this guys explains is really well for the laymans on basic strategy for playing BJ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hOmLL8jZVU

playing like this this gives the house odds of only half a percent or less.
is this a viable way to make money? or is it still a gamble

whereas with poker if you are a good player, i assume you will be a winning player. is it the same with BJ or is BJ more based on luck?

You might want to look a little more into what basic strategy is, and what exactly EV means.

Longterm, without some sort of advantage play, even the most well-versed basic strategy player cannot win at blackjack.

You've answered your own question and don't realize it. You need to understand what a house edge of 1/2 percent means. It means that over time, on average the house is going to win 0.5% of your total wagers. So if you flat bet $10 one thousand times ($10k total wagers), the house is expected come out ahead by $50, on average, if you play perfectly.

There is no way to overcome this using basic strategy, other than just by being unusually lucky.

The good news is that in that time frame, you COULD end up ahead by a lot just based on the variance of the short term. You could also lose a lot more than 50 bucks. But if it's fun for you, then go for it!

The other thing to think about is to play those 1,000 hands will take about 15ish hours, so it's only costing you a few bucks an hour. This is a pretty reasonable price for entertainment. if you get even one free drink per hour, you have now made up for those few bucks. And if you choose to get rated for your play, anything you might get for free or diso****ed now, rooms, meals, free bets, invites to tournaments, etc. are all gravy, and technically, you will be getting more in value than what you are giving up on the blackjack table. So technically, you will be a winner.

Just be sure that you can handle the variance, both bankroll-wise and emotionally. The odds are that you will be either way up or way down than exactly down $50.

Now, if you want to gain an actual monetary edge in just the game itself, you'll have to take it to the next level and learn how to count cards, or learn some other method, like shuffle tracking or key card catching. Good luck!

The basic blackjack strategy yields approximately a 0.5% edge for the house. So, no, it is not a viable way for a player to make money.

Aside from the -0.5% EV playing basic strategy, there's the additional advantage the house has from variance: while they can withstand any downswing, you'll be broke, and therefore unable to catch an upswing to recover your losses, if you lose your buy-in. If you're playing basic strategy for under 100 minbets, like most casual gamblers, you have a fairly high Risk of Ruin (that you can look up).

All those bricks and all that mortar was paid for with that seemingly slight advantage.

using poker terms, that means its -ev. an analogy would be drawing to a hand without the proper pot odds.

Aside from being negative ev, half a percent doesn't seem like much, but it adds up over 100, 1000, 10000, etc hands (which actually still probably isn't much considering the variance involved).

I believe craps, ultimate texas holdem, and video poker has even lower (better) house edge than blackjack. The point is they're all losing games when played accordingly to the casino

Probably not, definitely not, and maybe sometimes. Craps is only a close comparison if you're being offered respectable Odds bets, but that's absolutely brutal financially (10X odds turns $5 craps into $55 craps); UTH has a low element of risk, but still has a house edge over 2% per Ante bet; +EV VP machines are becoming a rarity, and even then are a very long grind.

Of course, none of the above applies if we're talking 6:5 games, but those aren't actual blackjack and no one should ever play those stupid tables in the first place.

ah yes, I remember reading on wizardsofodds that the HE for UTH was around 2.2% but the element of risk was about 4 times lower.