Blackjack Tournament
The concept of tournament blackjack has been around for a long while, and tournaments have taken place in live casinos all over the world for many years.
The basics of blackjack tournaments are quite straightforward. The game is still played in essentially the same way, with players trying to beat the dealer on each hand to win chips, but the players are also competing against each other. The objective in a tournament is to win more chips from the dealer than all the other players do.
Towards the end of the 20th century, they had fallen out of favor somewhat, possibly due to the fact that many casinos stopped offering them as they did not want to encourage the use of card counting skills.
- A blackjack tournament is similar to “standard” blackjack – participants play against the dealer, but in the tournament the real money isn’t the bet chips, but the remaining size of every player’s stack after every round. Every player is assigned to some table and all players start with the same chip stack.
- Online blackjack tournaments come in all shapes and sizes, from small wagering competitions to massive, international multiplayer extravaganzas. These blackjack tournaments can be are offered by casinos all over the internet, but sometimes finding them can be tricky.
However, blackjack tournaments have become increasingly popular in recent years. This could be at least partly attributable to the growth in popularity of poker tournaments.
Casino bosses have seen how many people they can attract, and offer blackjack tournaments hoping for the same effect. Online casinos have also had an impact. Many of them offer blackjack tournaments on a regular basis, making them far more accessible to players.
On this page we explain what blackjack tournaments are all about, and also look at the different types.
Blackjack Tournament Basics
The basics of blackjack tournaments are quite straightforward. The game is still played in essentially the same way, with players trying to beat the dealer on each hand to win chips, but the players are also competing against each other.
When entering a blackjack tournament, players must pay an entry fee. This fee goes into the prize pool, usually with the casino taking a small cut. Entrants then receive a number of chips, known as the starting stack, which have no real monetary value but are otherwise used in the same way as chips normally are when playing blackjack.
A tournament can take place over one single round, or several rounds. Each round is played over either a fixed number of hands or a fixed period of time. Participants play blackjack as normal during a round, winning or losing chips against the dealer on the outcome of each hand.
The order of play changes during each hand, so that it’s not the same player acting first every time. This makes things fair, as players do need to make decisions based on how their opponents are doing.
What happens at the end of each round depends on the exact rules of the tournament. If just a single round is to be played, then the chips are counted up and player positions are determined based on how many chips they have at this point.
The prize pool is then distributed according to the payout structure. In some tournaments, the winner will take the entire prize pool, while in others it will be split among those in the top few positions.
If multiple rounds are to be played, usually some players are eliminated when each round ends. These eliminations are based on the number of chips held, and the remaining players all progress into the next round. The cycle then continues until a winner is determined.
There are, however, a few different types of blackjack tournaments where certain rules vary.
Blackjack tournaments can be categorized in a number of different ways, with most tournaments falling into one or more category. Below is a list of the most common types of tournaments, along with explanations of each.
- Elimination
- Non-Elimination
- Single Table
- Multi Table
- Sit and Go
- Scheduled
- Freeroll
- Guaranteed
- Rebuy
- Satellite
With an elimination format, a number of players are eliminated after each round. It might be a case of a single player with the least chips, or everyone except the two players with the most chips. The exact rules of elimination can vary, but this is the basic idea.
With a non-elimination format, there is usually just one single round. The player with the most chips at the end of the round is the winner, with other positions determined by the number of chips players have at this point.
Players can still be eliminated during the round if they lose all of their chips however.
Single Table & Multi Table Tournaments
The difference between these two formats is both simple and, given their names, fairly obvious. Single table tournaments are played on just a single table, while multi-table tournaments are played over multiple tables.
Multi-table tournaments are often played with elimination rules, and the number of tables used then decreases as players are eliminated. The tournament ends up being played on a single table with the last few players.
These differ purely in the way they start. A sit and go has no fixed start time, and will begin as soon as enough players have entered.
A scheduled tournament will start at a fixed time, with registration opening some time in advance.
Freerolls
Freerolls don’t cost any money to enter, but they still offer some prize money. They are typically held by casinos either as a reward for regular players, or as a way to attract new players.
The amount of prize money on offer is usually fairly low.
These have a minimum prize pool regardless of the number of entrants. The prize pool will be paid out even if the entry fees paid by players do not cover it.
When a casino puts a guarantee in place, it is usually to make a tournament particularly attractive to players, which means that very often the guarantee will end up being covered by the entry fees in any case.
Rebuy Tournaments
In a rebuy, players can purchase more chips if they lose their starting stack. This enables them to take more risks without the fear of being eliminated.
There is a charge for rebuying, however, which is usually similar to the original entry fee. Rebuy fees are generally added straight into the prize pool.
Satellites do not offer cash prizes to winners, but rather entry into other, higher value tournaments.
Current Online Blackjack Tournaments
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!