The vast majority of avid blackjack buffs commit their basic strategy to memory, play the game as a 1/2% underdog and stagnate there. Why? Because in most books, the next step beyond basic strategy is card counting. And from the comfortable plateau of basic strategy, card counting is a quantum leap up into a much more technical and demanding realm.

Most serious blackjack players just want the best chance to win that they can get without enduring the meticulous chore of tracking a shoe full of cards. If this is you, remaining a "vanilla" basic strategy player doesn't have to be the end of the line

Playing a tournament with other players is different from play¬ing on live tables because tournament players are actually playing against each other at the table. The player's goal is to achieve a chip total at the end of the round that's higher than all others at the table

This sometimes drives a player to make some very unorthodox plays. For example, if the player to your left is doubling on an 11 with a big bet up and you have a pair of ten cards, you might split those tens in hopes of tak¬ing possibly a ten card away from the other player, lessening his or her chances of achieving 21. Or you might be down on your total chip count on the very last hand of the round and in order to win you need an additional margin of victory; therefore, if you were dealt a pair of sixes against the dealer's seven through nine, you might consider a split in order to double your bet and catch up with players who are ahead in chip totals and have already completed th,2ir hands.

Or instead of taking just a hit, you double down to attain the margin you need to stay in it. You'll find yourself making some wacky plays during a tournament that you would never consider making on a live table. Basically, anything goes in a tournament, and it's total pandemonium sometimes; however, that doesn't mitigate the need for following the guidelines of basic strategy as the template for your play. But sometimes deviation is necessary to reaching the unit goal. It's a form of gambling, right?