There are two main types of tournament: single table and multi table.Ī multi table tournament lasts for a number of rounds, each of which consists of a predetermined number of hands. This format proved popular and tournaments are now held at many casinos, notably the Million Dollar tournament and the televised World Series of Blackjack at the Las Vegas Hilton. The advantage of card counting was reduced by having rounds of only around 30 deals and by using multiple decks. The tournament idea was revived in 2002 by the Las Vegas Hilton with its Million Dollar tournament. Over these relatively long sessions of play the best players and card counters would win.īlackjack tournaments were out of favour from the late 1980's until the early 21st century, partly because casinos did not want to encourage the development of card counting skills. Also, there was no reason to take measures against card counters, so cards were dealt from a single deck. Since the bank in such a tournament does not mind whether it wins or loses chips overall, fairly permissive rules for splitting and doubling could be used. There were about 2000 players in each event, and each round lasted about 55 minutes. Shay Shevach tells me that Ken Smith confirms the total $750 cost to participate, but says that buy-in was $250. Bets were from a minimum of $5 to a maximum of $500. Donald Catlin reports that there was a $250 entry fee and buy-in was $500, players using their own money to buy chips.

The first such tournaments were run by Ed and David Fishman at the Sahara hotel in Las Vegas, beginning in late 1978, under the name 'The World's First Blackjack Tournaments Championship'. Winnings do not depend on the absolute amount chips you have at the end - only on your ranking relative to the other players. There is an entrance fee and a fixed prize or a scale of prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and so on. Each player begins with an equal number of chips, and the objective is not to win chips from the bank but to end with more chips than the other players. The tournament format is similar to that used for Texas Holdem poker tournaments. Tournament Blackjack is an adaptation in which the players compete with each other. Each player wins from or loses to the bank - all players might win or all might lose. The game involves almost no interaction between the players. In the traditional casino game of Blackjack or 21 each player plays against the bank.

Links for further information and online games.

This page is partly based on information from Shay Shevach.

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