$100,000 Blackjack Tournament

My Time At The Final Table

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the Arizona casinos have discontinued Blackjack tournaments, unfortunately. It really doesn’t make much sense to me because every tournament brings in about 100 or more Blackjack players, not to mention all of the spouses, friends and family that come along for the fun! The Blackjack tournament community is fairly large and every tournament that I’ve ever attended has always been a success. So, time will tell if more casinos will bring the tournaments back.

At this point my friends and I, that are hard core tournament players, are forced to go to Las Vegas if we want to get in on the action. The Golden Nugget has an exciting $100,000 Blackjack tournament once every other month and that’s where you’ll find me and about ten other Blackjack afficionados from the Phoenix area.

The entry fee for the tournament is $500. They usually have about 200 players and round one is held on a Saturday. Six players are seated at each table and all are given $5,000 in play chips. At the end of eighteen hands, the two players with the most chips at the table advance to round two which is played on Sunday. All the other players are eliminated, but they do have an opportunity to rebuy in for another chance at the big prize. During the last tournament, I happened to win the table and advanced to round two.

In round two, six players are again seated at each table with a $5,000 stake and eighteen hands ahead of them vying for the top two positions to advance to the quarter finals. During the second round, I was fortunate again to win the table with the most chips.

In the quarterfinals, six players all start the round of eighteen hands again with $5,000 in play chips. Yours truly won with the most chips, advancing me to the semifinal. Nothing changes much in the semifinal round; same number of players at the table, same number of hands, and another $5,000 in play chips. However, now only one player with the highest number of chips advances to the final round.

On the final hand of the semifinal round, I found myself in the situation that I had to double a hard twelve to have a chance to advance (which I did) catching a nine for twenty one. When the dealer also made twenty one I pushed while everyone else lost, giving me the most chips at the table and advancing me to the final round. All of the other players at the semifinal that didn’t advance to the final received prize money of $500 each!

With the final six you have a choice to chop the prize money and each take $14,400.00 and not play the final or play it out where 1st place pays $50,000, 2nd place pays $15,000, 3rd place pays $10,000, 4th place pays $6,500, 5th place pays $3,000 and 6th place pays $2,000.

All of the players vote on which option they want but a chop requires a unanimous vote. If even just one player wants to play it out then it must be played out. The only way you get more than the chop is to win 1st or 2nd place. During my final session, one person unfortunately wanted to play it out while the rest of us didn’t and (as usual) that person got last place!

The final round is twenty four hands with a chip count after hand twenty three. At this point the chip leader has $10,000, I’m at $9650, the other players are around $6,000 and Mr. “I want to play it out” has already been eliminated. The player with $10,000 is dealt a twenty and I’m dealt a sixteen so I’m faced with a dilemma, stand with my sixteen and take 2nd place or double down and go for 1st place and the $50,000? I reason you only get a chance once in a while so I go for the double down to win. How did it turn out? I busted the hand and didn’t win the $50,000 but at least I tried. What would you have done? $

Writer TJ Jorgensen has been a professional Blackjack player for over 25 years. He is well known for his tournament play and has beaten some of the top tournament players in the world. He has also won the World Series Of Blackjack. His newest book “How To Become A Blackjack Jedi” is available online at Amazon.com.