What would your strategy be for the first three rounds of this tournament? It's a mix of accumulation and elimination tournament, with 56 players, no re-buys. Each player first plays 3 rounds: 1st round: 10'000 chips, 21 hands, bet range 20-1'000. Winner gets 10 points, 2nd 8 pts, 3rd 6 pts, 4th 4 pts, 5th 2 pts 2nd round: 10'000 chips, 21 hands, bet range 20-NO LIMIT. Same points again for winner, etc. 3rd round: 10'000 chips, 21 hands, bet range starts at 20-1'000, minimum increases by 20 with each hand (21th hand: 420-1'000). Same points again. After the first 3 rounds, the best 28 players proceed to the semi final: ALL winners of each table in rounds 1-3 plus the ones with the highest total point scores from rounds 1-3. If you manage to win 2 tables, you get 30% more chips for the semi final (13'000). The semi final and final are played in normal elimination style. Thanks in advance for your ideas!
If I'm reading this correctly, starting with 56 players, that makes 8 tables of 7 players per round. So, 24 of the semi-final seats will go to the table winners (assuming none wins 2 tables) and only 4 to the top point winners of the remaining 32. If that assumption is correct, I would just play the same as an single advance elimination table and not worry too much about the accumulation advancing players.
Switzerland tournaments Hi Sota, I recall one of the German players on here mentioning Blackjack tournaments in Switzerland. Can you provide any further details or a link to the casino? Thanks. Andy
@ Toolman1: good point, I would guess that some players might well win 2x or even 3x, increasing the number of top point winners. As far as I know, this is their first tournament where each table winner qualifies automatically. I agree to go for table wins, also because of the additional chips you get for 2 or 3 table wins. @ Andy 956: the link is http://www.grandcasinobaden.ch/ the casino's focus is on poker, not blackjack tournaments. they have very restrictive rules, ie. double on 9,10,11 only and no surrender... Do you think that the different bet ranges in rounds 2 & 3 ask for differing betting strategies?
Round 2 with "no limit" calls for a little more aggression in my experience. See how the table is running for the first 5 to 7 hands. If you are falling behind, be prepared to bet more aggressively to catch up. From my experience, the key to winning a no limit table is to be BR1 going into the last hand and don't be shy about going "all in" on the last hand to protect your lead if you have 2 or more players that can pass you. Try to keep enough chips to have the low on the last hand but forgo the low if you need to bet those extra chips to keep the high - again, if 2 or more players can pass you. Ya, it's a lot of luck on the last hand playing "no limit". As to the third round, play your normal game with a little more aggression. You'll need the extra chips in the middle and end game to survive the higher minimum bets. GOOD LUCK!!!
