Quechan Resort, in Winterhaven CA; 10 miles west of Yuma, is having a $50,000 Blackjack Tournament, 21-22 August. Buy-in/Rebuy is $250/$125. $20,000 to winner, pays through 24 places. Information I have is posted in calendar of events. Q-Resort is fairly new, fairly nice, about 200 hotel rooms, pool, lazy river, etc. 1,000 slot/vp machines, usual table games, poker room. Rooms should be affordable, they are doing a $49 per night promo on rooms now, don't know of special casino rate or whatever, but doubt rooms during tournament will be expensive. Tournament turnout in Yuma during the winter months, when the snowbirds are here, can hit 140+ for $30 buyin and even higher, up to maybe $50. During the summer, they are lucky to get 40-50 players, regardless of buyin or prize pool. Don't know where they think the players will come from for this tourney; definitely will not fill up from locals, not in August. Will need to attract players from out of town, but Phoenix and San Diego are reasonable distance, so could draw from those metro areas. Could be a very good overlay; the Quechan casinos always guarantee their prize pools.
More info on Yuma $50,000 tournament Tournament will have 12 tables (6 players each) for elimination (first) rounds. They will run a maximum of 6 elimination rounds, so a max of 432 players. After the first elimination round, seats are open for rebuys, as seats are available. Buy in is $250, rebuy is $125. Tables are single advance, so 12 players total will advance from each elimination round to the quarter final rounds. Each quarter final round will have two tables of six players each, single advance. Quarter final rounds will play immediately after each elimination round. So the structure is, first elimination round, 12 tables, 12 advance; then: first quarter final round, two tables, two advance: while the first quarter final round is playing, the second elimination round, twelve tables, will play simultaneously; and so forth. This will put 12 players into the semi-finals. An additional 6 players will be added, who will be the six non-winning players with the highest chip count. Six additional players will be selected by wild card drawings from among all registered players. This puts 24 players in the semifinal. There will be four semi final tables of 6 players each. The winner of each table advances to the final table. Two additional players will be added to the final table, selecting the two highest non-winning chip counts from the semi final round. 6 players at the final table. They will use standard Q-Resort tournament rules, but, will use a rotating button for all tables. Tournament will pay through 24 spots. Pay off structure is: 1st $20,000 2nd $8,000 3rd $6,000 4th $4,000 5th $2,000 6th $1,000 7th - 12th $750 13th - 18th $500 19th - 24th $250 Besides paying the full entry fee, there are two ways to earn free entries/discounted entries. First is through mini-tournaments. They have one table set up for these, sessions are from 1-4 PM Mon-Fri and 7-10 PM Sun-Thurs. These are multiple table accumulation tournaments, with the highest chip totals being tracked through each session. Entry fee is $5 per table played, and you can play as often as you like each session. Winner gets the total entry fees plus a $10 credit off his tournament entry, 2nd - 4th places get no money, but a $5 credit off the tournament entry; all players get a $1 credit for each table they play. Prize pools typically run $250 to $350, each session. Tables are 6 hands, standard Q-Resort rules. You must be present when the session ends to collect your money if you are the winner. Not present, no money. Second way of getting discounts, is through regular blackjack play. You get $1 discount for each hour of bj play, with a $20 average bet. So 250 hours at $20 a hand gets you a free entry, 375 hours at $20 per hand gets you an entry and a rebuy. They prorate according to size of bets, so if playing $100 average bet, takes only 50 hours to get a free entry. They are holding 130 seats for people to buy in with cash. They reserve the right to allow additional cash buyins. After they use up the 130 seats (or more if they allow), no more cash buyins except on a space available basis on the day of the tournament. Please note, no guarantee a cash buyin will be available the day of the tournament, also, no guarantee that more persons will qualify for discounted entries than they have space available for them. An early cash buy-in will guarantee you a seat, however. Also please note, that if 432 people buyin and/or qualify in, no rebuys will be available. $50,000 prize pool, with 432 players, is an equity of 115.34 per player. 133 players with a buyin and one rebuy each would produce $50,000 for the casino, so they would be putting no money into the tournament.Actual equity will depend on how many players qualify for the free entries, etc. how many show up. It looks as of a small group of players are doing the mini-tournaments, playing every table at a session, and that several have accumulated enough credit for a free entry already. I can't estimate how many will get in through table play. So may be seriously negative equity. .
