Everyone is looking for that perfect plan when gambling, the one where you’ve “figured out” the casino and are primed to clean them out with your unbeatable strategy.

When you wake up from that Black Jack dream, you’re left with a few options. Playing cold, card counting and/or implementing different reasonable strategies that others have had varying success with. Which ones you choose or how often you use them is, of course, going to vary from player to player.

Here, however, are a few you shouldn’t even consider. They’re a waste of time and money.

The first one is when you assume the worst. This means you automatically play as if the dealer’s down card were a 10. I know that’s not the worst case in many scenarios, but generally speaking, a dealer with a hidden 10 isn’t going to do you any favors. There are higher than 50% chance it’ll give him a strong hand. Experts have done studies on this, and it kills your advantage. The house edge on this is just over 10 percent.

A second garbage strategy is follow the dealer. Basically acting like a mimic for the dealer rules. Trouble is, you’re not the dealer, and the house edge balloons to around 5.5 percent for this. Playing like the dealer means, in most scenarios, you’re hitting 16 and standing on 17, including a soft 17. You never split or double down (since the dealer can’t). I can’t imagine why someone would think this would yield positive results in the first place, but consider yourself warned.

And finally, the “no chance of a bust” play. Talk about playing safe, this is the king of wuss moves. This means you’ll never hit a hand of 12 or greater, since that invites the potential for a bust. Otherwise, you play the chart religiously, follow basic blackjack strategy. While not as damaging as follow the dealer or assume the worst, this one doesn’t do you any favors, either. House edge is just under 4 percent.

To put those numbers in perspective. If you follow basic strategy (the chart) and don’t count, you put the house odds are somewhere slightly under 2 percent. So if you know that, why try a counterproductive strategy that’s going to take more money out of your pocket? If you’re that bored, learn to count.