Betting small stragegy vs Wong's strategy

I've been playing tournaments regularly as a part time job and in my tournament experience, I've noticed some of the "old guys" keep betting table minimum until the next to last hand or the last hand, depending on the players' chips, these guys either go all in or bet table minimum again (very rarely that I see these guys bet something in between table mininum or maximum). These guys does not seem to worry much about other players' chips count and they keep the same playing style day after day. The strange thing is that these guys are usually the ones making it to the final table. My question is: mathematically, which playing strategy is better in the long run, Wong's strategy as discussed in his tournament book or the strategy I just discussed? Wong's strategy seems to be too much brain work while the strategy I just discussed is so easy to learn that even a fool can do it.

 

That IS Wong's strategy

that is, betting the minimum til the last few hands or so, provided you don't fall too far behind too many players. its actually a pretty solid strategy when playing many local, small buy-in tourneys that are mostly populated by amateur players. obviously, wong offers more in-depth strategy (especially final hand strategy), but you will find as you graduate to the bigger tourneys with larger prize pools and more professional players, wong's teachings alone are not enough. there are many advancements that have been made over the years, as far as additional types of bets and traps, as well as a more calculated aggression than you will find in wong's book, that are necessary for competing against other top players. as far as your part-time gig playing the smaller tourneys, i would encourage you to study wong, as his strategies are the most effective there.

-holly d.

 

Are there better strategies out there?

BJ tournament has existed for a long time, but I find it surprising that there are only a couple of BJT strategy books out there. The book that is written by Ken that came out recently only go over the surface of BJT strategy and does not go as in depth as Wong's book. I bet Ken still has numerous tricks up his sleeve and is not yet ready to share to the world. Because if that are all the strategies Ken used in his BJT career, then most people who read his book can be a BJT champion sooner or later. Card counting books, on the other hand, are numerous out there. Most of guys that wrote card counting has either retired from counting card due casino's harrasments or change of rules. Besides, nowadays, since casino are so alert for card counters, who could say that they can make a profit in a long run even if he/she is an expert counter. I guess until the casinos start to ban BJT "advantage players", that is when we will see more BJT strategy books out there. However, by the time these strategy books are available, the BJT conditions probably change so much that people would not benefit much from reading these books.

 

Funny you should ask...

you're right, there is definately a lack of tournament info available. Wong is still the standard, although in many ways, no longer does the trick. Tourney pros have been revising Wong since the late 1980's, when Anthony Curtis, Blair Rodman, Russ Hamilton, Fred David, and the other guys on the Alan Brown team would sit up late into the night coming up with more & more adaptations to the basic strategy he offers. In the 21st century, especially against better players (And there are a lot more of them now than there were 20 years ago), Wong alone simply isn't enough.

That's one of the reasons why I've been writing 'Hollywood Blackjack: ATS' that presents the end-all, be-all Advanced Tournament Strategy for facing the demands of modern day tourneys. My first book, 'Hollywood Blackjack' is already completed & going through the editing process with my publisher (RGE) for a Spring release date, and breaks down card counting, cash tables, and some pretty crazy stories from my days in the trenches... & now i'm over half way through the companion piece, 'ATS' which is 100% tourney strategy. it should be out later this year.

Not only do i reveal a lot of the secret tricks, traps, and correlations you can make that Wong doesn't cover, but that have been in use for over a decade now by tourney pros, i also reveal a completely new strategy that shows how to set a specific level of aggression (the Aggression Index) based on your Profiling of the varying skill levels of players at the table. Wong's greatest shortcoming is that the presupposition behind all of his theories is that most of your opponents will generally be ignorant to solid tourney strategy; which, to be fair, was true 20 years ago. Now, however, that is true less and less of the time, especially when vying for prize pools that enter into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, or the majority of TV shows where tourney pros are a dime a dozen. That's why the cornerstone of 'ATS' rests on a reflexive strategy that, much like in poker, allows you to adjust in real-time to the particular demands of the game, using much more aggressive strategies than Wong would find acceptable -- but are often necessary in today's tourney climate.

OK, i'll stop shilling my book now... but hey, you DID ask! And to be quite honest, every day i spend working on this only gets me more excited, i think you guys are gonna like what you see once its all said and done...

-hd.

 

2006 really is the year of blackjack tournaments!

After so many years with only one school of thought on the tournament game, i really welcome the incredible opportunities, authors, tv shows, and diversity 2006 is bringing... what a great year for our game.

-hd.

 

2006 tourney's and upcoming books

I can't hardly wait for 2006 to develop as predicted.

Old fashioned tourneys are muddled and restrictive. Even GSN has added to the confusion. Let's let the best go head to head for the bucks and the recognition.

As far as books. Ken S's will be revealing. He'll put it all out. Cause ya still have to execute. Yeah, E's held back, but so what. Put a worm on the hook and you'll catch more fish.

Now, what will be interesting: How much will Cerritos reveal in his duology.

 

Although Wong's book is 20 years old, in my short experience adopting his strategy and some of my own, I did reasonably well in my local mini tournaments. Since reading his book, my profit for the past 2 months was very good after all the expenses such as buy-in, re-buy, and tips. Since I start to keep record for my BJT about a month ago (20 tournament plays so far), my average rate of making to the final table is 47%. I hope with some luck I can keep this up. Making to the final table 30% of the time is my goal, but I wouldn't mind if the percentage is higher than that

Regarding wong's book, overall, it is very good, but not everything he said I agree with. Even Wong admits that his strategy is not perfect or the best strategy. As a result, I believe that to be a successful tournament player, one needs to develop their own style of play based on some basic information from the pros instead of just following the pros's advices to the letter. Besides, I don't think any pros in their right mind would offer everything they know through their books. Because doing this would mean hurting their own profit since they help to create more advantage players like themselves at their own game.

Noman, I like the your phrase:

"Put a worm on the hook and you'll catch more fish." It's very true in Ken Einiger's case...

 

Tourneys

gosh dark lord, thanks.

Your percent for final table exceeds Yama's expectations. so, so far you're well ahead of the game. Keep it up. and I don't want anyone to misconsture my E comments, cause anybody who put together his streak(and not anybody, he, him, himself,the King,) deserves everything he gets. Even the 3,400 personal training. More power to him. Long live the King.