Chips needed and breakdown to host a mini blackjack tournament ?

PlayHunter

PlayHunter

Active Member
I am thinking at inviting some poker friends to have a mini blackjack tournament. But I am hoping to only use the chips we have, yet I am afraid that for 8 players, this might not be easy, if possible at all...

Anyway, if this mini blackjack tournament will prove to be entertaining for my friends, I might buy some more chips to not have the worry that the chips will not be enough if bets are big and dealer keeps busting.

The chips I have at the moment are as follow: 120 x 0.25, 120 x 1, 60 x 5, 80 x 25, 80 x 100, 80 x 500, 60 x 1000. But I am thinking we might only use 25, 100 and 500 denominations and coloring up with 1000s once stacks get 2000 or more. I am thinking to tweak the rules to fit the need for small amount of chips and needed denominations: something like minimum bet 25, (max bet 500 - is this too big ?), blackjack pays 2 to 1, bet increments of 25 only. (I don`t know if double for less would make life harder ?) - Would be better if I would make minimum bet 50, and betting increments also 50, so I can introduce the option to surrender ?

I think one important point to make is that my friends are not very well experienced with blackjack tournaments, (they pretty much know the basics of the blackjack game, but they are not familiar with double for less for example) most of them probably never played in blackjack tournament before. What I want is to balance the rules so it will be easy to learn and remember and also have a strong skill element.

As for the game format I also want to be quick and entertaining with attractive payouts: 10 hands for semifinals, and 15 hands for the final table - if we are playing with only 3 players, the winner will take 100% of the pot, if we play 4 or 5 players, first place will get 75% of the pot and runner up 25%, if we play 6 to 8 players, there will be two tables in semifinals with 2 players from each table advancing to the final.

But I am thinking if it is more entertaining when we play with 6 players to have two tables of 3 people and only one advance. And the final will be a heads up game where also the winner gets 75% of the pot?

Or it can be more attractive if we play it like a double-up tourney (this will be possible only when we start with 4 or 6 or 8 players) where we play only one table, and the top half of the field gets double money?

*When we are 7 players at the start (there will be 2 tables with top 2 advance), to decide who gets at the 3 man table we will all have to roll with a pair of dice, and top 3 who roll the biggest numbers will get there.

I do not have any other details right now in my head so I am waiting suggestions and breakdowns for the needed chips and some optimal distributions of these.. I have racks of 20 chips per barrel.. Thank you all !

PS: About the tournament and payout format probably I should ask my friends first, but as a first opinion I believe they may be "biased" from our usual poker tourney payout which is: 60%, 25% 15% of the pot.
 
You can always use written markers if you run out of chips. To keep folks interested, I would go with fewer players at each table. This will give everyone the feeling that they have a chance to advance. To enhance the skill element, make the maximum big enough so that it is useful, but not so big as to make gaining a useful lead impossible. I think that a max of 1/2 the starting bankroll strikes a good balance.

Have fun and good luck in trying to turn your friends on to blackjack tourneys!
 
Sounds like fun. If it goes well other members might consider it as a practice method for their forays into the "live" tournament world. Sustaining interest among a circle of friends, kind of like the regular weekly house poker game might be a challenge.. But it could also be a preliminary event, for a change up, to that weekly house poker game. Again, live real circumstance practice at very low risk makes your idea outstanding. As for chip quantity and total amount,too bad Tex isn't trolling. He'd have an exact answer for you. Other wise gronbog makes sense with markers. Let us know how it goes.
 
I have found only 2 buddies for a mini blackjack tournament. Both of my partners said they liked this game (specially the heads up format), but they still enjoy more a turbo poker game because they feel they don`t have enough time to learn all basic strategies to offer a good competition in a bjt.

We ran two tournaments with all 3 players at one table (it felt interesting but not as entertaining as heads up), and a couple more in heads up format. Each player got 20x0.25 + 10x1 + 1x5 for a total bankroll of 20 at start. (when playing 3 players I told the other two to not be big from the start because this would lower their chances of advancing and more painfully probably we will have to keep scores on paper if everyone wins and we run out of chips)

For the heads up format the starting bankrolls were the same as well. One fortunate player was sent directly to the final match. To decide who was the fortunate one each player drawn one card from a fresh shuffled deck (Aces = 11, K = 14) and the highest got the golden ticket. - If top cards matched same rank, then both players had to draw another card, and the other player had to keep his initial card for a second chance - if both players have now drawn a card smaller than the player who kept his card, then they will both go to the semifinal and the initial underdog will catch the golden ticket.


I made the rules very sweet (with a twist): player Blackjack is instant win and pays 3 to 2 even after splits, min bet 0.5 & max 10. Betting increments 0.5 Starting bankroll 20 (chips were plenty for heads up), 10 hands per game, with 2 decks of cards dealt out to the last hand (if a hand in any round was running out of cards all the discarded cards were reshuffled and dealt) No hole card, player splits (except blackjack after split which are instant win) and doubles are lost if the dealer has blackjack and the player did not took insurance. Insurance pays 2 to 1 and covers all subsequent (re)/splits and doubles. (players who got initial blackjack can not take insurance) No double for less, no surrender for less, no insurance for less, no secret bets. Unlimited (re)/splits allowed and the player can choose which (re)/split hand to play firstly (if he has 3 splits on the table, he can ask the dealer to deal cards for his last split hand).

Impressions: Saturday was a nice experience for me, and I hope I`ll have a bjt game with my 2 buddies from time to time. But wasn`t what I expected.
 
Sounds like you had a good time. It also sounds like they were interested but felt that they lacked the basic knowledge to play a competitive tournament. Perhaps they would be interested in a bjt clinic to start. That is, play the tournaments, but with the goal of discussing each situation as it arises. It would probably take all evening to play one or two tournaments, but it would likely be very educational. Start with heads up and progress to the 3 player tournaments. You could perhaps even set up some of the situations we've discussed here.

Once they are feeling more confident you can take it up a notch by allowing double for less, double on blackjack, insurance for less and surrender. These all allow for more skillful plays. Also the instant blackjacks, especially after splitting, add to the luck factor. I would remove this rule.
 
Yes, we had a good time. Probably I will try to play the game and explain what would be best for each case in part, thanks for this idea !

Double, insurance and surrender for less - I think will be problematic with the actual chips, probably we will need a better configuration..

But I am not sure I agree with you that blackjack after split increase the luck factor, especially with 2 decks in play full dealt and 10 rounds ?
- I think keeping track of aces (and 10s - Hi Lo) should add more to the skill factor ? (specially when there are 5-6 cards left on round 7-8)
 
Well, I don't think we need to re-open the whole counting-during-tourmament-rounds can of worms, but perhaps tracking aces under these conditions could be of value, I suppose.
 
You are right, anyway I`ve set up the tournament to favor more the luck, so they can feel easier to win. (like drawing cards to the final lucky seat)
 
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