What Do You Do?

What do you do in a tournement when all you draw is hard 13's and 14's? (SPLIT?) At Tunica yeasterday 2nd round i drew 15 13's and 14's out of 25 hands.

 

Bet mins!

Of course betting mins is the best thing to protect yourself from this action, an action that is quite normal! Im sure you also witnessed another typical event while you were taking a pounding, one or two players were getting 19-21. Just another do or die progression set up.

 

Thats not the worst. The worst is the dealer was busting out to.

 

Like that old cartoon

where the character asks one lump or two and then gets pounded on head and lumps pop up, so are the days of our game BJT. This is one thing that playing online has tempered me against because of playing so many games, taking beatings at a live table and walking away with a smile and a bag of confidence and hope still under my arm. Just keep your head up and get ready to put your nose to the grinding wheel again. The luck factor will turn your way, it will be your turn someday.

 

You punt, or go for the field goal. Field position always. Put points up when you can. Drive for show. Putt for dough.. Offense is glory. Defense wins Super Bowls and BCS championships. When in doubt.....put it out.


But.....as much as many "Card" games are net zero attempts, it's frustrating when you're always on the negative side. Or seemingly on the negative side. And then when you 're positive, you run into the more positive.

Have a bottomless pocket, keep going till you get ahead and quit.

OR make up a sign and stand on a street corner.

Or melt down pennies and turn them in.

 

BTW noman I never said thank you for filling my tin cup at McDonalds!

<OR make up a sign and stand on a street corner.

Or melt down pennies and turn them in.>

 

bad tables/tourneys

only two things you can do when getting bad cards

1. be glad you are smart enough to have bet conservatively in the early/middle hands - so you have conserved chips for your late hand all-in bet

2. be philosophical and realize that in the very long run, the probabilities will work out - and your slightly-better-than-the-ploppies play will eventually result in slightly-better-than-average results -

 

Well Hollywood, Gold Srike, Aztar has tournaments comming up i will just have to try them. This streak will have to break one of these days or i will make me a sign that says WILL PLAY BLACKJACK FOR FOOD.

 

Let's back up a little here. What Dynomike didn't mention is that the tournament was accumulation. All the advice given was related to traditional elimination tournaments.

noman, go to it since this is your favorite subject.

 

Tunica Yesterday!!

Yeah, the cards fell a little weird to c=say the least.
However I did have a decent second round after 0 out in the 1st.
By the way all you guys that I meet for the 1st time yesterday. I sure did enjoy meeting & gabbing with all of you. ---the farmer

 

Go home early

Mike,

You go home early when you get dealt cards like that in an accumulation tournament. That's what I did. Dealer blackjacked first two hands, so that was an early out for me.

Good to meet everyone and to put some faces with names.

Pat

 

fun

I've never played an accumulation tournament before so I have no experience, but they don't sound like much fun to me. Are they?

Cheers

Reachy

 

Bout as fun as the average TEC point game.

 

As in any other tournament, if you get the cards it's fun, if you don't then it sucks. One thing that many don't seem to grasp is that if you are successful in an accumulation format game then you usually go directly to the semi-finals or finals - depends on the rules.

In this tournament you go directly to the finals if you had one of the top 7 scores. So if you get eliminated then you say the game sucks. But let me ask: Considering that this tournament had about 220 players, most of whom know something about tournament play, how often does one expect to make the final table anyway? Besides, position 8 - 25 received $500.

Most players have no grasp on how to play accumulation tournaments and then say they hate it. I say take the time to learn how to play this format, you may just find yourself at the final table more often than going through all the standard elimination rounds.

Most will not agree with what I just said but that's OK. If the seasoned players keep away from accumulation tournaments that's OK too. After all, don't we all want more spaces filled by ploppies?

 

toolman

What is your accum startegy? The "book" or do you have some personal tips to add?

 

A year or 2 ago there were extensive discussions on the subject. Do a search using the keyword "accumulation" and I'm sure those discussions will pop up. I personally do not have the time to rehash everything. With rebuttals this can result a very extensive discussion. If anyone who supports accumulation wants to start a new discussion on the subject, that's his decision. I for one don't have the time right now and again, I'd just be rehashing what has already been said.

That being said, I'll just say this: Set your goal, figure the best way to attain that goal, bet big (I'm talking max bets to start), stop big bets after achieving your goal, play aggressive (more frequent, but not stupid, DD & splits), keep you fingers crossed, close eyes & pray, be prepared to leave the table early, then go on the the next accumulation tournament and repeat said startegy. Gee, that last rule sounds like what one does in elimination games, no?

 

Yeah but...

...how did you do toolman1?

Cheers

reachy

 

I estimated (with the help of a couple of friends) that $30,000 was needed to get to the final table. Two rounds are played ($5,000 starting bankroll in each round) and the total of the two gives your final score. I busted out in the first round in about 6 or 8 hands. Got to leave the table early that way - why prolong the misery if the table is cold.

In the second round I bet the max ($2,500) right out the gate. Had a good run and got up to $26,750 with 2 or 3 hands left. The adrenalin was running wild at that point - what a great natural high. Then everything went South. Ended up with about $16,000. At midway through, I split 10s against dealer 7. Lost both. That's a swing of $10,000. Had I won that hand I would have made the $30,000 goal and would have minimum bet to the end. :violin:

Anyway, the estimate of $30,000 needed to advance was remarkably accurate. As I remember, the cut off for advancing to the the final table was $29,950 (give or take). I also missed getting into the top 25 (that paid $500). I ended up 28th.

In spite of losing, I had a great time and have no regrets. Spent some quality time with some friends and got to put a face on some of the members on this site that I never knew before. Enjoying good people is, after all, what life is all about.

Oh well, another time, another place.

 

Great run

Toolman did have a great run, but his luck did not hold for him when he split his tens against the dealer 7. He drew a six on the first hand, stood and drew a four on his second and stood again, which meant he had to have the dealer bust, which he didn't.

I also remember his first hand. We had discussed going all in on the first hand, doubling down whatever we got and just putting all the money on the table. He had a hard 15, but chose to stand with a dealer bust card up. The next person needed a card and it turned out to be a six!

We had a good laugh on that one. As in any game, it all comes down to the cards. It was nice to put a lot of faces and names together. I believe one of our cohorts did make the final table. Don't know how he did, but maybe he will post how he finished.

Pat

 

Uhhhh. I don't remember laughing when that happened. That too would have eventually let me end up with the $30,000 I needed.