I just learned of a $25K tournament being held at the Beaurivage in Biloxi this weekend. First round starts at 3:00 on Friday. There are no details on the website on rules, but entry fee is only $50. First prize guarantee of $12,500. Website is www.beaurivage.com.
Tournament format? Here is all the information I could get from Casino marketing when I called about this tournament. Has anyone played in one at Beaurivage before to know what their format is? I was surprised that marketing couldn't tell me more than this or fax me a schedule or rules sheet. Prize stucture: $12500 first, $7500 second, $2500 third, $1250 fourth, $750 fifth, $500 sixth, $100 voucher 7-25th. First round on Friday beginning at 3:00. I think there are five or more times for the first round. Saturday 11:00, 12:00, 1:00 rebuy sessions ($50 each) (Don't know if you can rebuy several times or just once) Round 2 2:00 and 3:00 Semifinals 5:00 Finals 6:00 Wildcard(s) for round 2 through finals.
Results and question It turns out the format was elimination from the beginning, only the first place finisher at each table advanced from preliminary rounds and rebuy. Only one entry and one rebuy allowed. 10 tables with 6 to a table. Standard rules except no surrender and could split aces up to four hands just like other splits. $25000 bankroll, min $500 max $10,000 per bet, 30 hands. Here is how the final table played out. The person who won bet the max the first two hands and won both hands, and then just sat back and bet the minimum to see if anyone could catch him. He did this in his semifinal round too and won to get to the final table. At the final table he got a blackjack to start and a 20 on his second hand to win both. After two hands he was now BR1 with $50,000 and everyone else had bet low so they were way behind. At the countdown at hand 25 the four remaining had between $22000 and $26000, while he had $48,000. One person had already busted trying to make a run. My question is, given that there are only 5 hands left and seeing the prize structure, is it wise to try to go in with max bets to try to catch the leader or just play for second?
Are you willing to lose money? If your playing to win you have to take chances. Are you willing to drop from 2nd place and $7,500 down to $1,500 for the chance to win $12,500? I am basing my opinion on you being BR2. If 1st was a lot more more money I would go for it in a heartbeat, but here you are talking about risking $6,000 or so to only win $5,000 more if you can pass BR1. Now from what you had posted that other then BR1 with $48,000 everybody left (total 5 players) were between $22,000 to $26,000 so really you weren't a lock on any place other then 5th place and $750. I would make a move to atleast to get to BR2 (if you weren't already) an then try to get a full max bet ahead of the other players for 2nd and at the same time keep an eye on the golden ring (1st) incase you hit a big BJ or DD and can get within distance of catching 1st without giving away 2nd. Down side is if you lose a big bet you do fall into 5th place, but plus side you have a free bet for the next hand, (you can't fall any futher back then 5th). Sorry I can't really give you any other advice without know where the puck is and knowing how the other players are betting both in front and behind you. All I can tell you is, "It's your money on the line" play it the way you want.
Risk versus reward I agree that the key is to look at risk versus reward. It seems to me that even at BR2 the risk is kind of high to try to chase BR1 at this point knowing that he has been making minimum bets since his start and probably won't change unless you get close enough for the final hand to be a challenger. Everyone else had played conservative to retain their bankrolls too, so unless anyone else is going to make a run, it is likely you will either move into contention or fall out to fifth trying. I think the puck was sitting at seat 5, BR2 was in seat 4, seat 2 had busted and the way it was going to work out, the puck would be sitting at BR2 for the final hand.
Yes risk vs. reward is correct, but $22,000 to $26,000 (BR2 - BR5) is not a lock for 2nd. BR2 needs to bet to keep their postion. Less try this example: 5 hands to go and BR1 (with $48,000) bets $500 min. and BR2-BR5 ($26,000-$22,000 all bet $10,000 max. (which is likely to happen) and swing BR1 on two straight hands. Now you have BR1 with $47,000 and BR2-BR5 with $46,000-$42,000 and three hands left. Now all five are within $5,000 of the lead (a half max. bet differance). Now BR1 has to start worrying about get passed by not one, but all of the other four players. My point is that with a $10,000 max. bet and BR1 only $26,000 over BR5 with 5 hands to play it is still anyone ball game.
I'm the guy I'm the guy the winner beat on the last hand in the semi's to get to the finals and win. Add this to your list of bad-beat stories. This guy played max bet on the 1st hand in the semi's and pushed, then he did it again and won by doubling a 2,7 against a ten. He then bet minimum bets(500), the rest of the way until I caught him using negative progressions at hand 25. He then bet the max bet again, and doubled a 5,2 against a 10, and won. I then work my way back to him on the last hand down by 5750. Here is where you experts can steer me right...He bet the minimum again (he was first). I bet 10,000(the max). He had 20, I had 17, and the dealer had a 10 up. I stood, figuring that my only hope was a dealer bust, and the dealer turns over a 6, then hits it with a 4. Okay, that's not the bad beat I'm talking about. The correct play (I think) was for him to bet $5,500, and make me have to swing him, or double to beat him if we both win. Right? Well, if that is true, I get the 4 for 21.
Just goes to show.... That guy (the winner) scares me, doubling down on 7,2 vs. dealers 10 and then again on 5,2 vs. dealers 10 (and won both of them). You can't beat luck! You can't try to fiqure out how he is going to play either. He made HORRIBLE plays, but won them and then at the end he makes another HORRIBLE play that works in his favor. What you going do? Keep playing enough tournaments and you'll that more then you care to remember. Remember the old saying, "I'd rather be lucky then good anyday"! All you can hope is he doesn't run out of money and you get to play him in that same situation many more times...LOL.
Tx, your right he was still catchable by all at the count, but everyone else at the table had played conservative up to that point and I only recognized two of the players as being at previous tournaments I had been at so I figured one of them would give him a run. As it turns out, only BR2 gave it a shot and he went bust in the process. Just couldn't get any cards. The winner was a young kid, I don't think he played much, just got real lucky with his big bet to start strategy and was able to ride to the win. Sorry to hear about your bad luck casino-jim. I didn't get to watch the semifinals since I haven't convinced my wife it is important to watch and learn yet at tournaments. This was her first to play and she got real lucky and won the swing on her last hand to advance to round two, but made a couple of bad plays and was out of position to have a shot at winning that round. The person who won her table was BR2 at the final table who tried to push, so she didn't feel as bad losing to him.
Best Bet You never said if you had any money left after you bet 10,000 if you were all in BR 1 should have bet 4,700.Even if you get a max bet BJ he can double to beat you by 150 small dollars .
