NEXT BIG THING ULTIMATE BLACKJACK

CBS television recently announced that they will be running an all-new series starting Saturday, Sept. 16, 2006. The show, to be named the Ultimate Blackjack Tour, has signed a deal for two seasons with ten episodes per season, and it’s expected to be even bigger than any of the televised poker shows.

The first season will feature the best blackjack players in the world – it will also feature America’s favorite poker players. Among the poker players scheduled to participate in the tournament are Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth Jr., and Annie Duke. The second season is slated to provide unique opportunity for people enjoy the game of blackjack. The tour will allow these average Joe players to sit in and try their luck against the legends of both poker and blackjack.

The Ultimate Blackjack Tour was created by 1994 World Series of Poker champion, Russ Hamilton. As an experienced WSOP player, Hamilton is already a fixture in the gaming industry; he is well known in the gaming world for his poker playing skills and the extravagant wagers he makes on the golf course. Hamilton really got his start in the gambling industry as an odds-maker in his hometown of Detroit. He also had some practice as a bookie before he made his way to city he now resides in. His journey to the top truly began in Las Vegas. Hamilton moved there as a young adult, because he wanted to live in the warmer weather. He’s since made a lucrative offline gaming career for himself.

Among the other well known gamer to take part in the Ultimate Blackjack Tour is Ken Einiger. He’s been noted to be the most well known blackjack player of the debut group. He recently won the 2005 World Series of Blackjack. He also won six other tournaments, while making the final table in over 20 tournaments.

Poker players such as Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, and Annie Duke have all dabbled in blackjack at the casinos, and they choose blackjack as a second game for other reasons than just being gamblers at heart.

Blackjack is similar to poker as they both deal with implied odds and percentages. In both poker and blackjack the odds change with every hand that has been dealt. Professional players know the exact odds for the next card to be dealt. For example, in either card game, if a two is dealt, you know there are only three more left in the deck. Gamers that are already poker players are able to incorporate what they have learned at the poker table, and bring it to the blackjack table.

Despite the dramatic increase of popularity in poker, blackjack is still the most popular game at the majority of casinos. Network executives of CBS hope that blackjack will become a spectator sport, much like poker is now. They hope to accomplish this by becoming the first blackjack show to reveal to the viewing audience the dealers’ hole card through the use of the hole card camera. As when televised poker took off, CBS is hoping the hole card camera will increase the ratings much the same way it did when cameras started showing the poker players’ hole cards. Also, by adding the average player feature in the second season, CBS is providing a chance for viewers to feel like they could beat the legends too.

For a long time, network executives believed that poker would never be successful on television. And when poker was first televised, all that was available to the viewer was the board cards, and it was up to the viewer to try to guess what the player was holding. But once the hole card camera was introduced, poker became the third most watched sport on television, behind NASCAR and the NFL, respectively.

As the Ultimate Blackjack Tour is borrowing some of the poker’s successful techniques, and adding its own twists, CBS hopes that it will become even more popular than televised poker.