Tuna Dave's Blackjack Diary

IP Blackjack Tournament - Final Chapter

Well, I gave it my best effort, but came up short in the second round of the Imperial Palace Blackjack Tournament.

I was in second place with five hands to go. All six of us were bunched up closely. First place had $850; I had $840; and the last place guy had around $600. So, I knew it was going to be interesting - and stressful - which it was.

Imperial Palace BJ Tournament - Round One

Much to my amazement, I made it through the first round and qualified for the second round!

I played a very conservative strategy all the way through the session while the other five players were betting all over the place.

Although this was my first experience in a blackjack tournament, I am amazed how accurately the Casino Verite software replicates a real-world experience. From the three weeks of computer practice, I was able to watch how other players bet, keep track of their chips, and determine a betting strategy. Even before the tournament, I was impressed with this product. Now, I am simply in awe of its capacity to assist in learning how to play quality blackjack, both in regular play and in tournaments.

Preparing For the Tournament is Stressful

When I signed up for next weekend's blackjack tournament at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas, I thought it would be fun to try my luck at it. At the time, I had not paid much attention to how popular these tournaments had become and how sophisticated the strategies for tournament play had become.

I started reading Stanford Wong's Casino Tournament Strategy for basic information on play and betting strategies, and started testing these various strategies on the Casino Verite software.

Far from being "fun," this process has turned out to be very frustrating and stressful.

World Series of Blackjack

For those of you who are not aware, GSN, formerly the Game Show Network, is broadcasting a seven-episode series called "World Series of Blackjack."

Courtesy of Blackjacktournaments.com, I am providing you with a schedule of the upcoming shows, with the dates and times of broadcasts with repeats.

On DirecTV, GSN is channel 309. On DishNetwork, GSN is channel 116. On your local cable network, check your listings.

Here are the schedules for each episode. Times are Eastern Time:

Episode 1: James Grosjean, Connie Desimone, Regina Guzior, Anthony Curtis, Michael Konik
3/15 at 10pm repeating at 11pm, 1am, and 2am
3/16 at 11pm repeating at 2am
3/17 at 5pm
3/18 at 9pm repeating at 12am
3/19 at 7pm
3/20 at 2pm
3/21 at 5pm

Episode 2: Joanna "Queen of Spades", Kenny Einiger, Dave Stann, Susan Pikor, MIT Mike
3/22 at 10pm repeating at 1am
3/23 at 11pm repeating at 2am
3/27 at 2pm

Episode 3:Bradley Peterson, Micky Rosa, Ashwin Patel, Bobby J, Cat Hulbert
3/29 at 10pm repeating at 1am
3/30 at 11pm repeating at 2am
4/3 at 2pm

Episode 4: Previn Mankodi, Ann Van Dyke, Stanford Wong, Nick Dillon, Jimmy Pine
4/5 at 10pm repeating at 1am
4/6 at 11pm repeating at 2am
4/10 at 2pm

Episode 5: Ken Smith, Skip Samad, Jane Gamble, Richard Munchkin, Frank DeRocco
4/12 at 10pm repeat at 1am
4/13 at 11pm repeat at 2am
4/17 2pm

The Wild Card episode will air at the following times:
4/19 at 10pm repeating at 1am
4/20 at 11pm repeating at 2am
4/24 at 2pm

The Finals will air at the following times:
4/26 at 10pm repeating at 1am
4/27 at 11pm repeating at 2am
5/1 at 2pm

If you want to discuss the shows afterward, log onto the message boards at BlackjackTournaments.com.

Rules of the IP Blackjack Tournament

Following are the rules, entry fee and payouts for the blackjack tournament to be held at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas on April 9-11:

The entry fee for the tournament is $325. Each registrant will have the opportunity to re-enter two times at $100 for each re-entry.

There are four rounds, "pyramid fashion." My understanding is that the total number of players will be limited to about 300, but I don't know the exact number. During the first round, either one or two players from each table will move on to the second round. The number of total registrations will determine whether it is one or two in this first round. However, in the rounds two and three only one person from each table will progress. At the end of the third round, there will only be six players left, all of whom will move on to the final round.

Imperial Palace Blackjack Tournament

I am embarking on a new voyage with my blackjack play: I have taken the plunge and have entered the Blackjack Tournament scheduled for April 9-11 at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas.

The entry fee is $325. Yes, that is a bit steep. However, the payoff is potentially $20,000 if I should be so lucky as to win.

I have never played in a blackjack tournament, but I have wanted to for a long time. I figured that now is as good a time as any to try my luck. After reading about how blackjack tournaments work, card counters do not seem to have any advantage in a tournament, since money management is critical. It seems that my basic strategy play, combined with my bet progression system, has as good a chance as anybody else in a "short-run" event. So, it seems worth the risk to me.

Needless to say, I will post messages during the event and after, to let you all know how it went and how I did.

In a separate post, I will set out the rules of this tournament.