playing in a black jack tourney

[cabletech94]

tomorrow afternoon at a casino.

what are your tournament do's and don'ts.
looks like 3 tables of 6. $500 in chips to start. (after looking a bit more in depth, 4 start times each w/ 3 tables of 6 people).

i've played at the tables for years. but never a tournament. obviously the person with the most chips at the end wins. just wondering if my other degenerate gambling friends play this. and what's the best (winning) strategy to go in with.

thanks in advance,

CT94

[TLO]

Originally Posted by cabletech94

hey my new buddy: no duh!!!

sorry, my sarcasm light was not flashing.

just playing, braugh.....

Ok good!

[cabletech94]

Originally Posted by theelusiveeightrop

Where will you be? PM me.

PM sent, fooooooo!

[Renegade]

I have played in one. Usually a time limit. How many decks are you playing? Dealing out of shoe or hand? Who is assigned to first base, that is where you can control the table. The thing you can't plan for is what the inexperienced player will do. If they split 10's against a dealers 6, it make take 2 to 3 hands to recover. If single deck it evens your odds a little. I like to bet little in the beginning, then more aggressive towards the end of the time limit.

[cabletech94]

Originally Posted by Renegade

I have played in one. Usually a time limit. How many decks are you playing? Dealing out of shoe or hand? Who is assigned to first base, that is where you can control the table. The thing you can't plan for is what the inexperienced player will do. If they split 10's against a dealers 6, it make take 2 to 3 hands to recover. If single deck it evens your odds a little. I like to bet little in the beginning, then more aggressive towards the end of the time limit.

this is great info. thanks renegade!!

more than likely 6 deck. that's standard at most casinos, right? and im sure it would be machine shuffled.

[In58men]

Originally Posted by Sofa King

In your case it’s when you go to KFC to order chicken and instead of ordering a bucket of chicken for your whole family you “double down” and order two just for yourself.

Coming from the guy who has never seen the inside of a gym

[TimeForWasp]

Originally Posted by theelusiveeightrop

Watch “Casino” , find a buddy, and use a signaling device.

If In48men was there you could use smoke signals.

[KCrockaholic]

Originally Posted by In58men

Coming from the guy who has never seen the inside of a gym

Where's that pic of you holding a dildo by your face?

[kccrow]

I used to deal Black Jack in a Casino, lol. Here's what I can say from the dealer... If you're counting, but tipping me nice, I'm oblivious. The eyes in the sky will catch up to you if you're not relatively discreet. There's not rules against it, it's just the Casino doesn't like to get taken. There's nothing wrong with playing cards smart. My advice there, learn to count cards.

You can't count cards, so here's some basics on playing the hand out (these may change a bit with count, but its not that big of a deal).

Your Total/Dealers Up/Your Strat (H/S/D for Hit Stand Double)
9/26/D, 9/7A/H
10/29/D, 10/10A/H
11/2A/D
H12/23/H, H12/46/S, H12/7A/H
H13/26/S, H13/7A/H
H14-16/26/S, H14-16/7A/H
H17-21/2A/S
S13-16/23/H, S13-16/46/D, S13-16/7A/H
S17/26/D, S17/7A/H
S18/2,78,A/S, S18/36/D, S18/910/H
S19-21/2A/S

How to read that...
Say you're looking at H12/46/S... On your Hard 12, with dealer having a 4 through 6 up, Stand. Another (10/29/D), on your 10, dealer having 2 through 9 up, Double.

Always split As and 8s.
Never split 10s and 5s.
Never take Insurance (because you can't count. If you can, you're buying information).

You normally raise bets agains the count. The more favorable the deck, the more you increase your wager. But you can't count cards.

I'd probably try hard to at least pay attention to the 10s that go out and increase wagers as the shoe ends if you have a favorable deck in that regard. Easy count is +1 for 3-6 and -1 for 10. Divide this by approximate half decks in the shoe to get your "true count" approximation. If it's +, increase your bet. A solid rule would be to add a chip to your wager for every whole number your true count is + (although you'd want to start doubling that at +3 if you were being smart).

It's hard to win in Black Jack by blindly increasing your wagers. If you can't/won't count, then I'd try to be semi-consistent with your bets.

[KCrockaholic]

kccrow you're saying learn to count cards, then saying you can't count cards. Great post. I like it. But I'm confused.

I learned how to count cards throughout all of 2016. I practice at home occasionally now. But I never used it at a real table.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Renegade

I have played in one. Usually a time limit. How many decks are you playing? Dealing out of shoe or hand? Who is assigned to first base, that is where you can control the table. The thing you can't plan for is what the inexperienced player will do. If they split 10's against a dealers 6, it make take 2 to 3 hands to recover. If single deck it evens your odds a little. I like to bet little in the beginning, then more aggressive towards the end of the time limit.

This is absolutely irrelevant. A dumb move by another player has just as much chance to help you as hurt you.

And splitting 10s is an aggressive move that might be a good one in a tournament if you are behind and need to play catch-up.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Renegade

I have played in one. Usually a time limit. How many decks are you playing? Dealing out of shoe or hand? Who is assigned to first base, that is where you can control the table. The thing you can't plan for is what the inexperienced player will do. If they split 10's against a dealers 6, it make take 2 to 3 hands to recover. If single deck it evens your odds a little. I like to bet little in the beginning, then more aggressive towards the end of the time limit.

This is also pretty irrelevant, unless you are an advanced card counter. Otherwise, what difference does it really make in a tournament if you're playing single deck or 6?

[KCrockaholic]

1 tip I like to give is to use the unit ladder system.

In games like Baccarat and blackjack, if you're not counting cards in blackjack, then use the ladder system. Basically start at the minimum bet. Regardless of how low it is, just start there. When you win a hand, stay at your base bet. When you lose a hand, add one unit towards the next hand.

For instance, the base bet is $5. You lose that bet. Add 1 unit. Your bet is now $10. You lose that bet. Your next bet is now $15. Now say you win that bet, you move back down to $10. Keep track of your bets, don't lose track of your ladder. It's all about bankroll.

If every bettor left the casino or quit gambling after being up $40 the casinos would go bankrupt. The problem is people always have this urge to hit a certain $ goal amount when they walk into the casino. It's EASY to get up $40 at a table game. But you can do that within 10 minutes. It's not fun for people to leave after 10 minutes. They keep playing until they end up losing.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by KCrockaholic

Where's that pic of you holding a dildo by your face?

[KCrockaholic]

Originally Posted by TLO

Dodger Dodging Dildos, nice.

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by kccrow

I used to deal Black Jack in a Casino, lol. Here's what I can say from the dealer... If you're counting, but tipping me nice, I'm oblivious. The eyes in the sky will catch up to you if you're not relatively discreet. There's not rules against it, it's just the Casino doesn't like to get taken. There's nothing wrong with playing cards smart. My advice there, learn to count cards.

You can't count cards, so here's some basics on playing the hand out (these may change a bit with count, but its not that big of a deal).

Your Total/Dealers Up/Your Strat (H/S/D for Hit Stand Double)
9/26/D, 9/7A/H
10/29/D, 10/10A/H
11/2A/D
H12/23/H, H12/46/S, H12/7A/H
H13/26/S, H13/7A/H
H14-16/26/S, H14-16/7A/H
H17-21/2A/S
S13-16/23/H, S13-16/46/D, S13-16/7A/H
S17/26/D, S17/7A/H
S18/2,78,A/S, S18/36/D, S18/910/H
S19-21/2A/S

How to read that...
Say you're looking at H12/46/S... On your Hard 12, with dealer having a 4 through 6 up, Stand. Another (10/29/D), on your 10, dealer having 2 through 9 up, Double.

Always split As and 8s.
Never split 10s and 5s.
Never take Insurance (because you can't count. If you can, you're buying information).

You normally raise bets agains the count. The more favorable the deck, the more you increase your wager. But you can't count cards.

I'd probably try hard to at least pay attention to the 10s that go out and increase wagers as the shoe ends if you have a favorable deck in that regard. Easy count is +1 for 3-6 and -1 for 10. Divide this by approximate half decks in the shoe to get your "true count" approximation. If it's +, increase your bet. A solid rule would be to add a chip to your wager for every whole number your true count is + (although you'd want to start doubling that at +3 if you were being smart).

It's hard to win in Black Jack by blindly increasing your wagers. If you can't/won't count, then I'd try to be semi-consistent with your bets.

Good shit here...