Made it to 2nd rd but in a weird way... I was in 2nd place going into the last hand and was on the button. 2 advanced. BR1 bet last (to the right of me) and had roughly 1850. BR2 was me and had 1675 and bet 1st. BR3 had 1350 so I bet 300, taking the low BR4 and BR5 have like 800 to 1100 so wasn't focusing on them. Cards came Hard 13 vs 2 for me, Hard 14 for BR3. I stood. Correctly realizing he wouldn't beat me with his hand, he took a hit and got a 5, now he's got 19. I shuddered because now he advances if dealer gets 17 or 18. Dealer ended up breaking but I only calculated the low (since I bet 1st!) and thought that he edged me out since it seemed like he bet at least 500! Turns out he ended up betting 600 since he ended up with 1950, exactly 25 less than me! Had he simply DD or bet 2 quarters more, he'd have edged ME out with 2000 to my 1975! Whew! What a round and that was just the 1st one... <wipes sweat off brow> Round 2 tmrw.
I would rather take 2nd high here than 2nd low. If either BR3 or BR4 win their hand, you are sunk. Unless of course they don’t bet enough, as in this case!
Ah... I see! Bec there were multiple players who were all in it last hand I should've protected myself from the high... Now IF there were only the top 3 of us then me taking the low would be correct move, since I'm BR2 and the dealer beating us has a 56% likelihood vs 44% of me winning a hand, right?
Correct. In general, if only one person can catch you, you’re better off with the low. If two or more can catch you, the high is preferred.
I guess the pressure of the situation got to me as I ONLY thought of taking the low.... I can't make such a rookie mistake in the future!
So in other words my ideal bet should've been 1050, to edge BR3 out by 25 if he wins an all-in bet and end up BR2, correct?
Today (1/29/21) is another CET 150K Blackjack tournament, this one at Harrah's. I'll repeat what I've said in the past... play in as many of the CET 150K tournaments as possible because with 3 players per table in all rounds due to Covid-19, good players have a distinct advantage. If you are unfortunate enough to bet first on the final hand, then the only goal of all previous hands is to get the chip lead. The tournaments are well run and usually have a re-buy of only $100. Prizes are paid through 50th place (semi-finals). Last weekend I made it to the semi-finals in the Baccarat tournament at Paris Las Vegas and was in the money. I was disappointed that the final hand was not a secret bet as is common everywhere else. On the final hand I had to bet first and with 2 players behind me I had no chance. Final hand secret bets are necessary in baccarat tournaments! Much of blackjack strategy applies to baccarat and there is less pressure because there are no secondary decisions (doubling or splitting). Again, currently only 3 players per table. Members should try a baccarat tournament sometime. Member JoeP addresses running chip counts in a 2007 baccarat forum post. Likewise, very good strategy discussions between gronbog, S.Yama, London Colin and Ken Smith can be found in 2013-2014 posts in the same forum.
