rule, strategy decision, jurisdiction or commercial claim precisely.
- State the assumptions. Blackjack advice should specify the relevant payout, decks, H17/S17, doubling, splitting, surrender and hole-card rules.
- Check the mathematics. Use reproducible probability, expected-value analysis or a source that exposes its method.
- Check changeable facts. Laws, licences, operator terms, support numbers, product rules and tax information are checked against current authoritative sources.
- Separate observation from proof. First-hand casino experience can explain procedure and practical risk; it cannot prove a betting system.
- Explain limitations. State uncertainty, variance, legal scope, exclusions and what was not independently tested.
- Review links and disclosures. Sources, internal links, commercial relationships and responsible-gambling language are checked before publication or material revision.
Source hierarchy
Source quality depends on the claim. CountingEdge generally uses this order:
- Primary public authority: regulators, statutes, court decisions, tax agencies, official game rules and technical standards.
- Original rules or terms: named casino, supplier, loyalty-program or offer documents for current product facts.
- Reproducible mathematics: combinatorial analysis, transparent calculators and calculations whose assumptions can be checked.
- Contemporary records: original books, publications, interviews or archives for history and biography.
- Credible secondary sources: used for context, comparison or leads, not to overrule a more direct source.
- First-hand observation: labeled as experience and limited to what was actually observed.
Operator marketing is not treated as independent proof of safety, legality, payout quality or withdrawal performance. Repetition across unsourced websites is not treated as verification.
Blackjack mathematics and strategy
- Strategy recommendations must match the stated rules.
- House edge is distinguished from hand-win rate, volatility and session outcome.
- Expected-loss examples show the wager, number of decisions and edge assumption.
- Card-counting claims distinguish basic strategy, counting system, true count, indices, bet spread, bankroll and conditions.
- Betting progressions are not described as changing the expectation of independent wagers.
- Short samples, selected wins and testimonials are not sufficient proof of a player edge.
Experience, opinion and uncertainty
Sam has more than 20 years of first-hand casino experience and has played blackjack in more than 65 brick-and-mortar casinos across the United States. That experience informs explanations of table rules, casino procedure, bankroll decisions and gambling risk.
Experience is labeled and bounded. A procedure observed at one casino is not described as universal. An opinion is not presented as a mathematical result. Where evidence conflicts or remains incomplete, the article says so.
Legal, tax and health-related information
CountingEdge provides general educational information, not personal legal, tax, financial or medical advice. Jurisdiction and individual circumstances matter. Legal and tax pages link to current official sources and tell readers when a qualified professional is appropriate. Responsible-gambling pages point readers to established support services and emergency help.
Commercial independence
CountingEdge may receive affiliate compensation from some links. Commercial relationships are disclosed. Payment cannot change probability, erase a restriction, determine legal status, buy a positive rating or remove material criticism.
A commercial page must identify what was verified and when. Research from public documents is not presented as a hands-on deposit or withdrawal test. An operator that cannot be verified for the reader’s jurisdiction is not presented as legal merely because it accepts registrations.
Read the complete affiliate and advertising disclosure.
Corrections policy
Readers can report errors through the contact page. Please include the page URL, the disputed statement and a source or calculation when available.
- Material factual or mathematical error: correct promptly, review the surrounding conclusion and add a visible correction note when the change affects reader understanding or action.
- Outdated changeable fact: update the fact, source and modified date; add a note when the former statement was materially misleading.
- Minor typo, grammar or formatting: correct without a formal note when meaning did not change.
- Unsupported or irreparable page: consolidate, redirect or retire it instead of preserving weak claims for traffic.
Original WordPress publication dates are preserved. The visible last-updated date comes from the real WordPress modified date. A date is not changed only to create an appearance of freshness.
Correction record
| Date | Page | Correction |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | Blackjack Cheat Sheet | Withdrew the old rules-undefined PDF after finding incorrect soft-19 and soft-20 double instructions; published a rules-specific replacement and disclosed the change on the page. |
Authorship and accountability
Articles use the real WordPress author, original publication date and modified date. Sam is the owner, editor and reviewer responsible for the site’s current editorial direction. A reusable author component links to About Sam without repeating a full biography on every page.
Responsible-gambling standard
Educational and commercial content does not describe gambling as a solution to debt, a dependable income source or an investment. Pages about winning, bankroll or advantage play must explain variance and risk. Readers who are losing control are directed to the responsible-gambling and support page.
Policy owner: Sam, owner, editor and publisher. This policy was substantially revised in August 2026.