Evening fellow blackjack players. I need some last hand help or direction. Lately the last hand is killing me. We know its a struggle just to get to the last hand, then not surviving the last hand is real frustrating........ !!! Wong's book is great, but I think something is still missing or he is not telling all. I have read and reread it many times or maybe I'm missing something. Wong's book talks about betting the differences between you and the others and it assumes you win and the others lose. But this rarely happens. With just a few seconds to make decisions and bet. Its hard. Some of this might sound confusing and might have been answered before but I have several questions. 1. How do we protect ? 2. Bets: small, large, or somewhere in between, then double if/as needed? 3. What if you both win ?? 4. and things we can't control.......the cards, beginners luck, betting positions, etc. ?? 5. You bet correctly, but get terrible cards !! I know the answers to most of these, but was looking for more help or direction or could it be just the luck in the cards. If anybody can offer help I really would appreciate it. M
The action you will take on final hands is entirely predicated on your "button" position and your chip stack as compared to your foes. There is no easy answer. I'd suggest getting Ken's E-book and doing your level best to memorize it. Wong's advice is excellent but a bit outdated if you're playing UBT-style elimination.
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. Fact is that winning BJ Tournaments is hard and it doesn't happen often. Yes we read and memorize all we can but that only increases our chances - it is far from guaranteeing a win. We get frustrated because we don't win as often as we think we should but in fact the educated do win much more often than the uneducated. Let's say we play a tournament with 150 entries. The average player will win that tournament 1 out of 150 tries. The player that only relies on luck and betting without purpose may win 1 out of 400 or 1,000 times - and yes, he will periodically beat the educated player at a given table at times. However, by applying solid mathematical principals the educated and disciplined player will win that tournament maybe 1 out of every 20 or 25 tries. Therefore he is doing 6 to 8 times better than average - and that ain't bad. So don't be discouraged if you don't succeed every time - probabilities will prevent you from accomplishing anything near that end. Books and articles may lead one to believe that success will come often but the fact is that success will only come more often than the average.
Read, Read, Read There are lots of heavily analyzed last hand scenarios posted right here in the forum, under Tournament Strategy and Tournament Teasers. Go to the archives to see all of them, going back to 2003. You'd do well to study these, as they show you the thought process that goes into good endplay. You can also subscribe to the online magazine "Blackjack Insider," which gives you access to all its archives and is a rich source of strategy information. "All In" had some good strategy articles when it was covering tournament blackjack. Here's the down and dirty for how all the literature answers your five questions: 1. As chip leader, you'll generally hit less busting hands; however, you'll double many more hands on the final hand, including many busting hands if you're last to play. 2. You'll usually bet big on the last hand. There are exceptions, most notably the two player exception in which you bet less than your lead if you're first to act AND you believe your opponent to be a good player who knows how to take the low. On the last hand acting second you'll match almost any bet your opponent makes, and almost always double if he doubles. 3. If you both win your bet you'll hopefully have matched his bet, or he matched yours. 4. All you can do is give yourself the best chance to win. Learn to play casino tournaments so that you don't need to get as lucky as your opponents need to in order to win. Then you'll win more than your share and that's the definition of a good player. 5. See number 4. If you want to play a game in which skill is everything and nothing is left to chance, take up chess.
Good Posts m3750, You received some very good feedback from LeftNut, toolman1 and Monkeysystem. Only thing I can add is that all tourney players get very frustrated on a regular basis (beaten by poor players, etc.) Luck is the most important thing but, also is the one thing that we can least count on. Play smart and you'll win your share. In my own case, I've found that I can handle the frustration if I played "right" but I beat myself up when losing be-cause of a playing mistake. Billy C
m3750, I guess I can assume how the Flamingo tournament went on Valentines Day! My suggestion is Ken's Book. Good Luck!
