There is nothing on the Meskwaki website or calendar about the October tournament. When I called them today (9/1), I went though several folks who gave me conflicting information, so I spoke with the general manager, Patrick Brown (extension 1624). He said they have pulled the plug on the October tournament. He stated that they plan to have one in April with the goal of making it a larger prize pool. I chastised him for not posting something as there are people who have already made plans and purchased airfare. Without apology, he thanked me for my input. As mentioned in previous threads, it would be to their advantage to monitor if not contribute to BlackjackTournaments.com and keep folks informed of their schedule. It is likely that this relatively short-notice cancellation will not endear themselves to the tournament community. Sounds to me like they need a lesson in effective marketing. Sara is now gone. Maybe she jumped ship for a reason? Oh well, it was going to be difficult anyway to convince my wife that I needed to go to Iowa just a couple weeks after retuning from the LV Hilton.
Well, they certainly did manage to kill off a good thing, eh? Unbelievable. I'd said a few times here, such as in the bottom of the first post in this thread http://www.blackjacktournaments.com/bb/showthread.php?t=7195, that they'd have one chance to make it right or kiss it goodbye. Looks like they took the latter option. Now they think they can rustle up an even bigger one? FAT CHANCE. By waiting so long to announce the cancellation - and then only when pried loose by UncleAbe - they've done a rather complete job of shooting themselves in the foot. Sure showed how much they care about their players, didn't they? Most of the folks they would hope to entice wouldn't be thrilled with trusting them with a same-size BJT, much less a bigger one. What a low-down dirty crying shame.
Tourney Lefty, Meskwaki probably thought not any money made off the tourney and a hassle to set up. Kewadin is looking better in light of this event, even though they have cut back on the package, that should tell you something. When they have the slot and VP tourneys they have Ina, Diana, running them, often alone, and the package is still great because I believe less overhead and more side action., less hassle. CP
I've Got A Secret Well, now we know what they didn't want to tell us when they canceled the rescheduled date for the October BJT. I just got a postcard asking if I was going to attend the Heartland Poker Tour event - starting that same weekend. They booted the BJT in favor of a bigger event, and then: A. Didn't let any of us know until UncleAbe pried the information loose, and B. Didn't bother to tell him (or us) why they did that, when most of us likely would have understood. Right now, I am deeply UNimpressed with Meskwaki. Not only did they screw up the April BJT (which cost me a fair chunk of prize money) but now they've treated us like children who don't deserve to know truths. If they do attempt to run a much bigger BJT next spring, they will have to host something that will attract the traveling tournament player. Yet how many of is (i.e. our Seattle friends) had already booked non-refundable travel? How many of us had arranged for the scarce time off from our jobs so that we could support the BJT's? How many of us are going to fully trust them next spring?
