Intro to Online Blackjack Tournaments

In all likelihood, especially if you're a blackjack enthusiast, you've been hearing more and more about the growing popularity of blackjack tournaments featured at online casinos. Like its poker cousins, blackjack is also experiencing a tremendous wave of interest, due in large part to both poker and blackjack games and competitions being broadcasted to millions of viewers on television.

But what exactly is an online blackjack tournament and how is the game played any differently than traditional blackjack? Well, what separates blackjack tournaments from regular blackjack play is that in tournaments, players bet against one another and not against the dealer, or the  "House."

Also, though the game itself is played virtually the same way as regular blackjack, tournament games are played according to each tournament's uniquely subtle rules. In other words, the rules tend to vary - albeit slightly - from one online casino to another. Hence, player beware.

Single and Multi-Table Tournaments
There are basically two different kinds of online blackjack tournaments: Single-table and Multi-table. Single-table blackjack tournaments are played with 2 to 5 players and consist of one level only. Contestants may choose between different kinds of single-table blackjack tournaments, ranging from three to as many as 30 hands, again depending - of course - on the online casinos hosting each tournament.

Multi-table blackjack tournaments, on the other hand, consist of a number of levels. Depending on how many participants there are overall in a tournament, 2 to 5 players usually compete at each table. Online casinos often provide a selection of multi-table blackjack tournament levels for players to choose from, such as 3, 5, 10 and 15 hands-per-level. The player who accumulates the most chips at the end of each level moves up to the next level.

BJ Tournament Goal
Regardless of whether you're playing in a single or multi-table online blackjack tournament, the goal in each is the same; to simply wind up with more chips than your opponents at the end of the tournament.

Getting Started
In tournament play, each player begins with the same number of chips depending on the buy-in amount. For example, in a single-table competition each competitor may receive 1000 chips. In multi-table tournaments, again each player receives the identical number of chips, only more so, say 4000. It's also important to note that in multi-table competitions there's no chip accumulation from one level to another. At the start of each new level, players receive the same number of chips.

In order to determine which player goes first, each one is dealt a card. The player with the highest card value is the first to place their bet. The betting order then continues clockwise with each subsequent hand dealt.

How to Enter a Tournament
In order to join an online blackjack tournament, each player pays what's known as a "buy-in" which goes toward the tournament prize pool. Players are also required to pay a House fee which represents the online casino's take.

And the Winner is...
Again, in order to win a blackjack tournament you must have the most chips at the end of the game. Should the tournament end in a tie between two or more players, meaning each player has the exact same number of chips, the player in the "higher finishing position," that is, the player who began the hand with the most chips, wins.

Given that the whole phenomenon of blackjack tournaments is so new (and the demand so high), players can expect all sorts of novel tournament variations in the not-too-distant-future. To get started now, simply visit our up-to-date chart listing the online casinos with the Best Online Blackjack Tournaments available today.

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