Poker In The Park Sponsored by PKR
August 6, 2009
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Are all of you tournament players out there ready for this one? Two days of nothing but poker fun at Europe’s largest poker Festival!
6 August 2009 (London, UK) – PKR are, for a second year in a row, lead sponsors of Poker in the Park, Europe’s largest poker festival. Held on the 13th & 14 of August in Leicester Square, PKR will be hosting one of the festival’s main attractions, The Poker Dome.
PKR will be welcoming an array of Pub Poker Leagues into the Poker Dome to host their respective tournaments during the festival. Each league will run an hour-long No Limit Hold’em Tournament with a maximum of 80 runners. These tournaments are free to play and open to anyone who registers at the PKR Poker Dome.
PKR will also be teaming up with glamorous massage company Xhilarate, who will have their own space within the Poker Dome and will offer an exclusive massage therapy service to attendees of the festival.
Also present at the Poker Dome will be members of Team PKR Pro, recently back from the WSOP and happy to join in on the festivities at Poker in the Park.
We hope everyone that plays in this all the luck of the stars!! We will await to hear who the winners are.
RummyRoyal Tournaments
October 23, 2008
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Rummy Royal is having tournaments galore!! Join them in their Kalooki 51 tournament that has a guaranteed prize of $3000!!! This will take place on Sunday October 26th, 2008 at 15:00 ET, and the buy-in is only $16.50!!
To top that off Rummy Royal is holding the biggest tournament ever!! On November 16th at 15:00 ET they are having a Kalooki 51 tournament, where players can compete for a guaranteed prize of $10,000!!! You don’t want to miss out on this one!! The seats are limited for this tournament, so head on over and compete for a seat in the biggest tournament of the year!!!!
And if you haven’t joined the Ultimate Rummy Challenge, there is still time to show off your skills. They have already given out $3000 in prizes in October, so get over there and join in!!
Don’t forget their Special combination bonus!! This time it is available from your first time deposit as well as once you have collected royal stars!! This bonus is offered to their veteran players as well as first time depositors. Go get your combo bonus now at Rummy Royal!!
BlackJack Tournament Series (Part 3 of 7) – Tournament Blackjack Introduction
September 16, 2008
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In a standard setup, a blackjack tournament will last several rounds with up to 6 players battling out each round. On completion of each round, only one or two players will progress to the next level. A preset number of hands will be played each round. All players will start the round will an equal amount of chips. The player (or players) with the largest remaining bankroll will continue. Rounds vary so you should always check the rules before the game, but generally they will last between 15 and 30 hands. Occasionally tournament chips have a monetary value but nornally they just have a chip value.
The tournament begins with each player being dealt a single face up card from a standard 52 card deck.
A button is placed next to the player with the highest card to indicate he is first to play. His position is known as first base. The button rotates in a clockwise position around the table. It is important to note that the person who bets first on any given hand is at a disadvantage. This becomes more crucial at the later stages of the round.
Tournaments vary in size but generally consist of between three and twenty rounds. The final round usually has six players battling it out to become the tournament winner.
Live blackjack tournament buyins usually consist of an entry fee and a house fee. If the entry fee is $10, then the house fee will be around $2. All the entry fees are added together to make up the prize fund. The house fee goes to the host, which in this case will be the casino. Online house fees are usually less, so a $10 buyin and $1 fee is the norm. Often tournaments have guaranteed prize funds. This mean that even if there is a shortage of players, the prize pool has a guaranteed minimum.
Often when you are playing a blackjack tournament in one of the biggest venues, you will have access to special room prices and free food, so if you are on a budget, it’s a great time to visit your favorite casino.
Buyins vary from casino to casino. You may find tournaments for as little as $10 and if you are a high roller, you can always find higher buyin events with larger payouts. Online blackjack tournament players can find games for as little as a dollar, often some freerolls are held where you can win some real money with no risk to your bankroll.
Playing blackjack tournaments online are a great way to hone your skills. In the next blackjack tournament series installment, we will touch on a little blackjack tournament strategy.
Blackjack Tournament Series (Part 2 of 7)
September 15, 2008
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I’m not a big fan of history for facts. “His” Story”, implies whoever said it done it, nonetheless, it makes interesting reading. Most games evolve from something, so we will never really get a black and white answer to the question.
Paper and cards are thought to have been invented in china, 95 BC, but was first reported by Ts’ai Lun, an Imperial Court Official to the Chinese Emperor 200 years later.
The first record of playing cards was the Chinese Domino Deck, which used all 21 dice combinations in 905AD, so my guess is that blackjack, in its earliest form originated in China. Ignoring my thoughts on the issue, it’s generally believed that blackjack originated in France, Europe during the 18th century.
In the 19th century, blackjack became the game of choice for many people in the USA. Then, the game was more of a female pastime. It grew in stature through the 19th century. The game was still primarily dominated with women because they were not allowed to play any other casino game with their male counterparts.
In 1962, Dr.Edward O.Thorp, published his book, Beat the Dealer. It was the first book of its kind that proved blackjack could be mathematically beaten. Men soon realized the merits of the game and started getting more involved. Now, if you walk into a casino the game is primarily a male dominated game.
When bricks and mortar casinos realized the demand for blackjack they started to develop new edges to the game. Most of these developments evolved in the 1970’s when the famous card counters, Al Francesco and Ken Uston made their millions.
Blackjack tournament history is a bit patchy but Donald Catlin claims that there was $500 buyin tournament with a $250 entry fee, back in 1979. This is not confirmed but tournaments were certainly played during the early 1980’s.
There was a bit of a lull in blackjack tournaments from the late 1980’s to the turn of the century. Many casinos thought that these games would encourage card counting development amongst their customers which would in turn ebb away at their profits.
During the barren years, Stanford “Godfather of Blackjack” Wong began his tournament career. He wrote a book entitled “Tournament Blackjack”, in 1987. He renamed the book “Casino Tournament” in 1992.
Tournament blackjack started creeping back into favor in the 1990’s. The game itself got a mega boost in popularity as online casino’s started appearing around 1994. Blackjack became instantly popular online; the tournament scene is steadily growing in stature.
The tournament scene offline began to take off again in 2002 with a Million Dollar tournament, held in the Las Vegas Hilton. They reduced the benefits of card counting by using multiple decks and 30 deal rounds. This format worked well and was adopted worldwide throughout many casinos, including the televised World Series of Blackjack in the Las Vegas Hilton.
Blackjack has also proven to be TV friendly. The game is cheap, easy to film, and exciting to watch. Although not as big, tournament blackjack has the potential to challenge the popularity of tournament poker. It is fairly easy to learn the basics but still has a strong skill factor.
I can only see the popularity of blackjack growing. More and more people want to learn how to play a game where they can develop an edge over the casino. Tournaments are fun and competitive and with Million dollar prize purses available to those who scale the heights, the game is only moving onwards and upwards.
Blackjack Tournament Series (Part 1 of 7)
September 2, 2008
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Broadly speaking there are two forms of blackjack, house blackjack & tournament blackjack. House blackjack is a casino game where you play against the dealer. Tournament blackjack is when you take on your peers.
I was reading up on a major online blackjack tournament scheduled for later this month, when I realized that there isn’t a great deal of information to be found regarding tournament play. I decided to do something about this and introduce you to the differences you will encounter. I will teach you how to adjust your game to the situation, your opponents, and your positioning.
I know a lot of live blackjack players who won’t play online because they don’t trust the virtual side of online gaming. If they feel that way, playing against the house is not a great option. For card counters, the counting aspect is practically negligible as the cards are automatically reshuffled after each round, eliminating the advantages.
I am a great fan of online poker. The major boom and its popularity is largely down to tournament poker. Yes, you can play cash games. Yes, you can play against the house playing casino poker, but the main draw is the tournament scene. The human race, by nature relies on social interaction. I won’t go into a sociology discussion, but the difference between house play and tournament play online, is the ability to interact and test yourself against your peers.
People remember tournament winners. People want to show their skills off by being tournament winners. The great thing about tournament play is that once you pay your entry fee, you are ready to go. You do not need to worry about going on tilt and blowing your budget. You play a tournament until you get knocked out, or win. You may set a budget playing against the house, but it is far too easy to forget, so tournament play is often the better option for those who do not know when to quit.
People need to use strict bankroll management when tackling cash games. It is all too easy when you are on a losing streak, to up your stakes and chase your losses. This can kill your bankroll. This can demoralize you. The beauty of playing in tournaments is that you have your fixed goal. You know how much you are investing in a session, and if you progress in the tournament, you can expect good returns, with limited risk to your bankroll. If you get knocked out early, at least you are comforted with the knowledge that you have played within your intended budget.
Many players love blackjack because of its simplicity. Very few people play in blackjack tournaments, although I can see this changing in the not too distant future. Blackjack is one of the most popular games in live casinos. You can find lots of information on blackjack strategy but very little on the tournament angle.
Back in 2000, there was scarce information online on how to improve your poker skills. Most players learned through trial and error. If you persevered with it, and invested hours upon hours of your time each week, you could hope to move up the ranks and earn a few dollars. With such limited information, you had to do it the hard way.
Now, with masses of information on No-Limit Texas Hold’em, the game has become extremely competitive. Exploiting novice mistakes has become a less common occurrence, so much so, that I made the move to Omaha Hi/Low (a variation of poker), where the competition is softer, player mistakes are more common and my profit margins are generally better. This is why I see a great opportunity opening up for blackjack players who set their focus on tournament play.
People are competitive by nature. They see a tournament and want to massage their egos, proving their ability over others. As blackjack is such a familiar game, ‘everyone and their dog’ think they can play. Some may be proficient cash game players but when it comes to tournament play, it’s a whole new ball game entirely. Strike when the iron is hot. Learn the secrets of tournament blackjack and prove your superiority over your non trained opponents.
I will give you a short introduction into the history of blackjack tournaments. This should whet your appetite. I will then take you through the basic rules of tournament play. Once you are comfortable with the mechanics of the game, you should be ready for some strategy. You will learn how to adapt your play according to the situation, develop a betting formula to outwit your opponents. I will then go on to offer you some tips on how to sharpen up your skills. To finish off the series, I will show you how to approach your end game play.
