Catch-up betting in Online Blackjack Tournaments

When you handicap a horse race, you know that there are going to be horses who provide "early speed," meaning that they are going to be the ones who get out ahead of the field and set the pace, while others are staying off the pace or lagging in back, conserving energy, saving ground, and looking to make a late run at the lead. Sometimes the front-runners will tire, having spent their energy too early, while those who have conserved have more "fuel in the tank" to get to the finish line.

You want to be one of the blackjack players who has some fuel in the tank when it is time to make a run to the finish in online blackjack tournaments.

Let's say you’re playing a 20-hand round online blackjack tournament, you want to play the first half rather conservatively and very gradually increase the aggressiveness of your betting as you approach that halfway point. Remember that as long as you are in the game, you have a chance to win to the tournament.

Unless somebody gets very hot, you can stay within range of the first place by the time you get to the second half of your round. Then, you want to begin more aggressive betting in the last half of your round, putting some more money on the table. This sets up your position for the final few hands of the tournament, where your approach to betting is going to be in direct relation to where you stand at the table.

As you get to the end of the game, the “bet spread” for the game comes into play. For example, if it is $5-$250, it allows you to conserve your money pretty easily for a late charge that will allow you to stake a lot on the last few hands. It will also make it possible for a leader to risk very little in order to force the other players to go to extremes in order to play catch-up. Ideally, you'd like to be in a position where on the last hand you are so far ahead that there is no possible way that those behind you can catch up, but this is not always going to be the case.

Depending on the kind of blackjack tournaments you are playing, what the table limits are, your options can change. If the rules allow for no limits, particularly on the last hand, that opens up a bunch of possibilities for you. If required, you have to be able to pull out all the stops, putting as much as possible on the table. If you are behind by $220, and the table limit is $250, you have to go the full limit. If you are behind by $300, then you have to go the whole limit and hope for a blackjack (paying 3-to-2) or double down - on anything you get. Where you would like to be is no more than one maximum bet away from the leader at this time.

Overall, a more conservative approach over the first half of play, followed by more aggressive betting (with good money management), will help you stay within range of winning the blackjack tournament. The bottom line is that you have to win hands. Over a short-run, if you don't get any cards there is no betting pattern that will help you win blackjack tournaments.