Desperate times call for desperate measures. As you approach the end of a blackjack tournament and find yourself deep in the hole, you will sometimes have to pull some crazy plays to try and catch up. Here are some crazy plays you may have to make late that you should not consider early in a tournament. These plays - many of which deal with doubling or splitting- should be reserved for the end game only:
Splitting 10s - Lots of people just love to split those 10-value cards to get more money on the table. I see many online blackjack tournament players do it every chance they get, especially if the dealer upcard is 5 or 6. Many players who wouldn't think of splitting 10s in a money game do it constantly in blackjack tournaments, which is crazy.
It's a bad bet on the live blackjack table and it's a bad bet here, even if the dealer upcard stinks. Don't start splitting your beautiful 20 unless it's late in the tournament and you are in dire need of a way to catch up to the leaders.
Crazy doubles - Ever tried doubling a hard 12? How about a 9 against a dealer upcard of 10? These obviously aren't high percentage plays so they should be avoided in most cases. These sorts of doubles should be reserved for the final hand (or among the final hands if you are more than a max bet behind).
Doubling a blackjack - This double is less crazy since you already are sitting at 21, with a good chance at staying at 21 even after you double, but it's still bad policy. You're already guaranteed a 3 to 2 payoff rather than an even payoff so trying for the 2 to 1 is a crazy play, and riskier than your standard double down.
Keep your blackjack unless you absolutely need to double on the last couple of hands to try and catch up to the leader. It isn't crazy if it is the only way you can win.
Big bets - The dealer is going to beat you most of the time. This is just a simple mathematical fact of blackjack from where there is no escape. So why would you want to throw out big bet after big bet early in the blackjack tournament?
Sure, occasionally you will hit a lucky streak and steer way clear of the field, but most of the time you will flame out and bust out. Just about every tournament professional would advise you to play a conservative early game and then pull out the big bets in the end, as needed.
If you just can't contain your big bet tendencies, try throwing out one big bet early in the tournament when you have good position, and if you win with this play, bet conservatively the rest of the way unless other players' actions cause a need to deviate from that strategy.
