Ultimate Black Jack Tournament Facts
The Ultimate Blackjack Tour (UBT) was a televised series built around Elimination Blackjack, a tournament format created to make blackjack faster and more dramatic for television. The first U.S. broadcast debuted on September 16, 2006.
Quick UBT facts
- A standard UBT round lasted 30 hands.
- Forced elimination hands occurred after hands 8, 16 and 25.
- At each elimination point, the player with the lowest chip total was removed from the table.
- Every player had a Secret Bet that could be used once during a round to hide the size of a wager from the other players.
- The television audience could see the dealer's hole card, even though the players could not.
- The format mixed blackjack tournament specialists with well-known poker professionals and online or satellite qualifiers.
Elimination Blackjack
The defining feature of UBT was the elimination structure. In a traditional blackjack tournament, a player could sometimes wait until the final hands before taking major risks. UBT changed that by forcing the lowest bankroll off the table at three points during the round. Players therefore had to watch both the dealer and the chip stacks of their opponents throughout the game.
The Secret Bet added another strategic element. Once per round, a player could conceal a wager so opponents could not immediately react to its size. This brought bluffing and uncertainty into tournament blackjack.
Players and television
UBT brought together professional blackjack players, poker stars and qualifiers. Players associated with the televised tour included Ken Einiger, Ken Smith, Hollywood Dave Stann, Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan and other recognizable tournament and poker personalities.
Max Rubin and Mati Moralejo hosted the series, while sideline reporting included Nikki Ziering and Shandi Finnessey. Blackjack analyst Anthony Curtis worked on the hand analysis and commentary.
Tour and qualification
The tour promoted events and qualifying opportunities connected with locations such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Paris and Aruba. Satellite and online qualification were used to give non-professional players a route into the tournament environment.
More about UBT
Read the main Ultimate Blackjack Tour overview, compare it with the World Series of Blackjack, or continue to online blackjack tournaments.
Online Blackjack Resource
For more information about blackjack games, rules, strategy and online play, visit OnlineBlackjack.mobi.