Blackjack Tournament Strategy

If you bet the max, there is good chance you will not survive and make it to the next round.

People do win these tournaments, every time. Your chances of winning something are directly related to the number of players, your level of skill and your luck in getting the right cards, and of course how you tend to bet. In my earlier tournaments, I tended to bet big and blew myself out within a few hands. Bad strategy

Thanks for all your comments. Well, when you lose 19 out of 20 hands, there's really no chance for tournament strategy to make a difference. It was the worst run of cards I have ever seen in my life! But I'll try again at the end of August!

I'm happy that I could give you some direction.

Sorry to read that you lost 19 out of 20 hands and obviously there is nothing you can do about that, but I'd still urge you to get your hands on Wong's Tournament Strategy book and maybe check out as well (although I haven't heard it yet) the interview that Bob Dancer and Frank Kneeland did recently with Stanford Wong about that Casino Tournament Strategy book.

RecVPPlayer
A Fellow Southern Californian

Lauren,
Could you tell us more about the BJ tournament? the rules, any oddities. Did you agree or disagree with the info you recieved from us. How many chips did the winner have at the end of the tournament,etc


The golden Nugget has a $50,000 craps tournament in Septemeber ($100 buy in), so that will be my next tournament.

Weggie

I'll explain my thinking, and wait for your response.
Basic BJ skill has little place in a tournament, luck comes more into play.
If there are 100 people in it, you have about a 1% chance of winning.
The chances of winning four bets in a row, regardless of what you bet are greater than 1%.
So betting four hands in a row at max should give you a better shot at winning than the 1% you started with.
Does that make sense?

billryan, I agree that luck comes more into play than skill when compared to playing in a normal BJ game. Also a large factor is the limited number of rounds.

I don't agree with your comment that you have about a 1% chance of winning. You are in essence saying that everyone has an equal chance. I'll tell you why from my very limited experience:

1. At BJ tournaments, you also get a relatively high number of non BJ players. They are invited to the tournament because of their "table games" play and not specifically because they're BJ players. Not having a basic grasp of BJ can be detrimental. Example: I sat next to a guy the other day who when it was his turn to play doubled down and then tried to wave the dealer off by saying he didn't want another card. He didn't realize you couldn't double down without taking another card. I'm not trying to put him down but rather illustrate that some skill will carry you further than no skill. BTW, he only started playing BJ the previous evening and simply didn't know the rules.

2. IMO, betting strategy which plays heavily on math goes further than luck. Don't get me wrong, you still need to get cards but you can win every hand and still lose the tournament.

If my table was any indication, out of four players, two didn't have a clue. I knew they'd bust out before the end. Since the two highest chip totals advance, I believed that I just had to play conservatively and let them flame out and I'd advance by default. As predicted, we never got to the final round.

So, while finishing in the money has a larger element of luck than skill, I would nonetheless believe that a quarter to a third of all entrants in a mid level tournament are clueless enough that they don't have a chance.

Just my opinion....

Dan

Well, I do believe luck has a lot to do with doing well in BJ tournys.

Yes, it helps to know the best way to play the particular hand you are holding.

My last BJ tourny was at one of LVH's $100,000 with a $50,000 first place scenario.

I did not do well.

Too many people making crazy bets on splits and so on. They would get their desired card
and win the damn round. LOL

I saw people getting an ace and 5 and not taking a hit. LOL

A couple years ago I played in one that only the top 10 players out of probably 200 playing in that round advanced.

So you had to have a big score otherwise...

Some people ended a round with 7 or 8 thousand and while they won the table missed the top ten by a mile. LOL

Lauren, my advice is to have fun and bet
small in the beginning while watching other
people's chips.

When the last 5 hands or so appear, push up your bets to the max and hope for good results.

There are other strategies but these things
get complicated.

Keep your play like this and I think you will
have a shot at doing well.

Good luck!!!

This is often very true.

Remember, for the current table you are playing against the dealer and the other players. If have seen tables where people have blowout results. Dealer continues to bust over and over and the players keep winning. Players that double or tripled their starting chips still lost.

On other tables, you could end up with a few hundred bucks out of $5,000 starting money and win. Dealer just kept busting others out, along with players betting too high to stay alive.

Weggie,

There were probably about 75 people in the tournament (more were invited but some that had rsvp'd didn't show). We were supposed to be 5 to a table but we only ended up with 4. I was thrilled! You had to win your table to advance to the 2nd round so now I only had to beat 3 people instead of 4. As far as rules, BJ paid 2 to 1 and you could bet any amount at anytime. You could split anything.

The advice from you all did help - I just need better cards next time!

Hey Lauren,

I almost completely forgot to say that there is an entire Message Board on this website that is geared toward Blackjack Tournaments. It is called "House Of Pane." And so maybe it might help if you were to get in touch with Joep its moderator.

RecVPPlayer