7/12/2001 Edition No.23

Blackjack Tournament Play

LATEST NEWS:

Blackjack tournaments are becoming more popular in Australia. The novelty of trying to beat the other players on the table, rather than the house, adds some interesting twists to betting and playing strategies.

Players take turns by means of a marker to place the first wager. Everyone watches carefully other players’ total chips and wagers for that hand in order finish in a qualifying position for the next round. One or two shoes may be played before chips are totalled up.

A reasonable amount of luck is required to be a first prize winner, however there are a few basic principles you can follow to give yourself a good chance at the top few prizes:

1. Make sure you are aware of all the competition rules, conditions and playing times!

2. Try to judge how many hands remain at any point during the last shoe.

3. Use basic strategy and don’t worry too much about card-counting.

4. Bet minimum until the final 10 hands.

5. If in a qualifying position at this point, bet your lead minus one chip if betting first, else bet a similar amount to everyone else.

6. If trailing a certain amount from a qualifying position, try a three hand progression of 1/7, 1/3 and your remaining bankroll to reach that position. If this is not enough to catch up, bet contrary to the lowest qualifier. (Small vs Big, Big vs Small)

7. In the last five hands, be wary of doubles and splits that overbet your bankroll.

8. In the last two hands look for opportunities to lock up a lead with a minimum bet. If losing, play contrary if that will catch up, else bet maximum and consider unusual splits and doubles.

There are other subtleties to tournament play which cannot be simply summarised. As the game is attractive to all levels of blackjack player, the potential for profit for a good player is enormous. Usually all the entry fees are pumped back into the prize money and sometimes the casino will inject some money of their own. We would be very interested in hearing about your own playing tactics or tournament stories.

An interesting piece of legislation about to come into force in Australia is the Privacy Act. Casinos and their management will no doubt find out shortly that:

6.1 If an organisation holds personal information about an individual, it must provide the individual with access to the information on request by the individual...

6.7 An organisation must provide reasons for denial of access or a refusal to correct personal information.

The sharing of information with other organisations (casinos) without the consent of the individual might be reason for prosecution.

Best of Betting!

‘CC’

News 9/11/2001

White Knight Blackjack Coaching will help you achieve your goal of beating the casinos with easy to understand courses:
Group and Individual. Click the links below for more information.

Weekend Courses Australia Wide
Individual Classes - Melbourne

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