{"id":123043,"date":"2022-09-12T16:54:39","date_gmt":"2022-09-12T23:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?page_id=123043"},"modified":"2024-01-25T11:55:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T19:55:42","slug":"the-pseudo-tournament-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/the-pseudo-tournament-system\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pseudo-Tournament System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let’s Pretend It’s a Tournament<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

By Arnold Snyder
(From\u00a0Card Player<\/em>, January 1994)
\u00a9 1994 Arnold Snyder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question from a Reader: <\/strong>I have been playing blackjack and craps for about 40 years, and have been competing in blackjack and craps tournaments pretty seriously for about five years. I\u2019ve always been a system player. Believe me, I\u2019ve tried them all (except for card counting, since I do not have a good memory, and my eyesight is also poor). I have to admit I never really made any money at the gaming tables until I got into the tournaments. I\u2019ve been making very good money at tournaments for about two years now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, I\u2019ve been applying my tournament strategies at the tables even when I\u2019m not in a tournament. In other words, I pretend it\u2019s a tournament, and I have to beat the other players at my table using a fixed bankroll, with self-imposed betting limits, over a fixed (short) time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my four decades of system play, I\u2019ve never heard of a system anything like this. Have you? Since I\u2019ve seen this approach win over and over in actual tournament play, I feel that a strategic approach to being the \u201cbest at the table\u201d would work even when I\u2019m not in a tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competing with the other players at my table, instead of trying to beat the house, strikes me as a more realistic approach. I know that I can\u2019t always win, so my goal is to lose the least when everyone else loses, and to win the most when everyone else wins. Regardless of what happens at the table, I want to come out in the best shape. Doesn\u2019t this make sense?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Bishop, as logical as this may sound, I\u2019ve been having some serious problems applying this method, and I have suffered some tremendous losses in my attempts to compensate for the confusing situations that arise. For instance, as you might imagine, the other players at these \u201cpretend\u201d tournaments don\u2019t abide by my imaginary rules. I try to adjust my strategy based on the units that other players win and lose (instead of dollars), but since new players suddenly enter \u201cmid-round\u201d as it were, and other \u201ccompetitors\u201d just as suddenly quit, this is more complicated than it might seem. Other players also make \u201cillegal\u201d bets (such as spreading to multiple blackjack hands), and constantly violate the \u201climits\u201d I\u2019ve imposed on myself, even if I translate their bets to units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems to me that I should be able to win more often in these imaginary tournaments than I do in real tournaments, since my imaginary \u201ccompetitors\u201d don\u2019t really know that they\u2019re competing with me, don\u2019t know when the end of a \u201cround\u201d is approaching, etc., etc. When I first came up with this idea, I thought I had the system to beat all systems. Just be the best at your table. It sounds simple. But how do I do this in the real world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer:<\/strong> When it comes to systems, I thought I had seen them all. However, yours is a new one to me. But just because no one else has thought of this system before, does not mean it\u2019s a valid, winning system. As a matter of fact, it is not a valid method for beating the blackjack tables. You will continue to \u201csuffer tremendous losses\u201d if you persist with this approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider what you know from your many years of experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For forty years, you\u2019ve played blackjack and craps, but you\u2019ve only made any real money in the past few years, by playing in tournaments. What does this tell you? That the systems you\u2019ve been using simply don\u2019t work \u2014 except in tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it about tournament play that is different from playing at the normal, house banked, gaming tables? Two major differences: One, you are competing with other players and not the house. (Obviously, you realize this.) Two, if you finish with more money than any of the other players, you will win the jackpot. (You seem to be totally ignoring this!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your \u201cpretend\u201d tournaments, there is no jackpot. Other than whatever money you might win from the dealer, there is no reward for being the best at your table. Since you obviously have a natural talent for competing with other players, proven by your success in real tournaments, you should reserve all of your serious play for tournaments. Don\u2019t try to use betting systems to beat other players, unless those other players have put money into a pot that you will collect when you come out ahead of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at it this way: Make a list of all of the tournaments you\u2019ve played in for the past two years. Then make three columns. List the amounts you\u2019ve paid in entry fees in all of the tournaments you\u2019ve competed in. List the amounts you\u2019ve won and lost during play at the tables in all of the tournaments you\u2019ve competed in. And finally, list all of the prize moneys you\u2019ve collected in all of the tournaments you\u2019ve competed in. Now, total up the columns and see what your net profit has been from tournament play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, ignore both the entry fee column, and the prize money column, since your \u201cpretend\u201d tournaments don\u2019t include either of these factors, and just look at the amounts you\u2019ve won and lost at the tournament tables in the process of competing. I\u2019ll bet dollars to donuts that this number is a net loss. How do I know this? Because if you are a successful tournament player, you will often tap out in the tournaments where you do not finish in the money (and this will be the majority of the tournaments you play). The reason you come out ahead in the long run in tournament play is because the prize moneys you collect for your aggressive betting strategies will exceed the total of your losses from entry fees and table play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using tournament strategies when there is no jackpot for the winner is a very foolhardy way to bet your money. So, you invented a new system. Unfortunately, it\u2019s a lousy system. So, stick to the real tournaments.Send memorabilia from casinos and hardware stores for my soon to be published book,\u201cCasinos and Plumbing Supply Outlets of America,\u201d to the Bishop at Blackjack Forum Online.   \u2660<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s Pretend It’s a Tournament By Arnold Snyder(From\u00a0Card Player, January 1994)\u00a9 1994 Arnold Snyder Question from a Reader: I have been playing blackjack and craps for about 40 years, and have been competing in blackjack and craps tournaments pretty seriously for about five years. I\u2019ve always been a system player. Believe me, I\u2019ve tried them all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Pseudo-Tournament System - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/the-pseudo-tournament-system\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pseudo-Tournament System - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let’s Pretend It’s a Tournament By Arnold Snyder(From\u00a0Card Player, January 1994)\u00a9 1994 Arnold Snyder Question from a Reader: I have been playing blackjack and craps for about 40 years, and have been competing in blackjack and craps tournaments pretty seriously for about five years. 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