A local casino runs a tournament. 8 deck shoe, 10 hands, you start with $5K in chips, must bet $100 at least, no maximum. Must get to $10K in chips to move on. Is there a best betting strategy for this? It seems that the value of card counting is somewhat minimized, given how short the tournament is, and the fact that it's 8 decks, so I would like to see if there's a best way to optimize your chances of amassing $10K in chips. Thank you.
If you are sure --- really sure -- that 10k will be enough to advance, then the optimal strategy is to bet 5k at some point. If you do it early and are successful, others will copy you but if you wait to the last hand, then you may no longer have 5k to bet or you may get unlucky and push.
I usually wait until there are 3 hands remaining. Fewer players will see you make the move because some may have busted out and the onlookers may have moved on, and you have some wiggle room in case you push or need to make additional bets to reach the $10k.
Good luck!
If you are sure --- really sure -- that 10k will be enough to advance, then the optimal strategy is to bet 5k at some point. If you do it early and are successful, others will copy you but if you wait to the last hand, then you may no longer have 5k to bet or you may get unlucky and push.
I usually wait until there are 3 hands remaining. Fewer players will see you make the move because some may have busted out and the onlookers may have moved on, and you have some wiggle room in case you push or need to make additional bets to reach the $10k.
Good luck!
You may have to increase your bets a bit earlier if you've been losing. May be a good time for a martingale until you are safely over the amount you need to bet 5k on the last hand.
Yes. Martingale is a powerful tool in tournament play if you fall behind being able to make your goal in one bet. As I said though, think twice about waiting until the final hand to make that final bet.
Thanks guys, this is exactly how I've been thinking about this. Good to know I was on the right track. Thanks.
.jpg)
Buy Wong's book and also Ken Black's books. Gronbog is the person to ultimately listen to here though.
You don't have to do an exact martingale. Just bet whatever amount puts you over $5k so you can do as Gronbog suggests at some point, which is to bet enough to put you at or over $10k. Try to get up to or over $5k before you shove all in. But, if you're at $7000 for some reason, you can bet less of course.
Start out betting the min and then do the martingale until you are over $5k. Waiting is tough. I might bet the entire stack as soon as it's over $5k to avoid losing min bets and slipping below $5k. You could also double any two cards as well, or split any two against any dealer up card and then DD on either or both split hands no matter what they are. That's if you're desperate and trying ot get back to $5k.
IOW, it's a crapshoot and anything you do is probably okay as long as you're trying to get 10k by the end or 10k plus enough antes to stay at or above $10k by the end. Do they offer a mulligan/s?
Thanks for your kind words. Did you mean Ken Smith's books?
