Does anyone frequent a particular cruise ship that offers blackjack tournaments? I know sometimes they offer a small buy in tournament once or twice per cruise.. I am just looking for what cruise line is most likely to put on a tournament. Thank you.
What are you looking for? Do you want a cruise line that will put one on or one that will let you put one on?
I'm sure he's looking to play in one. Every cruise I've been on had some sort of tournament, although the format usually leaves a lot to be desired. Generally, I believe they are accumulation events that last the entire week. The best strategy is wait until the last few hours and see what score it will take to win it. Then go all-out until you reach the target. I haven't played these, so anyone with more experience please correct any errors in my description.
Leaderboard Format The only cruise ship blackjack tournament I ever played in (not including TBJPA) was on Holland America. This was before I ever bought Stanford Wong's book or had ever played in a serious tourney. It went something like this: Buy in. Play 10 hands. If you have enough to be in the top seven of the day, your name and score get added to the leaderboard. If you're the one in 7th, you get knocked off the leaderboard if someone scores higher. There are no scheduled rounds, you just buy in and play. If several people are waiting to play they'll all be seated. The seven leaderboard players played a final table. The top prize was a free cruise. The rest of the prizes were things like shirts and shipboard credits. I noticed one guy who waited until late in the day before the qualifiers ended. I was in 7th on the leaderboard. He bought in, and bet big until he either busted out or got on the leaderboard. He bought in two or three times until he knocked me off the leaderboard. When I bought in to try to get back on, he seated himself to my left, bought in, and worked to stay ahead of me. We both busted out, so he sat and waited to see if I would try again. I gave up.
Monkey's right on Monkey's description of the typical shipboard BJ tournament is very accurate. The only item where my experience with these tournaments differs is in the prize. The majority offer cash or chips - usually in the range of $500 for first place. Sometimes they pay three places - and give token items like t-shirts to the others at the final table. On some ships they use the winner take all format and only offer a major prize to the winner. The "wait till the last half hour" technique to enter is probably the smartest and most effective - because the target amount needed to make the final table is known.
