Blackjack Tournament Strategy

By Author: Will Win
Total Articles: 162
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Ever play in a Blackjack tournament? They are really fun. Over recent years, Blackjack tournaments have been offered at more and more gambling establishments-even online. While rare, some Blackjack tournaments have even been on TV. I like Blackjack tournaments, because they add a new dimension to the game-player verses player.

Money management becomes far more important (more so than it already is). As with anything in the world of Blackjack, there are loads of Blackjack tournament strategies. And once you've participated in a few, you'll most likely develop your own Blackjack tournament strategies.

Blackjack strategies for tournament play are so diverse. I really don't think there's a right and wrong way to do things-as far as all the time strategy is concerned. Of course, if you win, it's the right way and if you lose, it's not.

For instance, let's say you're an all or nothing kind of player. The strategy you end up using for Blackjack tournaments will be large bets and highly aggressive play. This can work for or against you. On one hand, you can be out quickly. On the other, if you get a nice run of ...
... cards, you'll be the chip king soon enough. It's much better than being a player that always bets the minimum. Those players can hit huge runs of cards and still be just a little ahead.

In fact, if there's one strategy I know doesn't work too well, it's the hoarder. This player will almost always bet the minimum and hope everyone else runs out of chips. This type of player rarely, very rarely wins anything. I'm not saying to be ultra loose, but if you play this tight, you're just begging to lose. And who wants to do that? Plus, it's not that much fun.

Overall, the best strategies for Blackjack tournaments have one thing in common. They all feature mixed play. You don't want to be ultra conservative or mega loose all the time. Mix it up. For instance, you may play somewhat conservative until you feel a run of cards and then you'll crank it up.

Whatever you do, don't consistently bet more after a loss. We call this chasing a win. It usually leads to a quick exit. My personal favorite strategy is to bet just above the minimum initially and then increase my bet after each win. I don't double up though. I always pull a little back into the bank. With this method, I'm setting myself up to win big if I get a good run of cards and I'm set up to last a bit if I don't.