Tournaments are a fun way to play blackjack, but in a different way than most people are used to.
I personally think that blackjack tournaments are fun because instead of competing against the dealer like a standard game of blackjack, you compete with other players. This brings a whole new element to the table as you’re having to change your strategies to adjust to each individual opponent. This keeps you on your toes, all the while keeping the game interesting.
Now, if blackjack tournaments sound like the game for you, then great. But before you rush out to find the best blackjack site to play tournaments at, you should do your research first. You’ll want to keep the following in mind when you do.
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Blackjack Tournament Variations
I’m a big fan of variety. Even a game that is as fun as blackjack can get boring if you’re playing it day in and day out. So having the option to play different variations of blackjack is a huge bonus.
You’ll find that there are a few different variations of blackjack tournaments. These include single and multi table games, as well as sit and go’s which are smaller versions of tournaments. There is also elimination blackjack which has been increasing in popularity over the last couple of years.
It was a bit shocking for me, but there are casinos out there that even offer tournaments in different game variations too. Many of the casinos I looked at offer both Vegas Strip and Perfect Pairs.
Overall, with some effort on your part (and a little bit of help from us), you can definitely find a site that has great blackjack game variety, even for tournament players.
Blackjack Tournament Traffic
Traffic is important if you want to play blackjack tournaments. Although it will matter more for blackjack SNGs.
In regards to tournaments, traffic is important because most times the prize pool is affected by how many people sign up to play. The less people that play, the less there is to win. The exception to this is if there is a guaranteed prize pool.
For sit and go’s, traffic is a big deal. The reason being is that sit and go’s don’t start unless all the seats fill up, hence the name. So the more traffic there is, the faster the games will fill and start. The games will run more consistently too.
Blackjack Tournament Frequency
If I’m signing up to a site to play blackjack tournaments, than that’s what I want to play. So how often blackjack tournaments run is going to be a big deal to me.
It’ll take some shopping around, but you can definitely find sites that are running blackjack tournaments 3 times a week, if not more. This doesn’t include sit and go’s either. These will run more often (several times a day depending on the site(s)).
You’ll want to be sure to check for times too. If the tournaments only run once a day, 3 times a week, it’s certainly not going to be friendly for every time zone. So you might have to do a little extra legwork to find a site that offers tournaments at times convenient for your schedule.
Blackjack Tournament Buy-Ins
You shouldn’t have too much of an issue finding blackjack tournaments you can afford to play in. Most tournaments are going to be in the $5 to $10 range. You can find blackjack tournaments in the $1-ish range too.
The real trouble (for me) was trying to find tournaments with larger buy-ins than $10. If you’re looking for a bigger fix than what a $10 blackjack tournament can give you, you’ll need to do some looking around. I haven’t been able to find one myself. You might even want to play more blackjack sit and go’s or even play some live tournaments if you need to play in games with higher buy-ins.
Blackjack Tournament Prize Pools
Another thing I look at when shopping for a blackjack tournament site are the prize pools.
Prize pools at many sites will just consist of the pot. In other words, it only consists of what’s put into it from people buying in.
However, you’ll find other sites that have a predetermined prize pool or guarantee — sometimes in addition to the standard prize pools. These are the tournaments to look for as there could be overlays. Overlays are games where the prize pool is not met due to a lack of players, so the rest comes from the site itself. Since there are fewer players to go through, the games should be easier, not to mention that each payout will receive more money than usual too.