Blackjack Tournament Format
Current Online Blackjack Tournaments
Here we teach you how to master Blackjack Tournaments. Learn the best strategy for blackjack tournament games & how to get the best value during events. In most cases, a blackjack tournament consists of three rounds of play. The first round may have several flights, meaning additional “first” rounds, and re-buys may be allowed. Traditionally the player with the most chips at each table when the first round ends will move on to the second or semi-final round.
Online casino tournaments data supplied by CasinoListings.com.
About Blackjack Tournaments
In the last decade, poker has gone through a tremendous boom thanks to the rising popularity of poker tournaments. In fact, for many people, high stakes tournaments might be the first thing they think of when they think of poker. On the other hand, blackjack is mostly known as a table game played in the casino, not a competitive endeavor where you compete against fellow players.
But blackjack has a tournament scene too, and it’s one that’s just as exciting and competitive as the world of tournament poker. In a blackjack tournament, the goal isn’t just to beat the dealer – though you probably will have to do that more than a few times to win. Instead, you’re competing against the other players at your table to see who can amass the most chips in a certain number of hands.
Typically, a blackjack tournament will consist of elimination rounds (though single table blackjack tournaments do exist), in which the top one or two finishers out of a table of about five to six players will advance to the next round. At the beginning of each round, each player starts with the same number of chips. Typically, a round will last somewhere between 20-30 hands, after which the players are ranked by the number of chips they hold.
Immediately when sitting down and playing in a blackjack tournament, you’ll notice that some things are different from your typical blackjack game. For instance, the dealer doesn’t always start dealing from the “first base” position (the player to the dealer’s left). Instead, the first position changes from hand to hand, with a button moving around the table, much like the dealer button in poker. This helps keep the competition on a more equal footing; players who act last are at a significant advantage, since they can see how much their opponents have bet, and see how their hands are doing before they need to make any decisions of their own. This is an especially critical advantage on the final hand.
Blackjack Tournament Strategy
Not surprisingly, blackjack tournaments require very different strategies than when you’re just playing blackjack against the casino. Since your goal is to accumulate more chips than your opponents, it is sometimes wise to do things which you would never do when simply playing blackjack at a regular table.
One of the key strategic concepts in blackjack tournaments is that players will tend to have very similar results in terms of winning or losing hands. While it is far from a guarantee, hands where a few of the players win against the dealer and a few lose are less common than hands where the whole table beats a busted dealer, or the dealer defeats all (or nearly all) of the players. This means that when you gain chips, you can expect the other players to be generally gaining chips as well; and when the dealer is running over you, chances are that the other players at your table won’t be faring much better.
This concept led to the discovery that one very effective strategy in blackjack tournaments was simply to do the opposite of what the rest of the table was doing. For instance, if the rest of the table is making small, conservative wagers, this strategy suggests that you should make large wagers instead. This works because, in general, the players making bets of similar sizes will end up with a similar number of chips. Meanwhile, you – as the only player at the table trying something different – will likely find yourself with a very different amount of chips. This might put you in first place, or it might put you in last, depending on how the dealer treats you. But having a 50/50 shot at first at a table of five or six players is a pretty good deal.
These days, blackjack tournament strategy has evolved to the point where these easily exploitable tables are less common, which means more advanced strategy is required. Most good players will generally bet small, but look for some good spots to make larger bets, especially when they can act last and see what their opponents are doing first. When in the lead, players often switch to bets of moderate size (especially when acting early), so that their opponents can’t get the full benefit of playing in an “opposite” manner. As round progresses, it also becomes important to calculate just how much you’ll need to bet to get yourself into a position to advance, without risking so much that you won’t have later opportunities should you lose a given hand.
Blackjack tournament strategy eventually comes down to a balancing act: you must take enough risks to win, but only when the rewards are big enough to justify taking those risks. Advanced blackjack tournament strategy goes even further, taking steps to optimize bet sizing, pointing out when to ignore basic strategy because you need to take bigger risks (or need to play extra conservatively), and much more.
Major Blackjack Tournaments
In recent years, several blackjack events have gained considerable notoriety. Perhaps the most well-known to television audiences was the World Series of Blackjack, a competition televised on the Game Show Network. This mostly closed tournament does allow players to enter through satellites, and the top prize – which started at $100,000 in the show’s first season – rose to $500,000 over subsequent seasons, the last of which was aired in 2007. GSN also briefly aired a series known as the World Blackjack Tour, and UltimateBet ran the Ultimate Blackjack Tour for two seasons.
However, unlike with poker, most major blackjack tournaments are not televised. Still, blackjack tournaments are commonly held in major casinos around the world, often with large prize pools that can range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Blackjack tournaments are also spread regularly at many online casinos, meaning you can play in an exciting tournament from the convenience of your own home!
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While poker tournaments may be all the rage, blackjack players can also enjoy tournament play at many land-based casinos and several blackjack sites as well. Before playing, make sure you know fully how to play blackjack. Using basic strategy is your best option, since most tournaments use a single deck and the dealer shuffles after each hand.
If you are lucky enough to find a tournament where a six or eight-deck shoe is used, take full advantage by counting cards and varying your bets based on the count. Obviously you are playing against the dealer each hand, but you’ll also need to keep in mind that advancing to the final round involves beating the other players by winning more money than each of them.
Blackjack Tournament Structure
In most cases, a blackjack tournament consists of three rounds of play. The first round may have several flights, meaning additional “first” rounds, and re-buys may be allowed. Traditionally the player with the most chips at each table when the first round ends will move on to the second or semi-final round. Sometimes, based on the number of players, two players from each table will move on to the semi-final round. Then, the player with the most chips at each semi-final table (usually seven) will go to the final table.
Make sure you read the tournament rules before playing, because you’ll need to know some very important things like how many players advance from each table, how many hands are played in each round, what the minimum and maximum bets are, and whether each wager needs to be made in a specific order. Many tournaments pay 2 to 1 on blackjack and allow doubling-down on any hand. This may be important in the final hands when your only way to advance is to double down on a hard hand like 16, or split tens to have a chance to win enough to qualify for the next round.
Although there are exceptions, chips used in tournament play usually have no cash value. The only way for you to make money is to get to the final table, and you can’t get there if you bust-out before the last hand. A standard blackjack tournament may consist of twenty hands with a maximum bet of about half the chips players start with, perhaps $500. At the start of play, make sure your bets are no larger than 5 or 10 percent of your starting bankroll, you need to get to the final hand!
Again, you are really playing against the other players, so you’ll need to start adjusting your bets to try and take the lead after about half the hands have been played. The most critical decisions come with five hands to play. At this point, assess your situation compared to the other players again. If you are comfortably ahead, don’t give back your lead by betting too much. If you are very close to the chip leader, bet approximately what they are wagering. If you are considerably behind, make your aggressive betting move. Try to avoid betting more than half of your stack, so you’ll have enough chips to split a pair at the appropriate time. This could be the ideal chance to split a non-traditional hand like two tens.
If you have wagered more than half of your stack, you might want to avoid a standard double-down wager against a dealer up-card of 7 to ace. This is because the dealer probably already has a pat hand and you might want the added option of hitting again if you draw a small card which you would not be able to do if you double down and you aren’t getting the real value of doubling with only a fraction of your original bet (there’s no sense betting $500 and doubling down with another $50 or $100, it is better to gain the advantage of being able to draw a third card instead).
Ideally you will have the chip lead when the final hand arrives. If this is the case, wager just enough to keep you ahead of the competition by a single chip if the other players win their final bet. You can’t do anything if they are lucky enough to draw a winning double down, split, or get a blackjack, so don’t worry about it. If it happens, it happens.
If you aren’t the chip leader (assuming only one player advances) you’ll probably have to bet the maximum and hope for the best. This is when you may need to split those tens, or double down on any hand (yes, even up to a 20) because that is the only way for you to win enough chips to take the lead.
If it appears there is no way for you to catch up, you may want to bet the minimum and hope the dealer beats all the other players on the final hand and you’ll then have the chip lead. It does happen.
Final Table Play
So you made it to the final table! Now what? The payoffs are heavily slanted to first, second, and third place. Usually first pays as much as second and third combined, so winning should be the goal, not just surviving and taking sixth place instead of seventh. Don’t risk your chances by betting too much on the first hand, but don’t be afraid to immediately bet 10 to 15% of your stack and see how it goes. The only exception is if the dealer is very hot and the other players seem to be at risk of busting out quickly, at which point you might want to sit back on some minimum bets and see how they do.
You’ll want to proceed as you did in earlier rounds, waiting until the 15th or even 17th hand to make your move. If you are the chip leader, keep the pressure on your opponents with a sizable bet, but back-off if you are ahead by more than a maximum wager. If you are now slightly behind, you’ll have to gauge what the other players are betting to stay with them. If you are considerably behind, bet one-third of your stack. If you win, keep this up until the final hand or you take the chip lead.
If you are still considerably behind by hand 18, bet half of your stack. On hand 19 you may have to wager your entire stack or the table maximum. The same holds true for the final hand. At this point, having chips available for a double-down or split is irrelevant; you’ve got to win more chips.
Experience will help you make the correct wagers with respect to the other players’ chip stacks at this stage of the tournament. Successful blackjack tournament players learn how to bet just the right amount to advance to the next round or win first place.
Blackjack Tournament Format Free
Betting Examples
Blackjack Tournament Format Rules
On the final hand, suppose there are just three players remaining and you are last to act (on your wager). You (Player “C”) have $1125 in chips. Player “A” has $950 in chips, and player “B” has $400 in chips. At this point player “A” bets $145 in a defensive move to land in at least second place, as player “B” can only double-up to $800 and “A” will have $805 if they lose and $1095 if they win. You should bet only $25, so you will still have $1100 even if you lose.
Blackjack Tournament Online
If player “A” should bet $200 of his $950, he will have $1150 if he wins. You could bet $30 to reach $1155, but now you should also think about player “C” who could catch a blackjack, get paid 2 to 1 on a $400 bet, and reach $1200. Now with that thinking you should bet $80 to make sure you can reach $1205. This type strategy will help you reach more final tables and cash more often.