Blackjack Tournaments Tips

A series of Blackjack Tournaments Tips. Do's and Don'ts for Beginner Multiplayer BJ

First, the don’ts. There are four of them.

Don’t bet too small. Multiplayer blackjack is all about you and the other players. It’s not about the dealer. Beat him for the money but understand that to win the tournament you have to win more money than the other players. You can’t do that if you are conservative.

Don’t rely on luck. There is a skill to playing multiplayer blackjack. To be sure, there is a luck factor just as in traditional blackjack, but if you rely on luck alone you will lose. Learn the successful strategies of professional players and stick to them. They are security.

Don’t bet too big. Just as with lack of confidence, overconfidence can be a killer – especially with multiplayer BJ. This is a sure way to the poor house. Trust me. In my first experience, I played aggressive for the first few rounds and lost too much money. When I got my bearings on straight I did well but the damage was already done. Don’t make that mistake.

Don’t follow, lead. This is a big mistake a lot of beginners make, both in traditional blackjack and multiplayer blackjack. Don’t bet big just because everyone else does. You have to play the cards. Learn the charts and do the smart thing. Then bet accordingly.

Now, the do’s:

Do take risks. You’ll never win at multiplayer BJ if you don’t take a few calculated risks. Don’t be stupid, but every now and then – when the cards say it’s OK and when you feel the music – take a risk. It’s the only way to ensure you take the lead.

Do place big bets. Big bets win. No doubt about it. You are playing against the other players, not the house. Multiplayer action is a bigger challenge because the object is to walk away from the table with more chips. You can’t do that with small bets.

Do be consistent, but not predictable. Pick an amount and make that your average bet. Adjust off of that. Place bigger bets when it’s smart to do so and smaller ones when prudence dictates. Above all, keep the other players in your multiplayer tournament guessing. You don’t want them trumping you because they know how you’ll bet. That’s not good.

Follow these guidelines and you’ll do well in multiplayer BJT.

Save The Best For Last

Here are some plays that should be reserved for the end game:

Splitting 10s – Lots of people just love to split those 10-value cards to get more money on the table. I see many online blackjack tournament players do it every chance they get, especially if the dealer upcard is 5 or 6. Many players who wouldn’t think of splitting 10s in a money game do it constantly in blackjack tournaments. It’s a bad bet on the live blackjack table and it’s a bad bet here, even if the dealer upcard stinks. Don’t break up your beautiful 20 unless it’s late in the tournament and you are in dire need of a way to catch up to the leaders.

Crazy doubles – Ever tried doubling a hard 12? How about a 9 against a dealer upcard of 10? These obviously aren’t high percentage plays so they should be avoided in most cases. These sorts of doubles should be reserved for the final hand (or among the final hands if you are more than a max bet behind).

Doubling a blackjack – This double is less crazy since you already are sitting at 21, with a good chance at staying at 21 even after you double, but it’s still bad policy. You’re already guaranteed a 3 to 2 payoff rather than an even payoff so trying for the 2 to 1 is riskier than your standard double down. Keep your blackjack unless you absolutely need to double on the last couple of hands to try and catch up to the leader.

Big bets – The dealer is going to beat you most of the time. This is just a simple mathematical fact of blackjack from where there is no escape. So why would you want to throw out big bet after big bet early in the blackjack tournament? Sure, occasionally you will hit a lucky streak and steer way clear of the field, but most of the time you will flame out and bust out. Just about every tournament professional would advise you to play a conservative early game and then pull out the big bets in the end, as needed. If you just can’t contain your big bet tendencies, try throwing out one big bet early in the tournament when you have good position, and if you win, bet conservatively the rest of the way unless other players’ actions cause a need to deviate from that strategy.