BLACKJACK TOURNAMENT E-BOOKS BY BJI AUTHOR KEN SMITH! How to Win EVEN MORE Blackjack Tournaments - Volume II... only $14.95. Ken Smith's second e-book on tournament blackjack contains more of his winning strategies that have made him one of the best tournament blackjack players in the world. Or, purchase both Volume I and Volume II together for $24.95... over 15% off! NEW! Read how Ken used skill to win a recent blackjack tournament. Get his books and you could too!

Blackjack Insider Newsletter, January 2005, #72

A WORD FROM HENRY

We have a blockbuster issue to start the New Year. Topics include: the inside scoop on the secretive Blackjack Ball including the 21 question test given to invited guests; a review of the new Poker Drill Master training software for Texas Hold'em; basics of blackjack team play; a blackjack promotion with a +9.0% EV; news about a proposed rule change in Atlantic City blackjack games; how to play your split hands in tournaments; which are the best hands to deviate from basic strategy in tournaments; Barfarkel's Part 2 Trip Report; Jerry Stickman's Las Vegas Trip report; surprising and unintuitive facts about Texas Hold'em; and a summary of upcoming blackjack tournaments including the qualifiers for this seasons World Series of Blackjack.

We welcome two new BJI writers this month. Rick " Night Train" Blaine author of the just published book, Blackjack Blueprint, and Jerry "Stickman", an instructor in Golden Touch Blackjack and Craps.

The orders for Blaine's Blackjack Blueprint exceeded our initial supply. However, we have received a new shipment of books and all back orders have been shipped. You can order Blaine's excellent book at 10% discount on our online store.

Here's a tip for something to do on Thursday evenings. Crank up your computer and tune in to my good friends Kenny Einiger and Joe Pane's Be in Action radio show. The show is broadcast live from Las Vegas from 6-7pm. You can listen to their show by going to Kenny's site www.worldblackjackchampion.com at 6pm Vegas time and clicking on the Listen to Ken's Weekly Talk Radio Show banner. Kenny and Joe have great guests from the world of gaming and they take questions from listeners. Trust me, you will enjoy their entertaining and informative show.

Also, Poker Drill Master is available for a special reduced price of $49.95 ($10 off) for BJI subcribers. Click here to obtain this special discount, and download the software (this discount is for online download orders... to purchase the software on CD for $59.95 plus shipping, visit Smart Gaming at: www.smartgaming.com).

I'll be teaching two Golden Touch Blackjack courses featuring Speed Count the weekend of Feb. 18-19 in Memphis/Tunica and March 11-12 in Atlantic City. In just one weekend of hands on training you will be able to play blackjack with the advantage over the casino. Call 1-888-946-2521 or visit www.goldentouchblackjack.com for more details or to register.

If you come across an unfamiliar blackjack term in one of our articles or reports, see our Blackjack Glossary: www.bjinsider.com/questions_glossary.shtml

E-mail subscribers can also read each month's issue online at our web site: BJI Issue #72, Jan. 2006.

Henry Tamburin

Editor

BLACKJACK BALL 2006: THE ULTIMATE INVITE by LV Tournament Pro

"In the very secret world of professional blackjack players there are no fans to vote you in to the ultimate event, which is Max Rubin's annual Blackjack Ball. The ball is so secret that it's location is kept under wraps until days before the actual event. But it's this event that puts the stamp of approval of how you are accepted into the world of professional blackjack..."

Read LV Tournament Pro's complete article.

SOME BASICS OF BLACKJACK TEAM PLAY by Rick "Night Train" Blaine

"Over the years I've played on various teams of different sizes and bankrolls. The one key factor in whether a team is right for you or you are right for that team is identifying the objectives of everyone involved..."

Read Blaine's complete article.

LAS VEGAS TRIP REPORT- Part 2 (Oct/Nov 2005) by Barfarkel (a.k.a., LV Pro)

"The next morning I was able to talk a Wynn floorman into letting me play quarters at an idle $100 double-deck table. This was still on grave shift. I only had $1k on me, and I was losing and buying in for more and more - an all-too-familiar scenario these days..."

Read Barfarkel's complete article.

LAS VEGAS TRIP REPORT (Dec 2005) by Jerry "Stickman"

"I sat down at an empty $10 table and bought in for $500. I had played for about 10 minutes when two guys who were obviously still celebrating something sat down and began playing four spots. Seeing another empty table on the other side of the pit, I thanked the dealer and moved, taking my $40 win with me..."

Read Stickman's complete article.

A SPECIAL CASINO PROMOTION AT EAGLE MOUNTAIN CASINO by JPB

"Eagle Mountain Casino is as close to being in the middle of nowhere as it gets. To top it off the casino doesn't have a hotel, they don't serve alcohol, and the restaurant appeared terrible. This is probably the reason why the Eagle Mountain Casino has to offer attractive promotions for players. Clearly the Bellagio in Las Vegas and Barona in San Diego have nothing to worry about..."

Read JPB's complete article.

ATLANTIC CITY BLACKJACK REPORT by Frank Scoblete and Alene Paone

"The Atlantic City casinos are petitioning the Casino Control Commission to allow them to incorporate the H17 rule. This will increase their edge by about two-tenths of one percent. That might not seem like a lot but as time wears on this rule wears on the bankroll of both basic strategy players and card counters."

Read Scoblete's and Paone's complete article.

TOURNAMENT BLACKJACK STRATEGY: A HARE LINE CURVE by 'The Babe'

"In the October issue of BJI, we explored the 8-8 hand vs. a dealer 10 in blackjack tournament play. In the December issue it was the pair of face cards and the 10 hand vs. dealer 5. Now we will look at some other hands that we might want to use to stray away from basic strategy in our quest for short-term success..."

Read The Babe's complete article.

TOURNAMENT BLACKJACK STRATEGY: CORRECT STRATEGY FOR PLAYING YOUR SPLIT HANDS by Ken Smith

"Splitting pairs seems to be a hot topic lately, so I wanted to revisit a subject that I wrote about a few years back for the now-defunct Blackjack Confidential magazine. The article was titled 'Tournaments: Splitting 10s to win' and it appeared in the April 2001 issue. I still get a lot of questions about the strategy I presented in that article so I'll recap the research from that article and then add some extra insights..."

Read Smith's complete article.

ALL ABOUT POKER: REVIEW OF POKER DRILL MASTER SOFTWARE by Bill Burton

"Poker Drill Master by DeepNet Technologies (www.deepnettech.com) is a unique Texas Hold'em software training program that will help improve the game of any player. Although it is primarily designed for the low limit Texas Hold'em player the concepts of determining pot odds, analyzing the strength of hands, identifying outs and choosing the correct starting hands carries over into higher limit and no limit games..."

Read Burton's complete article.

UNEXPECTED ODDITIES IN TEXAS HOLD'EM by Dan Pronovost

"As a mathematician, I find poker an interesting and complex game to study. Unlike blackjack, where card counting can give you a provable edge over the casino, poker is more subtle from the point of view of advantage gambling. It's you against the other players, not the casino, and optimal play is subjective rather than absolute. This does not mean poker can't be studied statistically and your game improved..."

Read Pronovost's complete article.

BLACKJACK TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Check out the schedule of blackjack tournaments by region in our Blackjack Tournament Report.

Read our tournament schedule.