Tournament Format
Blackjack tournaments are great! They have the added excitement of players competing against each other instead of only against the house. However, Blackjack tournaments are not found as readily as, say, slot tournaments. This is mainly due to the problem of space in organizing these types of tournaments.
Casinos have thousands of slot machines and it is not a problem to shut down a couple of rows or banks in order to hold a tournament. Since casinos have a smaller number of blackjack tables, it makes it difficult to close off tables for tournaments. This is why you may find many small blackjack tournaments during the week. However, some casinos offer larger invitational tournaments that span several days.
Daily and weekly tournaments are held during the week in order to attract players into the casino. Daily tournaments usually carry a modest entry fee. In some cases you may come across a free blackjack tournament although these are not as common as the free slot tournaments.
Invitational tournaments are sometimes held as a reward or comp for loyal players. These are not normally open to the general public. Some of these may last two or three days and will include free lodging.
Before you enter a tournament, consider these subjects.
What are the prizes?
If you have to pay to enter, you will want to know what the prizes are. In other words, how much money will be returned to the players. The best tournaments to enter are those that give back all the entry fees in the form of prizes. Ideally, the greater part of the entry fees should be returned to the players.
Casinos hold tournaments to attract players. The casino will make money from additional play made by the entrants. If the tournament is free, the prize money should be enough to justify your time to play. Casinos should list the prizes and make information about guarantees and prize money available before your enter. Take a look at the prize structure of a tournament and determine how much is being returned to the players before you enter. If the tournament is free you will be able to assess if it is worth your time to participate.
What are the rules?
Not all tournaments are run the same way and you should make sure you know all the rules before you start. Ask these questions: Are there minimum and maximum bets? How many rounds will be played? How long will a round last?
Tournaments planned to last a few days usually have a Welcome Party where all the rules are given to the players. Check ahead of time to ascertain what the rules and prizes are before you travel to play in a tournament. If the promoters are hesitant about giving you all the rules up front, you may decide to pass on a tournament.
How much time is involved?
Make sure you know how much time the tournament will take. In some tournaments you will have to play a qualifying round and play the final rounds later in the day. This is done to ensure that you will stick around and play while you are waiting for the next round of the tournament.
What is the cost?
Will you be playing with your own money or will you be given tournament chips? Some blackjack tournaments require the player to use their own money. Some tournaments use chips and give each player a certain amount of starting chips. These tournaments have a fixed cost.
Must I register to play?
Some tournaments will require that you sign up a day in advance but most of the smaller ones will only open registration a few hours before the tournament starts. The first thing you will have to do is visit the registration table. Here you will pay an entry fee and receive your table assignment and starting time. You should have already read and understood the rules but this is a good time to take another look at them. If you have any questions about the rules, you should ask them now and not wait until after the tournament has started.
Tournament strategy
Be seated at your table about 15 minutes before you are scheduled to start play. You may be disqualified if you show up late. This will also give you a few minutes to gather your thoughts and prepare for the action.
Your goal in a blackjack tournament is to do whatever it takes to qualify for the next round. Some tournament players adopt the simple strategy of betting big in hopes of increasing their bankroll quickly or busting out of the tournament while trying. This may sound good if it works but you don’t really want to bust out of a tournament on your first hand. It is much better to bet the minimum for the first few hands and let the other players try for the quick score. Making minimum bets to begin with will also allow you to keep sufficient chips and be able to adjust your playing strategy as the round progresses.
Luck
Blackjack, as you already know, has a low house edge in the long run. However, you need to continually remember that you are not playing against the house - you are playing against the other players in the tournament. You are also playing a very limited number of hands. Anything can and will happen in the short run. This is the luck factor which is present in every tournament. Situations will arise where you will have to play differently than you would normally encounter in a live game and you can only hope that you get lucky. This does not mean that the tournament will be won completely on luck, but a little luck will be of great help!
Blackjack Tournaments
There are two main types of Blackjack tournaments:
In the first one you are competing against the players at your table.
In the second type you are competing against all the players at all the other tables.
The first format, where you compete against the players at your table is the most popular, especially where there are a limited number of blackjack tables available for a tournament and there also have to be multiple qualifying rounds.
My Tournament Experience
Specific rules may vary a little, but this is the basic format for a typical tournament:
There are 72 entrants for the tournament. The casino sets up six tables for the event. There are six players assigned to each table. The first set of thirty six players sit down at 9am and the second set is scheduled for an hour later.
Players receive $1,000 in tournament chips for their fifty dollar entry fee. The minimum bet for each hand is $100 and the maximum bet is $5,000. Players are told that they must keep their chips in stacks of the same denomination and visible for all the other players at the table to see. This is done so that every player can determine how many chips his opponents have.
The tournament round consists of thirty hands of blackjack and at the end of that time the two players with the most chips on each table advance to the semi-final round. In a standard game, the dealer will deal the first card to the player at first base but in a tournament it rotates at every hand since all betting is done in order. Before the start of the tournament one card is dealt to each player and the player with the high card is designated as first base. The deal then moves to the left with the player in the first spot making the first bet and each player placing their bets one after one another. This gives a slight advantage to the person betting last by allowing him to adjust his bets strategically.
My Strategy
I recently played in such a tournament. It was in the second round and I took my seat at the table. The dealer dealt for the high card and I was third to act during the first hand. The player to my immediate left had probably read about the 'win or bust' strategy because he bet all his chips on the first hand. He lost and we were down to 5 players.
I use a strategy I call a “Quarter Strategy” to try and increase my chips without risking everything on one bet. I wait until it is my turn to bet last and if no other player has made a very large bet, I bet one quarter of my chips. If I have $800 in my chip balance, I will bet $200. If I win that bet I will parlay my winnings and try to win two bets in a row. This means that if I bet $200 and win $200 my next bet will be $400. If I win the second bet I have now doubled my starting bankroll and am usually in a good position. If I were to lose the original bet I still have enough chips to try this play again.
On this particular day, I was lucky. I won the first bet, so I had $400 to bet on the next hand and $600 left in my stack. I was dealt an 8 and 3 for a double down situation. I put up another $400 which would leave me with $200 if I lost. I drew a ten for 21 and collected $800, giving me a total of $1,800 and enough to qualify for the semi-final round.
An Odd Loss
During the semi-final round I had $900 and was in second chip position. The player to my right was closest to me with $500. He had to act before me and he bet $250 leaving him with $250. If he won, he would only have $750 so I bet the minimum $100 which would still give me the lead with $800 if I lost.
I smiled as he was dealt a ten and a 3 for 13. I had seventeen and the dealer was showing a six up. I was sure I had made it to the finals. But then this player pushed his remaining chips in and told the dealer he wanted to double down on his 13. He drew a 7 for twenty. The dealer turned over a 2 for eight and then drew a 10 for 18.
I lost, leaving me with $800 and the guy who doubled his 13 had $1,000 and a spot at the final table. I don’t know why he didn't just bet all his chips ahead of me but apparently he realized his mistake and then got lucky with his double down.
As I said previously, a lot of the game is sheer luck. But whether you win or lose, tournaments are great fun. Try one, sometime! |