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juman

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We have som regular pokergames played at my home and after seing a Casinoprogram on Discoverychannel where they hade some viewings from a BJ Tournament I have been thinking about holding a tournament with my friends.
But I would like some hints about the best way to hold one? My idea is not to have a fixed dealer and let the dealer position rotate instead. We are about 6-8 people most of the times... any more tips about holding a BJ tournamnet at home would be grate...

/juman
 
some general tips

#1: get a fixed dealer: The problem with rotating the deal is that what does the person who has the deal do when he has to check for blackjack? Now he has unfair info on the cards. If you try to remedy that problem by saying "dealer doesn't play that hand" then the dealer could be locked out of a crucial hand that could cost him the win. Grab a girlfriend or wife and bring her along.

#2: Buy a shoe: Get a 6 deck shoe, you can get them online for about 20 bucks and cards at about $1.50 a pack if you know where to look. It may seem like a pain but I would say shuffling once or less is better than shuffling 6, 7, 8 times.

#3: Buy some solid color chips: Ones without hash markings on the side, making it more difficult to count stacks, and adding another element of strategy to the game. You may already have these, if you do, use them.

#4: Look at various rules: Do you want this to be a low limit game? High limit? No limit? This will drastically change the strategy of your game. I suggest having the maximum bet be 1/2 of your starting bankroll, maybe a little more, and your minimum being 1 or 2 of the smallest chips.

#5: Considering splitting the group up: 8 people is alot for a blackjack tourney, and can get awful crowded. If 8 people were there I would suggest holding a bracket where it's 2 tables of 4, then the top 2 players from each table go on to the final table.

That's all I can think of for now. Also, if you charge a "house fee" for your poker games, do so for your blackjack games as well. This can help cover snacks, chips, cards, and what not.
 
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Thanks for the tips... I have a small problem with the first one :

#1: get a fixed dealer: The problem with rotating the deal is that what does the person who has the deal do when he has to check for blackjack? Now he has unfair info on the cards. If you try to remedy that problem by saying "dealer doesn't play that hand" then the dealer could be locked out of a crucial hand that could cost him the win. Grab a girlfriend or wife and bring her along.

The first pokernight I had at home was just for the boys and my girlfriend still brings this up now and then. She is as much a game-a-holic as I am so I don't think she will be satisfied with just being a dealer but I will find some other solution to this :)
 
Bj

Try this on for size. Go ahead and rotate the dealer. Shoot, maybe the deck itself could represent the "button." As for Blackjacks, play "no peeky". Play the hands as if the Dealer does NOT have a BJ. After everyone has played and the dealer turns his card, if it is a BJ, then everyone looses one bet. By that I mean that if the player has doubled or split, the double or split part of the bet would be returned to the player and only the original part of the bet would be lost.
 
juman said:
Thanks for the tips... I have a small problem with the first one :

#1: get a fixed dealer: The problem with rotating the deal is that what does the person who has the deal do when he has to check for blackjack? Now he has unfair info on the cards. If you try to remedy that problem by saying "dealer doesn't play that hand" then the dealer could be locked out of a crucial hand that could cost him the win. Grab a girlfriend or wife and bring her along.

The first pokernight I had at home was just for the boys and my girlfriend still brings this up now and then. She is as much a game-a-holic as I am so I don't think she will be satisfied with just being a dealer but I will find some other solution to this :)
Click to expand...

While I have not done any tournement play the solution my son and I have come up with for this when we play is as follows.

Whomever is the dealer always plays "first base" so they are first to act. After all of the cards are delt out if the "dealer" hand shows a possible BJ, First base (the same guy playing dealer) must anounce if they are taking a hit or not before any other actions are taken. Then the "dealer" looks to see if it is BJ. If it is not BJ then "first base" must do what they intended. Granted "first base" now knows what the "dealer" has, but generally I find that the hand delt to the player at "first base" is usually not helped too much by this. (Not just because it is first base...could be any position) Espcially if you play fairly strict BS. If you rotate the dealer position as suggested by MikeA then everyone would get the advantage eventually...

Again I don't play tournaments so I don't know how this would play out or actually effect the game. I do it this way so that the deck does not get depleted of all of the necessary "hits" players need to take that would normally stay in the deck.
 
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