The word tournament has an element of excitement, don’t you think? The word almost makes blackjack sound kind of sporty. Whether played in the casinos, or online, they are hugely popular among fans. Competing against other players instead of the house makes it more fun, and gives the better players a chance to rake in bigger money.

Simple as they may sound, (what do they need except a couple of tables?), casino blackjack tournaments aren’t organized as often as other gaming tournaments. This is mostly because casinos have so few blackjack tables anyway.

When they are held, the daily tournaments usually have a small fee, while the invitational ones are usually held as a reward for loyal customers. They may go on for two or three days, in which case the guests are provided free lodging.

Some things to understand before you enter any tournament are what the prizes are (they could be as high as USD 5,000), what is the minimum and maximum bet, how many rounds will be played, how much time will it take, and whether you will be given tournament chips, in which case you might have to pay a fixed tournament fee of about USD 150.

In you’re interested, there’s a website called blackjacktournaments.com, where you can get a list of all the upcoming tournaments for the coming month. You can even register yourself on the site and post messages for the rest of the gang. But before you even think of registering for a tournament, make sure you’ve memorized the strategy chart. If you don’t count, you will end up losing everything you go in with. And this time it won’t be the house that will make the money. It will be another better-prepared player.