Blackjack Tournaments - Basic Strategy

Blackjack Tournaments - The Game

Hold’em Blackjack Tournaments are played at sites on the Cryptologic network (Littlewoods, Sun, William Hill and many others). It is spread as both a cash game and as a Sit n Go.
The cash games have little traffic, so this guide concentrates on the Sit n Go’s, played 6 handed with blinds and antes.

The small blind is half the big blind, the ante is half the small blind. So at a full 6-handed table there is a total of 3 big blinds on the table at the start of each hand.

Blinds start at 50-100 with a 25 ante, players start with 5000 chips (50 big blinds).

In Blackjack Tournaments players are dealt a hole card face down, followed by a round of betting.
Surviving players receive a second card face up, followed by a round of betting.
Players in turn then “hit” up to 5 more cards each, dealt face down.
After a final round of betting, any remaining players show down and the best hand wins.

In Blackjack Tournaments hands are counted blackjack style: pictures are 10, aces are 1 or 11, the others are pip value.

The best hand is 7 Card Charlie: 7 cards that total 21 or lower.

Then come normal blackjack hands, totalling 21 or lower: 21 is best, then 20, etc. There is nothing special about an Ace and a picture, it’s just another 21.

Finally come the “bust” hands over 21: 22 is best, then 23 etc.

Blackjack Tournaments - The First Round

In the first round in Blackjack Tournaments, all you have is your hole card. There is a round of betting, fixed limit style, bets and raises equal to the big blind, capped at four bets.

Position is paramount in Blackjack Tournaments . I recommend a tight aggressive style in order to gain an edge over the excessively loose play that seems to be normal in most games.

From early position play only good cards. Play with a raise if first in: if the pot is larger it is harder for the button to steal it. There are 4 good cards in this game and they are all aces. I suppose you have to play other cards once in a while to just to mix it up and stave off the boredom, but keep it down.

10 J Q K are better than other cards; a score of 20 wins quite a few pots. All the other cards are junk, but tiny cards are slightly better than bigger cards.

From the button, you would like to just play with aces or tens, but this makes you too predictable. I suggest raising with pretty much any card most of the time if no-one is in yet. At a loose passive or loose aggressive table you will have to find a balance.

From the blinds, you will usually play what you are dealt if the pot is unraised, but just like in hold’em you can do a lot of damage to your stack from the blinds unless you are careful.

Blackjack Tournaments - The Second Round

Everyone gets a card face up. There is a round of betting, limit style, bets and raises twice what they were on the first round, capped at four bets.

If you catch a pretty looking card (10 or A) you should try to assume table captaincy. Position is once again paramount because others get to act first giving you a chance to assess what their hole card is.

Often you will win the pot on this round by aggressive play with a good card – but if the betting was capped in the first round your opponents are likely to be making an error by declining to draw with the odds.

With a bad card, assess whether you have the pot odds to play or whether you may have the chance of making your opponents fold.

The tables below will help you decide what chance you have of making your hand so that you can calculate the pot odds:





Blackjack Tournaments - The Draw

Each player in turn gets to “hit” up to 5 times, receiving cards one at a time face down.

Position is paramount and affects whether you take cards or not.

In early position, you have only two choices:
try and make a decent score
try and set up a bluff.

You will have to decide what a good score is depending on the other players’ up cards. There are occasions when you need to draw a card. E.g. if you have an 8 showing you can’t stand pat if there is a 9 or 10 behind you: they will just stand pat, bet the max on the last round and push you off. Therefore you should take at least one card to leave them in the dark. Who knows, you might hit: even with (10)-8 there’s a 25% chance of improving. And if the button has (3)-10 you will force him to take a card instead of bluffing you!

In summary, out of position you can usually only stand pat with A or 10 showing.

On the button, however, it is very different. Your decision will depend on
the size of the pot. If the pot is small you have bluffing opportunities in a moment, but this is weakened if you draw to a good upcard.
whether the early positions took cards or not; you should be more likely to stand with a good upcard if so since they may not be able to call you.
Whether the early positions took cards and may have busted; sometimes you can stand on 13 or 14 when early position 10s and 9s take cards.
what baskets of hands you put the early positions on. If they haven’t drawn, do they have (A)? or just (10) or (9)?
whether your hand is strong enough to win a showdown. Sometimes you have to draw to (A)-A because there is too much chance they will call!

Blackjack Tournaments - The Final Betting Round

In the last round of betting, bets can be between 2 and 10 big blinds. This is often enough for a challenging bet unless the pot is very large.

Once again, position is paramount: the button has the power to decide whether to showdown for a small pot or try to play for a big one.

The River Principle, familiar from Texas hold’em, does not apply in quite the same way in Hold’em Blackjack. This is because you have less information on your opponent’s possible hands. It may still be right for you to check it down with a moderate hand, but if you are out of position the check is likely to induce a bet that you may have to call.

Of course, the early position player does have check-raising possibilities against the habitual button bluffer.

Blackjack Tournaments - The Endgame

Short-handed and heads-up it is necessary to loosen up. The similarity to Hold’em Poker is very obvious in short-handed play, and aggression is vital, even more important than the cards. In typical Hold’em poker games, the short-handed stage is over very quickly.

So there you have it. A deceptively simple game that has quite a lot of play. More skilful than straight blackjack or draw poker but less skilful than hold’em or stud. Play it tight, play it aggressive and take down the pots.

By the way, you may have noticed that I have had nothing to say about the 7 Card Charlie. This is because it is so infrequent that it doesn’t affect play in any significant way. I haven’t had one yet. Next time I have a (A)-2 or (A)-A I suppose I could try drawing 5 more cards and then betting like a maniac, but I don’t expect it will work.

Have fun!

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