I'm looking to go to my local casino, and play well enough to log in a couple hours here and there and basically break even or book a small long term profit. I'm NOT looking to make real money doing this. Rather, earning points in the rated comps system at my local casino is quite valuable.

The game I'm playing is an 8 deck, hit on soft 17, surrender allowed game (is there more info), $25 min bet in game. Is this beatable (or tie-able?)

A little about me:

Back in 2003, I learned Edward Thrope's ten-count system and took it to Reno and Vegas during my military leave. Back then, we could find double-deck blackjack with good rules. Overall, counting training and time spent in casinos, I booked a $3 to $4 per hour profit over a couple hundred hours. I was backed off in Reno, and then went to another casino where the pit immediately backed me off again. That was such a fun experiance for me. I took down a couple grand in profits (the min bet was $3 to $5 back then), and never came back to it.

These days, I have a full time job, kids, and average about $750/month playing poker (15-20 hours a month)

I'm looking to get into blackjack for a couple reasons.

1.) Its a nice break from poker. Sometimes I need to get up and do something else.

2.) Casino comps are valuable to me. Free rooms, etc make a trip to the casino (45 min away) very enjoyable. I can take the kids to the pool, take a nap to break up a poker session, etc.

TLDR: List of resources? Advice?