Blackjack Tournament Types and Strategies

Blackjack is rarely thought of as a competitive game although blackjack tournaments have been around for quite some time now at brick-and-mortar casinos. They are also becoming increasingly popular among online players in recent years. The main reason for this growing interest is that the tournament version of 21 gives the average player the opportunity to snag a sizable prize for a tolerably small entry fee.

There are different types of blackjack tournaments, with some competitions taking place within a single day while others last two to three days. Tournament play requires skill, discipline, and above all, sufficient knowledge of tournament strategy. Blackjack tournaments have a different structure than the standard casino-banked version of 21 and respectively, call for an entirely different strategic approach.

In the following article, we present the nuts and bolts of blackjack tournament play and introduce you to the main tournament types. Also featured are several common tournament strategies and tips on how to improve your chances of beating your opponents.

How Tournament Play Works in Blackjack

In their base form, blackjack tournaments are played in nearly the same way as the standard version of the game. Players still aim to beat the dealer to earn chips from each hand but with one major difference – they are competing against each other rather than against the house.

The principal objective of each participant is to collect more chips from the dealer than their opponents do. The house still derives benefit from the tournament because each player must pay a modest fee to enter the tournament. The casino pockets a small cut from each entry fee while the rest is used for building the prize pool. In some cases, the casino also contributes to the pool as a means of increasing its size and attracting more players.

Once everyone pays their way in, each contender receives the same starting stack of chips as the other participants, with the chips themselves being devoid of monetary value in most cases. They are merely used to keep track of how each player is progressing through the tournament.

A tournament can last one or several rounds, with each of them being played over a fixed number of hands (usually between 15 and 30) or a fixed period. When the starting hands are dealt, the opponents face the same playing decisions as those in standard blackjack, i.e. they can hit, stand, double down, split, take insurance, and so on.

Like in poker tournaments, the first player to act changes during each hand because being the first person to make a decision puts you at a significant disadvantage. Also, decisions are made based on how the other players are doing but more on this later when we discuss tournament play and basic strategy.

What happens once everyone has finished playing their hand depends on the rules of the respective tournament. In single-round blackjack tournaments, the chips of each participant are counted up individually. The positions of players are then determined depending on how many chips each person has at this stage.

The overall prize pool is then divided among the participants depending on how they have ranked chip-count-wise. Sometimes the person with the most chips collects the entire pool but in other cases, the pool may be split among the top finishers. It all depends on the specific rules of the tournament.

In competitions where multiple rounds are involved, the person with the smallest chip stack at the end of the round gets eliminated. Eliminations continue this way each round until a single person remains and they are declared the winner.

Differences between Standard Blackjack Games and Tournaments

These are the basic principles behind any blackjack tournament, regardless of whether it is played online or in a brick-and-mortar casino. Let’s now review the main differences that distinguish blackjack tournaments from the regular casino-banked game we all have grown accustomed to. The table below offers you a concise comparison between the two formats of blackjack play.

House-Banked Blackjack

Tournament Blackjack

All players compete against a house representative, i.e. the dealer.

All tournament participants try to beat the dealer but compete against each other.

The objective of the player is to beat the dealer and earn money in the process.

The objective is not so much to earn money rather than to end up with more chips than fellow participants. You can beat others even if you wind up with fewer chips than you initially started with.

Winning huge amounts of money in one sitting is a rarity, especially if you play with a small bankroll.

Winners can pocket a substantial prize in big tournaments, sometimes five-figure or even six-figure amounts.

All players at the table are rooting for the dealer to lose the round. It is bad manners to root for a fellow player to lose.

Tournament players are sometimes hoping that the dealer beats the table because this would decrease the chip stacks of some of their opponents.

If you lose your entire bankroll, you can always dig in your wallet (provided you have extra money) to purchase more chips.

The player’s losses are restricted to the amount of the tournament entry fee. In some tournaments, however, it is possible to rebuy after the first or second round by paying the entry fee again.

Players who are not card counters should base each playing decision on the basic strategy that corresponds to the blackjack variation they are playing.

The knowledge of basic strategy is important in tournament play but you should also know when to deviate from it. For example, doubling down for less is recommended in some cases.

Players can increase their advantage against the house by adopting techniques such as card counting and shuffle tracking.

Players gain an advantage by knowing how to outplay their opponents.

Main Tournament Types in Blackjack

Similarly to poker tournaments, competitive play in blackjack is not restricted to a single format. There are several notable types of blackjack tournaments, namely elimination, accumulation, mini, major, sit ’n’ go, and live-money tourneys. Let’s have a look at what each type is all about.

Elimination Tournaments

Accumulation Tournaments

Mini and Major Tournaments

Sit ’n’ Gos

Tournaments with Live-Money Chips

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Elimination Tournaments

The most popular blackjack tourney type is the elimination tournament. Here you compete against other participants in the tourney and advance depending on the size of your chip stack. The player with the smallest stack gets disqualified at the end of the round. Sometimes eliminated participants are permitted to re-enter after they pay the entry fee again, although re-buying is not an option in all tournaments that use the elimination format.

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Accumulation Tournaments

Accumulation tournaments are also known as non-elimination tournaments. You again compete against other participating players. The difference here is in the objective, i.e. you strive to earn the highest number of chips throughout the tourney’s course.

There is normally a leaderboard showing the chip count of all participants. The leaderboard enables each player to track how many chips they must earn to prevail over their opponents. Accumulation tournaments are not recommended for novices who lack previous experience with blackjack tourneys.

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Mini and Major Tournaments

The names of these formats are pretty much suggestive of what you should expect in terms of structure. Mini tournaments take place each week in brick-and-mortar casinos or each day if you play at certain online gambling sites. The entry fees are usually nominal, i.e. no more than $25 or so, with prize pools rarely exceeding the amount of $2,000. More often than not, such mini competitions require less than one day to complete.

In contrast, major tournaments last more than a day. It makes sense players have to pay higher entry fees to buy their way in, which also translates into larger prize pools, often running into hundreds of thousands. Large landbased casinos prefer to host major blackjack tournaments over the weekends because this format is more time-consuming when compared to mini tournaments.

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Sit ’n’ Gos

The most distinctive feature of sit ‘n’ go tournaments is that they commence once six participants have joined the table. This format is commonly preferred by online casinos that host blackjack tourneys.

Online casinos sometimes run scheduled tournaments that begin at predetermined date and time. You need to register in advance and have a limited time to do so. By contrast, sit ‘n’ gos have no fixed starting time. They commence as soon as enough players have registered.

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Tournaments with Live-Money Chips

As is the case in poker, the chips used in most blackjack tournaments have no intrinsic monetary value. Participants merely use them to play. This is not the case in tourneys where live-money chips are in play, which means you can exchange them for actual money once the competition ends.

Respectively, if you choose to go all-in with a maximum wager, you essentially risk losing your own money rather than losing your entry fee only. If you are new to tournament play, you better refrain from competitions that rely on this format until you gain sufficient experience.

Blackjack Tournament Basics – Prepping Up for Your First Tourney

Participating in a blackjack tournament calls for some preparation, even more so if you are a first-timer. It does not come down solely to paying the entry fee. The first thing you need to do is to sufficiently acquaint yourself with the rules because no two tourneys share exactly the same rules. This would prevent you from making unnecessary mistakes and disrupting the tournament’s flow.

Players are normally presented with copies of the rules after paying their entry fees. If the tournament takes place online, make sure you go through the respective terms and conditions the web-based casino has attached to the tourney.

This would give you valuable information about the betting limits, the prize pool, how many hands are played per round, whether surrendering a hand is permitted, and so forth. If you still have any questions, be sure to ask the support staff or the tournament director before you take your seat at the table.

Perhaps more importantly, remember that rules are there for players to follow. Breaking important rules can even lead to disqualification in certain cases. One of the main things to avoid is the so-called string betting where you grab several chips from your stack and drop them one after another in your betting circle.

This is considered a serious violation. Tournament etiquette requires you to post all the chips you intend to bet with one motion. It would be best if you prepare the stack you want to bet beforehand and then only slide it inside your betting circle.

Even if they do not kick you out for breaching the rules and table etiquette, string betting can still cost you. Tournament managers often punish string bettors for their misbehavior by counting only the first chip that fell on the felt while returning the rest to the violator.

Another mistake you must avoid is conversing with standersby while the last round of the tournament is in progress. This is strictly prohibited in some tournaments and can again lead to immediate disqualification.