Stand or hit? CBS gambles on blackjack series
By Victor Balta
Herald Columnist

Trends come and go, but the classics never die. And while seemingly everyone has been going all-in with poker, specifically No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, blackjack has been patiently waiting it out and is ready to make its comeback.

Fans of HBO's "Entourage" got a taste of how exciting the game can be a couple of weeks ago, when star Vincent Chase (played by Adrian Grenier) and his agent were embroiled in a huge hand with $300,000 on the table.

Now CBS is looking to double-down on the popularity of poker and hope blackjack can dovetail onto it. The network will air a 10-week series, "The Ultimate Blackjack Tournament," on Saturdays before college football, starting Sept. 16.

Other TV outlets, including Game Show Network, have dabbled in bringing blackjack to television, but haven't found anything near poker's success.
"They haven't figured out how to do it on TV yet," said blackjack expert Brett Granstaff. "They're going to have to figure out a way to make it more exciting (for TV). Poker has that dramatic irony, where we know what both players have, and we want to see if that person's going to be an idiot or not."

Poker's incredible rise in popularity was fueled by television tournaments, such as the World Series of Poker on ESPN and the World Poker Tour on The Travel Channel, but blackjack doesn't need to show tournaments on the tube.

It's one of the most commonly portrayed casino games in TV and movies, including Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau's famous "you always double down on 11" scene in "Swingers."

"It's totally James Bond," Granstaff said. "It's quick, it's sexy."

Well, that last part might depend on who's playing.

But the point is well taken.

Granstaff, who is based in Las Vegas and has created a DVD to teach people the intricacies of the seemingly simple game of blackjack, said blackjack never truly faded and continues to be the most played casino game - even by the world's best poker players.

"You'd see at the World Series of Poker, people would bust out (of the tournament) and the first thing they do is go to a blackjack table," Granstaff said.

It's old faithful, but it isn't as easy as it looks.

While you don't have to be an expert card counter to be successful on the blackjack table, it helps to pay attention and study up on some basic tips.
And while poker provides the drama of a stare down with the player across the table before taking all of his or her chips, blackjack offers a feeling like no other.

"There's nothing like taking the house's money, because the house always wins," Granstaff said. "There's nothing better than that."

Columnist Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.