BJ Tournament help needed on these rules

Been playing BJ at casinos for years but am new to tournaments. I had read up a little on tournament strategy before entering one at a local Indian casino, but was caught totally off guard by the rules of this tourney. Everything I had read talked about the normal 10 to 30 hands before elimination with the 1st (or sometimes 2nd also) finisher going on to next round or final table. I paid attention to the necessity of reading the rules closely, tracking others money, how much to bet if your ahead, behind, etc and that sometimes there was an additional buy-in for a consolation round. But I was not at all prepared for some rules that I had never read about. First the easy stuff:

$40 buy-in for $5,000 in chips plus $5 extra for an additional $2,000 (took that of course).
$50 Minimum / $2,000 Maximum per hand
Double any two cards
Early surrender
High chip count at each table advances to final table
$500 1st place $200 2nd place

Then the rules that threw me:

- 80 hands (!) before anyone eliminated at your table
- UNLIMITED number of buy-ins during the first 30 hands ($20 for $5,000 $25 for $7,000- must have less than
minimum bet to re-buy)
- Anyone could re-buy after the 30th hand regardless of how much they had in chip count; no re-buys after that

Should I have been betting Max through the 1st 30 rounds and re-buying whenever I ran out of chips?
Do I need to keep track of everyones chips in the first 50 rounds?
Should I double down &/or split on risky hands in the early rounds?
Should I always surrender 15's & 16's against tens/Aces early on?

There were so many hands in the elimination rounds that I really was lost on strategy, so I have not been back again. Any help or tips on these rules and strategy dealing with them would be greatly appreciated.
Note: There were only 4 tables of 6 players (24 total) so I felt my chances were good, but ended up 2nd at my
table.

Holy crap! To quote the WOPR computer in the movie War Games - "the only winning move is not to play." The total payout is $700 and the house is taking in over $1,000 from the original entry fees - and that doesn't include rebuy income. Unless this tournament includes an earned seat in a future BJT, it's a horrible play. Just Say No!

Sorry, they actually guaranteed all the entry money, plus, to be paid back in prize money. I don't remember the other place payouts.

How do you know if all the rebuy money is put into the prize pool? There have been a few tournament directors here in Las Vegas that were fired because some of the rebuy money went into their pockets and not into the prize pool. These were all poker tournament directors but who is to say that this could not be done in this type of tournament where players are rebuying right at the table.

In almost 100% of normal blackjack tournaments, the rebuys are taken after you have been eliminated from your table. This is done at a location where the casino accepts credit cards/cash/chips and gives you a receipt for the money you just used to reenter the tournament.

If you are secure in this, rebuy process that you should play in it if 100% of the collected monies are returned to the player. 100% return tournaments are a good thing but in the long run, they are cancelled because their purpose was to draw players into the casino. Secondary play or lack of it will kill all 100% payback tournaments. I believe that a fee must be kept by the casino to cover their cost of running these tournaments. Then and only then will you see blackjack tournaments start to appear on the horizon.

If you need an example just look at the amount of poker tournaments that are around in just about every casino. They collect a fee and everyone is happy the players play, the casino has bodies on the casino floor that are paying to play. Then and only then we will have open tournaments to all who want to play.

Until that happens, expect to have to have a $300 avg bet for 4 hours a day to get an invite to a blackjack tournament.

Right now life as a blackjack tournament player SUCKS.

The House of Pane

Now to dealing with some of the rules that you asked about


80 hands (!) before anyone eliminated at your table

80 hands is a lot of hands to play in a tournament. Most players who do not know how to play tournaments will be at a disadvantage but in this format, the player with deep pockets can overcome his lack of skill with multiple rebuys. I would suggest you place small bets and watch what goes on as far as the other player’s bankrolls until about hands 25 to 29. I would allot myself a fixed amount that I would be willing to spend in this tournament. Once I reached that number, I would not rebuy anymore. This prize pool could become large considering the unlimited rebuys so cashing in this tournament can be a good strong return. I would make a rebuy at hand 30 if it gets you the lead or close to it based upon other players chip stacks. if you are far behind i would pull up my stakes and return next week.


Should I have been betting Max through the 1st 30 rounds and re-buying whenever I ran out of chips?

No

Do I need to keep track of everyone’s chips in the first 50 rounds?

The bankrolls at hand 30 are what you need to be aware of

The first 30 hands will be what you need to watch

Should I double down &/or split on risky hands in the early rounds?

No you should preserve your chips until you need to make a big move or use the rebuy option


Should I always surrender 15's & 16's against tens/Aces early on?

If you are counting then you should always use the surrender option when the count calls for a surrender.In a tournament where you should be trying to protect your chips and its early in the round where outcome of hands are not as crucial as the last few hands I would use the surrender option in a aggressive manner

The House of Pane

Quite often in tournaments, especially in poker, the "extra $5" for extra chips doesn't go to the prize pool. It usually goes to the tournament staff and dealers as "tips". If the players can band together and get most to not do the extra $5, it helps everyone.

Here's my take on the rebuys. If you start the tournament with a 100% or more payback of the entry fees, you are making a good decision to pay and start the tournament. If, at the time you bust out, everybody at the table is near, at, or below the starting chip amount, it is still a good decision to rebuy, because your expected payback will still be near 100% or more. However, at the time you bust out, if a player or two has double, triple, or more than the starting stack, it is a bad decision to rebuy, because your odds of overtaking them all and winning the table are quite a bit less than average, making your expected return on the rebuy less than 100%.

The casino is loving the rebuys, because they also are trying to take an "extra $5" on each of the rebuys.

There is a growing practice of allowing BJT entrants to buy extra chips with such add-ons, the money goes directly into the BJT dealer's tip pool. Many players don't realize that it's customary for cashing players to tip and many who do know this have no idea how much they should fork out. I would ask if that's where the extra $5 goes.