Blackjack tournaments are making waves in gambling circles nowadays. Unlike blackjack games in land-based or online casinos, these events enable players to play against the dealer and other fellow players.
What makes them more attractive is that their prize pool is typically 100% of the entry fees paid by the players. In other words, casinos have low to no house edge, and skillful players can have higher winning odds.
Early Days of Blackjack Tournaments
It’s still unclear who, where, when, and how the first blackjack tournaments were made. However, it was said that the first recorded blackjack tournament was held at the Sahara Lodge & Casino in Las Vegas in 1978.
It was organized by a group of veteran gamblers who wanted to create an event to attract more players to blackjack, and it did, including popular ones. It featured several big entertainment names, including Redd Foxx, Groucho Marx, and Vincent Worth.
Its prize pool was said to be a whopping $50,000. The winner, who took home $25,000, was a professional gambler named Ken Uston, who wrote several books about blackjack strategies. After that victory, Uston became an instant celebrity in the gambling world.
Following the World Series of Blackjack’s success, many other casinos also held their own blackjack tournament. For example, Binion’s Horseshoe Online Casino in Las Vegas had its first $250,000 Blackjack Invitational Tournament in 1980.
The blackjack tournament spotlight didn’t stop until the 1990s and early 2000s. In 1994, FoxPlay Casino in Connecticut ran its high-stakes $1 million World Blackjack Championship, which Jeff Ma, a notorious MIT blackjack team member, won.
Then, in 2001, the cable network Game Show Network (GSN) produced and televised a blackjack tournament named the “World Series of Blackjack.” Mike Aponte, another MIT Blackjack Team member, won its first season with a $100,000 prize pool.
Even now, in the digital age, blackjack tournaments remain a staple in the gambling industry. They embraced new technologies and became digitized, like online blackjack tournaments in NZ and global mobile matches.
Blackjack tournaments have also become more complex. New formats have been launched, such as elimination and non-elimination tournaments, multi-desk matches, sit-and-go tournaments, accumulator tournaments, and even team matches.
How to Play in Blackjack Tournaments
Its rules are rather simple. All players start with an equal number of chips. They must build up as many chips as possible over several rounds of play. Once a predetermined number of hands (e.g. 21 hands) is played, those with the most chips advance to the next round. In most cases, tournaments consist of three to five elimination rounds.
How players fare can make or break your success. This dynamic helps players make markedly varied changes in optimal strategy, where the best play can be the worst. For example, in the last round, doubling down on a hard 19 could be the correct play, only if it’s the only choice that enables you to catch the chip leader.
To win, experts recommend three crucial tips when playing black tournaments:
- Be the Contrarian to make up ground in the tournament. – If other players are best small, take the high or bet more. If they bet big, take the low or bet small. Note that betting small gives a higher chance of making up the ground than betting big because most players will likely lose their hands.
- Be the Copycat if you’re in the lead. As mentioned, there’s a high correlation between player results, so matching your bets with those of your closest opponents can be the best strategy. For example, the dealer will wipe out the table if he draws to 21. If he busts, each hand at the table will get paid out. In both scenarios, you’ll still be in the lead if you bet the same amount as your main competition.
- Never fall too far behind the chip leader. Unlike typical blackjack games, players can’t take the chips in blackjack tournaments. The value of tournament chips mainly depends on how they help you achieve the chip leader position.
- Instead of betting small to survive to the last round despite having little or no shot to win, going all in with one shot or betting the max to make up a lot of ground in one hand is far better. Remember, regardless of how small, taking the lead into the last round gives you an edge since your chips are worth more than other players.
Final Thoughts
Blackjack tournaments are another way to enjoy blackjack with a twist: players play against other players rather than the dealer or the casino. They need more chips to win than other players at the end of a round. Such events have been around since the 1970s, but with the help of digitalization, they’re still becoming increasingly popular.