Blackjack Tournament Rules

Tournament play is very different. Do not play in a tournament without first studying the game. Following are a few variations:

• Rotate Deal - With this common tournament rule, the dealer starts dealing the cards to a different player each hand.
• Rotate First Bet - With this common rule, players must bet in order and the first player to bet rotates clockwise each hand. This removes the seat advantage which otherwise would have existed if one player could always see the bets of the other players before making a bet.
• Secret Bet Allowed - This option allows each user to make one bet per round where the amount bet is not known to the other players. Generally, you would save this bet for near or at the end of a round.
• Two Players Advance - With this rule, the two players with the largest bankrolls advance to the next round instead of just one when a round has completed.
• Two Players First Round - This is the same as the above except that two players advance to the next round only in the first round. This is more common than the above option.
• Re-entry Allowed - In some tournaments, if you lose a round, you may re-enter once by paying the entry fee again.
• Keep Bankroll - In most tournaments, every player starts each round with the same number of chips. In some tournaments, your bankroll moves from one round to the next.
• Timed Tournaments - In some tournaments, each round lasts a set number of minutes. This is less common, but such tournaments do exist.
• Elimination - A newer concept. Some rounds are elimination rounds where the lowest bankroll results in elimination.

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