Tournament Strategy Cards?

The set of BS cards I bought were great when I started playing BJ. Now that I am playing in tournaments, I wish I had something similar to refer to.

The Illustrious 18 have also been very helpful to me.

Is there anything along these lines that I can memorize to help me during tournaments?

Any tips will be appreciated!

thanks!
mica

 

Enough experts here to do the job!

Thanks Ken!

If you could remember or find the list of "review items" and post it, I would really appreciate it.

I understand that it would be totally different from BS. Although I'm a newbie to tournaments...I only had to play in one to learn that betting strategy is critical!

Having to make really quick decisions will probably become easier for me with time....but until then, a few tricks/tips might keep me in the game.


Memorizing even a few basic strategies to fall back on would be helpful.

I want to encourage others to contribute their expert wisdom and experience to this discussion as well.

many thanks!

mica

 

BS for Tournaments

I tell you what I did a number of years ago. I took Wong's book Casino Tournament Strategy and made myself a synopsis of what to do on the last hand when 1 advance, 2 advance and 3 advance, all depending on where I was in Bankroll order (BR) and bet position.

I just took the general principles of each section of the book dealing with that and put it on the paper with an example(s) of the proper bet. I have these synopsis in the book (CTS) which I look at usually the night before a tournament. I also normally look at the BR1 advance both ways chart and the "Curt's Revenge" (basically double anything) scenarios.

Will I remember this at the table? Who Knows, but I might.

My brain is getting old and doesn't remember like it used to.

Larry

 

Mica

Ken has summarized many of his short cuts and strategy's in his E-Book. But reading him, Wong, or others doesn't help unless you play a lot. I believe that is the most essential ingredient in getting better. Cause you'll remember your mistakes when the situation comes up again. Also,playing a lot will help you with developing your own strategy. Monkey in particular comes to my mind with his "range" bet theory. Something not found in any of the written advices, but his own based on all that has been written and his amount of play.

 

Lists that I review before a Tourny

Mica,

I review the following information before Tournaments:

-BR1 to beat BR2 if same result or better. (i.e. if BR2 has 19 with dealer upcard of 10, I should hit to total of 14).

-Dealer hand final hand total odds based on dealer's upcard. (i.e. 37% chance for a dealer 7 upcard to turn into a 17, or... 23% chance for a dealer 9 to end up busting).

-Deviations from BS if a push is as bad a loss. (i.e. hit A,7 versus 8).

-Deviations from BS if a push is a good as a win. (i.e. stand on A,6 versus 7).

-Chart for when I need to put 2 bets into play, when to double, or split. Includes the chart for what total to hit to on the second hand of a split based on the first hand of the split. (i.e. if my fist hand of a spit is 20 and dealer upcard is 8, I should hit second hand of the split to 16).

I got these charts mostly from Ken's ebook, but also Wong's book or Wizard of Odds.

 

Stand on 14?

Thanks for responses! Most makes sense to me..,but I'm a little confused about the advice to stand or hit to 14 if BR2 has 19 and dealer has 10?

I just got Wong's CTS and also Ken Einiger's book...

I would like to get Ken Smiths book too..,actually would be my first choice..but its not available on amazons Kindle....and I use a smart phone for Internet..,,

Maybe I'll do a separate post to Ken about selling his book
Via Kindle.

Thanks for help! Very much appreciated!

Mica

 

strategy cards

Your question about the stand on 14 against dealer 10 when opponent has 19. If you look at Table 5 in Wong's book he says hit to 15.

Let's look at it a little bit. We will use Ken's numbers for dealer outcome with a 6D Stand on S17 scenario. Do a bit of rounding and not take card removal in to account.

You will always advance if dealer has 20 or 21 about 40.61% of the time. If you stand of any stiff 12-17 then you will also advance when dealer busts about 23%. So by not busting you will advance 63.61% of the time.

Suppose you have 14 (standing is 63.61 advancement) and hit it. What happens:
6 of 13 you will bust with advance rate of 40.61%
3 of 13 (5,6 or 7) and you will advance 100% of the time.
1 of 13 (4) you will have 18 which adds dealer having 17 to your advancement rate about 12.1% which makes it 75.71
3 of 13 (A,2 or 3) advance 63.61%.

Add of all the different scenarios (6*40.61) + (3*100) + (1*75.71) + (3*63.61) = 810.19 divided by 13 which equal an advancement rate of 62.32. This is lower than the 63.61 of standing therefore you stand.

If you look at having 13 and hitting your advancement rate is 64.09, therefore you hit 13.

Now why would Wong's table and the calculation using Ken's numbers disagree on standing or hitting 14.

Could be the number of decks or card removal. Wong's table doesn't specify whether the person with 19 is before or after you. If he plays after you then when you hit the magic cards that give you 19,20 or 21, the player will have no choice but to try to get more than you by hitting.

I don't know the answer, but you will find that many situations have very small % difference on a hit, stand or bet.

Larry

 

Re: Ken's eBook:

Mica,

Wong's book is very good and should not be skipped. . . but. . .

My advice would be to find someone with a computer and printer. Purchase and download Ken's eBook, then print out a hard copy.

I printed out a hard copy and have found it useful to be able to make hand-written notes, underline important info, etc.

Redhook