World Series of Blackjack

The World Series of Blackjack is a televised blackjack tournament created and produced by the cable network GSN. It is a closed tournament; players are either invited to play or can attempt to win a spot via a satellite tournament. Rounds are edited into 1-hour episodes and broadcast on GSN. Matt Vasgersian and Max Rubin provided commentary for the first two seasons.

The third season began airing weekly on June 5, 2006 as part of GSN's "Casino Night" (retooled, with "High Stakes Poker", as "Vegas Night") programming block, with new hosts John Fugelsang and Ben Mezrich.

Season 4 premiered on GSN on June 4, 2007. A field of 40 players, including Celebrity Blackjack champion Caroline Rhea, baseball star Orel Hershiser and magician Penn Jillette competed for a $1 million prize pool. Vasgersian returned as commentator.

Rules

The rules (as of season 4) are as follows:

*Each player begins with $100,000 in chips.
*The initial minimum bet is $1,000, the maximum bet is $50,000.
*There are six decks.
*Each player gets one "Burger King Power Chip" per round, which allows a player to switch one card with the next card in the shoe. If used on a double-down hand, the player may look at the double-down card and replace it if desired. The power chip was added as of season three.
*There are two "knockout cards" in the shoe. Once a knockout card is drawn, the player with the lowest amount of chips after the next hand is elminated. After the first knockout card, the minimum bet increases to $2,500, after the second, the bet increases to $5,000. The deck is shuffled after each knockout card. If there are only four players when the first is drawn and three when the second is drawn, no players are eliminated, but the minimum bet still increases. The knockout cards also appeared first in season three.
*Players can split, double-down & insure for less than their bet.
*Players can double-down on anything.
*Surrendering the hand is legal, which allows players to give up half their bet and concede the hand.
*If a player can't make the minimum bet, they are eliminated.
*Blackjack pays 3 to 2, dealer must stand on all soft 17s and higher.
*After 25 hands, the player with the most chips wins.

eason 1 results

Dr. Jeff Bernstein won the $500,000 grand prize for his Season 3 victory.

¹Qualified for Wild Card Round through random drawing among all 3rd-5th place preliminary finishers.
²Qualified for Final Table through random drawing among all 3rd-5th place semi-final finishers.

eason 4 results

Alice Walker (who had previously won GSN's million-dollar Three card poker championship) took first place and $500,000.
¹Qualified for Wild Card Round through random drawing among all 3rd-5th place preliminary finishers.
²Qualified for final table through random drawing among all 3rd-5th places semi-final finishers

ee also

*Celebrity Blackjack
*World Blackjack Tour
*Ultimate Blackjack Tour

References

* [http://www.gsn.com/specific_page_elements.php?link_id=S10 Official site]
* [http://games.aol.com/blackjack AOL Blackjack]
* [http://www.blackjackworldseries.net/ WSOB Information]
* [http://www.tv.com/world-series-of-blackjack/show/26583/summary.html TV.com summary]
* [http://www.blackjackhero.com/world-series-of-blackjack/ Blackjack Hero summary]