Agreed on learning blackjack. I went to Las Vegas about a month ago and spent the four-hour plane ride trying to memorize some of the pattern in a blackjack strategy chart. I didn't memorize all of the actions for every possible hand combination, but I learned enough to be dangerous (read: enough not to make dumb/obvious mistakes). I ended up quadrupling my money (only a few hundred dollars) and have been playing really well on a blackjack app on my phone.

Practice makes perfect is really the maxim here.