Blackjack Tournaments

Blackjack is undoubtedly one of the most widely spread card games in the world. Still few people know that blackjack tournaments
are totally different than usual blackjack games played in a casino,
the only thing in common in both styles being play against a dealer.
To begin with, in tournament play the size of each of
the opponents’ stack at the end of each round is what matters most. It
means each of the players risks his entire remaining stack at the end of
each round of a game.
Tournaments usually involve a certain number of game
stages, named rounds. Depending on tournaments’ regulations each round
can include a certain number of hands usually ranging from 10 and up to
30 with players at the table to start each round with an equal number of
chips. The winner of the round is the player who manages to get the
highest stacks in the final hand and it is him who goes to the next
round. In some tournaments quick single table games are played with the
player possessing the highest stack to be named the winner of the
tournament.
In a quick single table tournament a player is capable of winning the
total stacks of his opponents after the payment of the minimum entry fee
provided that he accumulates more chips than any other players.
Moreover, single table tournaments are not played against the house and
are considered to be fairer as compared to blackjack against the house
due to 100% pay off chances.
Despite all differences between the usual blackjack and tournament blackjack,
the dealer rule is in force for both. As the player to act first is in a
disadvantageous position, there is always a dealer chip at the table to
define the first player to act which is usually passed on from player
to player in turn. The majority of tournaments, though, have a rule of
picking a dealer at random. Usually a dealer is picked by either handing
each player 5 cards to find out the player with the best hand who then
becomes the dealer. Another way is to keep dealing each player with a
single card until somebody gets an Ace and becomes a dealer.