It’s that time again…

The Ultimate Blackjack Tour has a second season of shows ready to air, and they start this Saturday (tomorrow) September 15th, 2007. Tune in on CBS at 2 PM Eastern to check out the first of the one-hour episodes.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Ultimate Blackjack Tour (UBT), it’s a classic blackjack tournament with some extra twists thrown in to make it more exciting and strategic. After each of hands 8, 16, and 25 in the round, the player at the table with the lowest chip count is eliminated. Unlike many traditional format tournaments, these rounds are exciting from start to finish as the players are all jockeying to stay out of the fatal last place spot.

In addition, each player has a single “Secret Bet” option they can use during the round, to conceal their bet and also their playing strategy. This adds a psychological element to the game that was missing before.

Tune in on CBS this weekend to check it out. One more note… In some markets, the local CBS affiliate might preempt the show for college football instead. If you check your local TV schedule and don’t see UBT listed at 2 PM Eastern, check the late night listings instead. Usually, each CBS station will air the show sometime, but it might be moved from the nationally scheduled timeslot.

I’ll be appearing in one of the later shows this season, in something called Battle of the Superstars. My two final table finishes in UBT events in Aruba and St Kitts aren’t scheduled to air this season, but have instead been slated for season three.

Well, the first season of the new Ultimate Blackjack Tour is a wrap.

In a long but very exciting week, filming finished up in late October at CBS Studios in Los Angeles. The more than $1 million in prize money was big news, but the real impact of these events will come once they hit TV. A new twist on the standard blackjack tournament format is guaranteed to spice up the game for television audiences.

The new format is called “Elimination-style blackjack” and it adds a simple but brutal twist to the game. In a 30-hand round, there are also 3 forced elimination hands on the way to the final hand. After hands 8, 16, and 25, the player at the table with the lowest bankroll remaining is immediately eliminated. That means there’s no more dozing off at the table for the first 20 hands of the round. With high-tension decisions every few hands, players have to scramble for position during the entire match. The whole format has a patent pending by the creators.

I’ve played a lot of tournament blackjack over the years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. These rounds were the toughest and most unforgiving of any I’ve ever played. I think that will translate into a real winner for TV. No word yet on when or where they will air, but this was a very elaborate production so it is sure to gain a lot of interest from the networks.

Next year we’ll see a number of developments from UBT, including satellite tournaments at both land-based and online casinos, where everyone has a shot at ending up playing for big bucks under the TV lights.

I’ve been trumpeting 2006 as a banner year for blackjack tournaments, and the UBT is one of the main reasons I believe our time has come. Move over poker, you’ve got company!

I’m just back from Vegas, where I participated in a new series of blackjack tournaments produced for TV. The new Ultimate Blackjack Tour adds some interesting twists to the usual formula of blackjack tournaments, and I think the new format will be great for TV.

Many viewers of previous events have pointed out that only the final few hands of a round hold any excitement. The UBT has added some twists that I think eliminate that complaint. One thing is for sure… The new format is TOUGH! Every single hand you play is important, and the angles and complexity go as deep as you can handle, and then some. I was absolutely exhausted after this week of effort.

I don’t know how much of the results information is supposed to be publicly available, so I won’t disclose any outcomes here. However, the events aren’t complete yet anyway. In Vegas, we filmed seven tournaments, but no final tables. The seven finalists in each event will compete a week from now in Los Angeles on a special set built for the show. Each winner of an event will pick up $50,000, and the top finishers in each event will then compete in a tournament of champions, for another $250,000 first place prize.

The long-term vision for this series is an ongoing World Tour concept, similar to the World Poker Tour. Once the shows begin to air, and the accompanying website launches, the public will be able to enter for a chance to play big money events under the television lights.

This is just the first of three big developments in the 2006 world of tournament blackjack. GSN’s series “World Series of Blackjack” is said to be coming back in 2006, with a satellite tournament process that will allow everyone to participate. The third horse in this Tournament Trifecta is an open event similar to the Hilton’s Million Dollar Tournament. The new “$2 Million Blackjack Tournament” is rumored to be getting set for events to begin in early 2006.

For more discussion and schedules of upcoming events, check out BlackjackTournaments.com.

It’s gonna be a good year. Start working on your tournament chops, and maybe I’ll see YOU in the finals, -Ken-