Blackjack is a favorite casino game among many because it combines strategy with a low house edge. But unless you’re a card counter, the casino will always have a slight edge on you.

This is where blackjack tournaments become interesting, because they see you compete against other players. And you can win long-term profits, given that the house edge is taken out of the equation.

Different rules apply in different tournaments. However, most tournaments are based on a similar structure. Read on to learn about the way that blackjack tournaments work and about common blackjack tournament rules. For starters, we'll discuss the basics. In order to participate in a blackjack tournament, players must pay an entry fee, or buy-in. Terms Rules Contact. $100,000 NFL Blackjack Tournament. $100,000 GTD Sundays. $10,000 Weekly Cash Race Leaderboard. $5,000 Weekly Sit and Go Leaderboard. 100% Casino Welcome Bonus. 20% Monthly Reload Bonus. 10% Weekly Casino. Monthly $100,000 Casino Iron Man Contest.

Of course, you need to understand the fundamentals of how blackjack tournaments work before you can win. Let’s go over the basics, including types of blackjack tournaments, where you can find them, and how strategy differs from conventional play.

Blackjack Tournament Basics: Buy-ins, Prize Pools, and Rules

Blackjack Tournament Buy-ins

A buy-in is the fee that you pay to enter a blackjack tournament. The largest portion of the buy-in goes towards the prize pool, and a small percentage goes towards the casino for running the tourney.

Let’s look at an example of how this works below:

• Tournament buy-in is $20 + $2.
• $20 goes into the prize pool.
• $2 is taken by the casino as a fee for running the tournament.

Tournament Prize Pools

The tournament entries go into the prize pool, which is the money that players compete for. The size of the prize pool varies based on how many players enter.

Here’s an example:

• The buy-in is $50 + $5.
• 300 players enter the tournament.
• This creates a prize pool worth $15,000 (50 x 300).

Blackjack tourneys either feature guaranteed or variable prize pools.

A guaranteed prize pool means that the casino guarantees a specific amount of money. For example, a $10,000 prize pool must have exactly $10k or more.

The casino has to cover any gap between the prize pool and entry fees (a.k.a. overlay). If they guarantee a $5,000 prize pool and it only reaches $4,000, they’d have to cover the remaining $1,000.

Blackjack Tournament Rules

The rules of a blackjack tournament differ based on the format. But there are some general aspects that are common to many tournaments.

A standard blackjack tourney sees players try to beat the dealer, just like in a normal blackjack game. But the key difference is that players are competing against each other for the prize money.

Players who survive the longest (elimination format) or win the most chips (leaderboard format) finish the highest on the leaderboard.

The number of players who win money is based on the number of entrants and tourney format. In general, you can expect around 10%-20% of the field to cash.

Blackjack Tournament Formats

Elimination Blackjack Tournaments

An elimination blackjack tournament consists of a series of rounds. Players are gradually eliminated over the course of these rounds until just one remains.

In most cases, the top one to two players from each table advance to the next round. Everybody begins a new round with the same number of chips.

Rebuy blackjack tournaments allow players to buy back into the event when they bust out. In these instances, the first round consists of several qualifying rounds before the rebuy period ends.

Here’s a standard setup for an elimination blackjack tournament:

• 6 players to a table.
• The top two players from each table move to the next round.
• Each round ends at 8, 16, 25, and 30 hands.
• The tournament winner is the player with the most chips at the end of 30 hands.

Leaderboard Blackjack Tournaments

A leaderboard blackjack tournament sees every player assigned to a table, just like an elimination event. But the key difference is that there aren’t any eliminations in these tourneys.

Instead, your goal is to accumulate as many chips as possible and move up the leaderboard, rather than trying to survive to each round. You can check the leaderboard from time to time to see how you’re doing in comparison to the field.

A leaderboard blackjack tournament ends after a specific number of hands have been played. The top finishers are determined by who has the most chips at the end of the hand limit.

Blackjack Sit and Go’s

Made popular by online poker sites, sit and go’s (SNGs) are single table tournaments that begin as soon as enough players buy into the event.

The number of players required to start the tourney is based on the predetermined size of the table. Common SNG table sizes include 6, 9, or 10 players.

Blackjack SNGs are almost exclusively found in online casinos because it’s easier to run the single table format in this setting.

Types of Blackjack Tournaments

Buy-in Tournaments

As I covered earlier, buy-in blackjack tournaments require a fee to enter.

The obvious downside to a buy-in tourney is that you have to pay to play. The upside is that this limits the number of entrants and gives you a better shot at winning prize money.

Another positive to buy-in tournaments is that these usually feature the largest prize pools. This is especially the case if the casino offers a generous guarantee on the event.

Blackjack Freerolls

A freeroll is a tournament that doesn’t require a cash entry fee. The two types of freerolls include:

1. Open — No fee of any kind is required.

2. Points — You need loyalty points to enter.

Many beginning blackjack tournament players like open freerolls because they’re absolutely free. This gives you a good chance to increase your bankroll without having to spend money.

But the downside is that, due to the lack of fees, lots of players enter these events. This means that you’ll be competing against a very large player pool in comparison to the limited prize pool.

Points freerolls require you to use loyalty points, which must be earned through real-money slots play.

VIP Tournaments

You must be of a certain VIP status, or at least a frequent player, to compete in these tournaments.

The drawback is that you’ll have to play lots of real-money slots to obtain the proper VIP level. But the upside is that these tourneys usually offer large prize pools in relation to the number of entrants.

Where Can You Find Blackjack Tournaments?

Land-based Casinos

Brick-and-mortar casinos hold a lot of promotional and VIP blackjack tournaments. These are used to draw blackjack players back into the casino, rather than to make profits.

This creates a lot of situations where you don’t even have to pay an entry fee to play.

Larger brick-and-mortar blackjack tournaments often require a buy-in. But these are certainly worth it if you enjoy playing blackjack in a land-based setting and/or want to try blackjack in a different format.

How Do You Enter Land-based Blackjack Tournaments?

Through mail or email, casinos send invites that contain all the information you need to enter a brick-and-mortar blackjack tournament.

Usually, this information involves details on when you need to be registered by, tournament rules, and whether or not there’s a buy-in.

Online Casinos

Internet casinos commonly feature both the elimination and leaderboard blackjack tournaments. You can visit an online casino’s lobby to see what tournaments they have on tap.

One thing that’s nice about playing online tourneys is that you can quickly navigate between casinos to take advantage of more events.

How Do You Enter Online Blackjack Tournaments?

You must first sign up at an online casino before playing in their tournaments. This involves entering details like your name, email, home address, mobile number, and referral code (if applicable).

Once you’ve registered at a casino, you can play in open entry freerolls.

You’ll need to make a deposit before playing in buy-in tournaments. Visit a casino’s banking section and see what options they have so that you can place your deposit.

When you sign up and have funds available, you can visit the internet casino lobby and begin entering tournaments. Each tourney you click will feature information like the start time, number of entrants, rules, prize pool, and leaderboard.

Blackjack Tournament Strategy

Know Basic Blackjack Strategy

The best place to start when developing your blackjack tournament strategy is understanding basic strategy. This is made easier when you’ve already played normal blackjack and have learned the fundamentals.

If you haven’t done so, the good news is that learning basic blackjack strategy is easy. All you need to do is grab a strategy chart and use this while playing.

Strategy charts show what decisions you should make based on the dealer’s up card and your score total. You can easily find these charts in Google or Bing images.

Bet Differently Than Your Opponents

While basic strategy is important in tournaments, betting differently than your opponents is even more crucial.

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The reason is because most players’ hand results are roughly the same. For example, if the dealer gets a blackjack, then everybody at the table will probably lose.

This is why you need to have a solid betting strategy in order to separate yourself from the pack. And this entails doing the opposite of what everybody else is doing.

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If everybody at your table is making aggressive wagers, you can scale back your bets to stay alive. If other players are being timid and placing small bets, you can make bigger wagers to grab a large lead.

Mixing Up Your Play

Ideally, you’ll be on a table that favors either an aggressive or conservative approach so that you can play differently. But there’ll also be times where you’re on a table with players who are using mixed approaches.

This is when it’s useful to employ a hybrid strategy that sees you switch back and forth between small and big bets. The key is to time your large wagers correctly so that you can catch the leaders when needed.

You’ll often find that the best time to make these bets is when you’re on the button and can see how everybody else is wagering. You can then bet just big enough to move up the chip counts without risking your tournament life.

Table Position

Continuing off the last point, table position is a critical part of successfully playing blackjack tournaments.

The goal is to minimize your risk in the early position because you can’t see how others are betting. On the contrary, you can use later position to decide when a bigger bet is appropriate, since you can see more players’ wagers.

Here’s an example of the latter:

• 6 players are on the table.
• You’re on the button with 5,000 chips.
• The leader has 8,000 chips.
• Player A bets 1,000 chips.
• Player B bets 1,500 chips.
• Player C bets 1,000 chips.
• Player D bets 2,000 chips.
• Player E bets 2,000 chips.

You can now bet over 2,500 chips and gain ground on each opponent with a winning hand.

Tournament Stages

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Whether you’re playing in an elimination or leaderboard blackjack tournament, you always need to be aware of what stage you’re in.

This is important because you must know when it’s time to start betting big or scaling back based on your standing. Let’s look an example below:

• You’re in an elimination blackjack event.
• The top two players from each table move on.
• The first round lasts 8 hands.
• You’re on hand 8 and need to gain 1,500 chips on the second highest chip stack to move on.
• This means you can bet over 1,500 chips to give yourself a chance at advancing.

Overall, the best strategy is one that keeps you within striking distance of the table/tournament leader, yet also helps you stay in the tourney by not risking your chip stack too early.

Conclusion

Two of the best things about blackjack tourneys include the following:

These aspects help keep blackjack among the most popular styles of gambling tournaments.

If you haven’t played in a blackjack tournament yet, then I highly suggest that you do so. Not only does the strategy include another layer, but it’s also fun to enjoy blackjack in a different format that involves chasing tournament prizes.

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