Blackjack Tournament Questions

[Kaeser]

Ok so my local cardroom is now offering a $20 blackjack tournament every monday. House adds $100 and takes no rake, right off the bat this seems like a +EV situation. However I'd like some advice on how to maximize my chances.

Structure is 21 players (3 tables of 7) and 21 hands dealt. Start with 100 chips, 5 min no max. 6 deck shoe dealer hits soft 17. No surrender but blackjacks pay 2-1.

Top player at each of the 3 tables as well as the 3 other players with the highest chip totals meet at the final table where they begin with 100 chips. Seems like if you don't beat your table it takes about 180+ to have a real shot at the final table. Payout structure is 50/30/20.

My plan was to play a martinagale strategy starting at 10 chip bets. Min betting once I get a decent chip lead or reach 200 chips. This seems like a fairly risky strategy, but assuming I don't bust it sets me up for having about 170-200 chips after 21 hands. That should put me in good position for final tabling/placing.

I've never played BJ tournaments before so any advice/resources would be greatly appreciated.

[SheetWise]

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My plan was to play a martinagale strategy starting at 10 chip bets.

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You never have an advantage in blackjack if you can't exploit your doubling and splitting options. Never bet over half the bankroll -- even then, you can get stuck.

[Yads]

Take this advice with a grain of salt since I have never played BJ tournaments.

I would not use martingale. Since it usually results in either a small win or a large loss. I'd use some sort of reverse martingale where you press your bets as you win. Or you could always bet half of your bankroll until you either bust or take a commanding lead at which point you can min bet for a while until you need to make up some more ground. This definitely looks like a decent EV opportunity so maybe you should look into some sort of casino tourney book.

[jba]

"blackjacks pay 2-1"

learn to count cards.

[Terry]

Tournament play isn't about BJ strategy, it's about bet sizing.

My suggestions for this short tournament:

For the first five or six hands try to bet contrarily to the others if you can. If they all start off big, bet small, if they all bet small, you go big. If their bets are all over the place, you bet small and hope the big bettors bust out quickly. If the big bettors take a big lead and then start betting small, you just have to gamble and try to pass them.

When insurance is available, tend to take odd amounts, don't just automatically put out half your bet. If you have bet 100, bet maybe 35 or any unusual amount on insurance; it makes it harder for the opponents who are trying to think about your stack in relation to theirs.

By the time you get down to five hands to go, you want to be either in first place or busted. When approaching that point, do your best to make bets that will put you in first place. Keep in mind that that doesn't always mean betting big – if you have 300 and everybody else has 400 and they all bet 200, you will be in the lead if you bet 5 and everybody loses ... if everybody wins, you can almost catch up by betting it all on the next hand.

You will see people make bets on the last hand that give them a lock; sometimes they lock themselves out. Think about what happens if we all win and what happens if we all lose; that will be the case most of the time and you can often make bets that keep you in the lead either way.

There are a lot more subtleties, but the general idea is get in the lead and stay there or to go broke trying. In such a short tournament, that will often mean busting out very early; finding yourself in 3rd or 4th place going into the last hand should be an extremely rare occurrence.

Looking back at your post – since the top three stacks among the tables also go to the final table, keep on eye on that, too. You're on the right track by having an idea of how much it generally takes to get one of those spots ... still, some days will be different and a quick jump up to take a look around might give the opportunity to get a lock on one of those spots by passing up a gamble to win your table, specifically, those times when the other two dealers have run hot and none of the players on those other tables has many chips left but your dealer has been busting a lot and second or third place on your table will be enough to lock in the money seat.

So, the general rules: Get in first place, then bet basically the same amount as everybody else to maintain your relative position. If you're not in first place, try to get there by betting contrary to the others. Think about your bet sizes; try to make bets that work if you all lose OR if you all win. If all else fails and/or the adrenaline kicks in and you just plain can't think and it's late in the tourney, bet big.

Have fun.

[Kaeser]

Thanks for the advice everyone, it's appreciated. I wasn't able to play this monday but my wife took third playing basic strategy. From what she's told me it's a very soft tournament. Players putting bets in out of turn, Chipleader betting his whole stack on the last hand despite a guaranteed first place if he bet minimum.

[cardcounter0]

Forget about basic strategy on the last couple of hands.
If you have a good lead, you probably don't want to hit any bustable hand. If it looks like some one else is going to win and take the lead, split tens or double down on hard 18, or what ever it takes to try to get more money on the table and win.

Stanford Wong wrote a book on Blackjack Tournament Strategy.
If the players are as soft as you describe, and the tourny will be running for a while, it might be worth your while to pick it up and study it.

[jba]

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If you have a good lead, you probably don't want to hit any bustable hand.

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can you explain why this point would be true?

[cardcounter0]

An example of tournament strategy. Say you are in the lead, and another player has to win and you lose in order to take the lead. You have a stiff hand against a dealer's ten that basic strategy says to hit. Stand. Now the other player has to take a chance of busting to beat the dealer. Even if the other player doesn't bust and wins, if the dealer busts, you still have the lead.

Similar to having AA when on the bubble with some short stacked players in a tourney. Fold.

The point being, you don't want to stick to a "strategy". Basic strategy to play a hand, or a martingale betting strategy, or anything like that. In a tournament, and especially in blackjack tourny, the way you play your hand and you bet amounts is all dictated by the size of the other players stacks and their actions.

[Dan87]

Similar to having AA when on the bubble with some short stacked players in a tourney. Fold.

err...or raise?