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Blackjack Articles And News: Hold'em Blackjack, New Game, Poker, PlayboyGaming

May 29, 2008.

Play New Hold'em Blackjack Game At PlayboyGaming Poker.

Hold'em Blackjack is new game, exclusive to PlayboyGaming poker room and casino. This innovative game promises to be an exciting and fun addition to the room.

To help players get to know Hold'em Blackjack, PlayboyGaming is providing a wide array of tournaments ranging from the small buy-in's, for those gaining a feel for the game, to big overlay tourneys for the quickly converted Hold'em Blackjack high roller!

Game Summary
Whether you love blackjack or you're a poker fanatic, Hold'em Blackjack is a thrilling new game that offers the best of both worlds. Hold'em Blackjack is the premier player-to-player blackjack game that combines the betting, bluffing, and bullying of Texas Hold'em with the familiar play of blackjack. You are sure to find the experience challenging, entertaining, and if you play your cards right, rewarding. Up to 6 players are seated around a table in Hold'em Blackjack.

Value of the Cards
Cards 2 through 10 are worth their numerical value.
Jacks, Queens, and Kings are worth 10.
Aces are worth 1 or 11 (to the player's advantage).
The value of a hand is the sum of the point counts of each card in the hand.

Hand Rankings
The best possible hand is a "7 Card Charlie" (7 cards without going over 21).
The next best hands are 21, 20, 19, etc.
If all hands are over 21 (busted) then the best hand is the one closest to 21.
All 21's are equal in value (for example: the hand A Q has the same value as 2 4 7 8). So that a natural blackjack (i.e. AT, AJ, AQ, or AK) has the same value as any hand totaling 21.

Dealer Button
A round marker known as the dealer button sits in front of a designated player to determine the order of betting and position of the blinds in the hand. The dealer button is moved from player to player one position clockwise between each hand.

Blinds & Antes
Blinds and Antes are forced bets that are posted before any cards are dealt. The Small Blind is posted by the player to the immediate left of the dealer button and is usually equal to Ѕ the Big Blind.

The Big Blind is posted by the player left of the Small Blind and is equal to the size of the minimum bet. Blinds are considered part of the player's bet amount in the first round.

Antes are posted by all players and are usually equal to half the Small Blind amount. Antes go directly into the pot and unlike blinds they are not considered to be part of a player's bet amount.

Example: in a tournament where the stakes are currently 100 / 200 / 200-1000 the Small Blind is 50, the Big Blind is 100, and the Ante is 25.

Betting
Bet amounts are limited by the game stakes. For example, in a game with stakes listed as 2 / 4 / 4-20, bets are 2 in the first round (fixed limit), 4 in the second round (fixed limit), and between 4 to 20 in the final round (spread limit). There is a maximum of one bet and 3 raises in each round.

First Round
Each player is dealt one card face down followed by the first round of betting. Action starts with the player to the left of the big blind and continues clockwise around the table. Players may bet, check, call, raise, or fold in turn until all bets are matched. Betting is Fixed Limit. A bet or raise equals the Big Blind amount.

Second Round
Each remaining player is dealt a second card face up followed by the second round of betting. Action starts with the player to the left of the dealer button and continues clockwise around the table.
Betting is Fixed Limit. A bet or raise equals 2x the Big Blind amount.

Final Round
Remaining players complete their hands, in turn, going clockwise around the table starting with the player to the left of the dealer button. Each player may request additional cards (Hit) until they stop at the current hand total (Stand). Additional cards are dealt face down. If a player exceeds 21 they can only Stand (but they are still in the game).
A player may draw to a maximum of 7 cards.

Betting
The final round of betting begins after all remaining players have completed their hands. Action starts with the player to the left of the dealer button and continues clockwise around the table.
Betting is Spread Limit. A bet or raise must be between 2x and 10x the Big Blind amount.

The Showdown
Remaining players display their hands to determine who wins. Losing hands may be mucked without being shown. The player with the best blackjack hand (according to the above hand rankings) wins the pot. Ties split the pot.

After a hand is completed and the pot has been won, the dealer button is moved one player clockwise and the next hand begins with players posting Blinds and antes.

Strategy Tips

Don't play too many hands with a weak starting card (e.g. 5, 6, 7). A weak card is much more difficult to improve than a good starting card such as 10, J, Q, K, or A.
A busted hand can still win here! If all remaining players have also busted then 22 is the best possible, e.g. winning hand.
Remember Ace counts as 1 or 11. So you can't possibly bust by drawing a 3rd card.
Showing an Ace but don't have 21? This is a powerful bluffing opportunity.
Wisely pick your opportunities to bet big with the Spread Limit structure in the final round to steal the pot on a bluff or win it legit.
Hold'em Blackjack offers so many differences to standard casino blackjack game. Although there is no double down, splitting, or insurance opportunities, you can bet, raise, and re-raise in 3 rounds of betting to win big pots and even bluff your opponents off their chips.
In Hold'em Blackjack you need to outplay several opponents in a hand unlike casino blackjack where you only need to beat the dealer. So you typically need a stronger hand to win; but bluffing is definitely an option!
Having a weak card showing creates deception and uncertainty in the minds of your opponents. It can be a perfect trapping opportunity to eliminate your opponents if you have a strong hand total such as 20 or 21.
The odds of getting a "7 Card Charlie" is over 11,000 : 1.
Being seated in "late position" is a huge advantage. The more players to act before you in each round the more information you have to make your betting/drawing decisions. For example, if you think a player acting before has busted after hitting several times then you likely have them beat without drawing any additional cards.
Drawing more cards increases your chances of busting, but since only the 2nd card is face up, drawing more cards also disguises the value of your hand.

Download and play Hold'em Blackjack at PlayboyGaming now.

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