Blackjack Tournaments: An introduction to tournament strategy

Blackjack Tournament Play

I must confess that I haven’t been in a lot of tournaments. Because of
this, I am going to tell you what I have learned, then link you to Ken
Smith’s website for graduate work. In the tournaments I have played
in, I have been competitive. I went into them having read two books:
Playing to Win by Ken Einiger
Casino Tournament Strategy by Stanford Wong

I also read Ken Smith’s advice from his website, blackjackinfo.com, and
went through simulations on Wong’s software, Playing Tournament
Blackjack. Lastly, I had watched the first World Series of Blackjack on
GSN.

If you are considering playing in a tournament, the above resources are
currently the best information out there. In a recent email from Ken
Smith, he said he was working on a tournament book. When it is
published, I will let you know.

You will want to start your tournament career in what is called a mini-
tournament. It is recommended to get several of these under you belt
before taking on the big boys and girls. You can learn a lot in the mini’s
and you will find some very experienced players there. Your entry fee
will be somewhere around $20 to $30 for these. The prize money will
be perhaps $500 split among the top five players with most going to
the winner. They are usually held regularly at a casino near you. They
aren’t a money maker for the casino; actually more of a service. They
bring in blackjack players who will, they hope, play for real money as well
as the tournament. They are often during the week since the tables
would probably be empty anyway. So, it’s a win-win for them and the
players.

Get there early to register. If, after a couple of times, you find yourself
waiting around you can adjust your arrival time. You will be directed
where to go to register. It could be the cage or at a special table. Pay
your entry fee then relax. You could dine or get in some play time.
When it about time to play, go to your assigned table and hang out.
When everything is ready, they will allow you to take your seat. You will
be given your tournament chips and the play will begin.

If you have read what the pros write, you will have a plan. However, if
you aren’t careful, you may find yourself at a table with very aggressive
players who play differently from the text books. You don’t have to be
aggressive although you will be tempted to. You do have to consider
adjusting your bet to stay within striking distance, but remember, they
may not be at the final table because they bet high and lost, tried to
play catch-up and lost even more. With very little at stake and another
tournament next week, these players have very little to lose.

You on the other hand, want to play by the book, and you should.
Your initial plan should be to bet the minimum or close to it, for most of
the game. I have seen many times when, if the players had bet the
minimum they would be leading most of the game. If there are 25
hands to be played, you should bet a minimum bet for the first 20.
Then you have five hands to get aggressive and take the lead. Timing is
everything, so, if you are close to your opponents, you may wait until
the 22nd hand to raise your bet. If you are around hand 20 and you
are last to bet, the timing is right to push out a big bet and try to win
big when your opponents are betting small. If your opponents have
made large wagers prior, you could “take the low” and keep your
minimum bet. The hope is they lose big while if you lose, you lose a
negligible amount and overtake them. Just like sex, positioning is
everything.

Your opponents’ wild play might work, but more than likely, unless they
have abnormally good luck, they will go down in a blaze of glory. You
will at least have a chance because your conservative play has kept you
in the game. If you are still playing, there is always a chance you can
win. In the early rounds, the top two players from the table might
advance. Later, only one will advance. You must know the format so
you know whether you are safe or must be aggressive. You want to
keep a pretty good idea whether you are ahead, even or behind. So,
count your chips and count your opponents’ chips also. That is
especially true of the table leader. Knowing where you stand is
extremely important in the last quarter of the game. At around five
hands to play, there will be a count, and you will learn exactly how many
chips your opponents have. If you have been watching their chip
stacks, there should be no surprises.

Should you get knocked out in the first round, you will have a chance to
try again by paying for "re-entry". If you plan on this, and you don't
need it, that's great. But if you plan for it from the beginning, you
won't be disappointed. Re-entry fees may be half of the initial fee.

Tips
Below are some tips I have put together for you which will be helpful as
you start your tournament career.

1. You can’t win if you aren’t there for the final hand. You can’t come in
second either. Fully half of the aggressive players will be gone before
the final hand. You must be within striking distance at the end, but you
can quadruple your chips in two hands, so don’t risk not being there.

2. Making minimum bets generally will get you to the final five hands
with enough chips to become the winner. There will be that rare game
when your opponents could be too far ahead to catch up, but not often.

3. To stay up with the chip leaders, you may have to match their bet,
chip for chip as you near the end. This is called correlating your bet
with that of your opponent. If you do this, the chip spread will generally
stay the same. The players tend to get the same outcome from their
hands. Either they all win or they all lose. This is a generalization, but
you will see this time and again. By betting the same as your
opponents, you stand a good chance of keeping the spread between
your two hands the same.

4. When you are last to bet, take a chance, especially late in the game,
by going high or low. This is when you can have the biggest swings
with your opponents. This can backfire on you, but that’s Blackjack.
You have a chance, though, of making a big jump on them and they are
helpless to stop you because you bet after them. When it works, it’s a
beautiful thing.

5. Don’t wait too late to make your move. If you need to double up
twice to take the lead, don’t wait until hand 24. What if you push? Or,
what if you win your hands, but your opponent got a blackjack or
double down? I waited too late once and it cost me a seat at the final
table. My opponent had more than twice as many chips as I on the last
hand. He simply bet the minimum and walked to the final table. Close
didn’t count.

6. Get good at counting chip stacks. You can practice by using red,
green and black poker chips (the 11.5 gram ones) and sit about six feet
away. This will be irrelevant early in the game, and critical late in the
game. By knowing your opponents’ chips amount, you will know
whether you are safe, need to strike early, should correlate your bets,
or if you are just a double up from victory.

7. Know the rules. For instance, the surrender option, if available, can
help you tremendously. Know that a blackjack may pay differently in a
tournament than at the tables. The rules are either there or posted on
the casino's website.

8. Be prepared to make unconventional plays. If you must double down
to win, then you double down on whatever hand you get. If you get a
pair and the only way to win is to split them, then you must split them.
Even tens may have to be split to get more money on the table. You
have to do whatever it takes to win, so sometimes you have to throw
out basic strategy. If you are going to get second place if you play the
basic strategy play, but you have a chance for first, take that chance.
What have you got to lose?

9. Try to calculate where the button will be on the last hand. It can
change if players are put out, but you have to recalculate then.
Knowing if you will be last to bet or later than the chip leader gives you
a little edge. If you are going to be betting early on the last hand and
you are behind, you may have to make your big move early. It might be
a moot point, or it could be critical. Betting last when your opponents
bet the max before you may give you the chance to take the low. They
were probably expecting you would max bet, so they figured they would
be correlating with you. There are a lot of scenarios, but it helps to bet
last, whether it’s you or your opponents.

10. When it gets down to the wire, you must think of all scenarios that
could happen. All you need is one chip more than your opponent to
win. If they bet all but $800, you bet all but $805. If they could beat
you with a blackjack, bet enough to cover that contingency. Your bet
could force them to make a high risk unconventional play to beat you.
If they get lucky, so be it.

11. It’s better to be lucky than good, but luck comes and goes while
good stays with you.

12. I would be amiss if I left this one out: When in doubt, put it out.
That’s especially true when you can’t decide what to do on the last
hand. If you put it out, most likely your opponent will also.

That ends my discussion. Now, go from here to the following website
and read what Ken Smith has to say. He’s the best even though he
hasn’t won the World Series of Blackjack. It’s just a matter of time!

Ken Smith's Blackjackinfo.com