Beware Of The Hilton $1,000,000 - Again

The $1,000,000 is not guaranteed. Please note that at the finals of the August qualifier, yesterday, they "shorted” first place $15,000 and only paid $10,000, by involked their “note” requiring 65 players (they only had 24 players). Obviously, they cannot pay the $1,000,000 either, because they have averaged less than 30 players for the first 3 months. They are already over $250,000 short for those 3 months. They probably will have to cancel the remainder of the tournament.

 

Hilton Indeed Shorted Player

I was at the Hilton last Friday for the tournament. They indeed shorted the winner by $15K. No one seems to know what the future holds.

 

Seems to me that the Hilton probably lost some high rollers as a result of this. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot - or worse. :bomb:

 

Well I can't say that I'm SURPRIZED, especially in light of the early warnings posted from other BJT.com members it is still disheartening that it comes to this.

My question, however, is this: The winners of the April, May & June events got entries into a 1,000,000 event. Now it will likely he a 250,000 (or less event) so what happens?

 

As usual, the casino has their butt covered. First of all, they call the event "$1,000,000 Blackjack Classic". They don't say, as you put it, "entries into a 1,000,000 event". Second, rule #32 (which talks about the final event) states in part: "All prize money is based on a minimum of 65 entries in each monthly tournament".

Where I find the real fault (for lack of a better phrase) is that they paid the full monthly prize money for the first 3 months then all of a sudden decided to invoke the "minimum 65 player rule". They could have lessened the bad will generated if they told the players before they made the trip that the 65 player rule will apply.

 

Interesting

They actually were overpaying when the 25 grand was being paid because the tourney fill wasnt to target. Of course they clearly stated the tourney had qualifying standards such as the 65 entries and the tourney should have been canceled off the bat to be "right". This will do nothing but burn bridges and lose the casino players. If you search back the Pechanga ran a qualifying tourney that had a bunch qualify for a 1 million tourney, but as the tourney rules and even brochures clearly said the casino had the right to cancel or change the tourney for any reason management sees fit.

 

Kiss of Death

Talk about signing your own death certificate. When the Hilton shorted the August monthly to save a relatively measly $15,000, it signaled that it will have absolutely no problem making a major cut in the end of year $1M prize. Going forward, the only people that will enter the monthlies are people who don't have any idea what has happened in the first 3 months.

I don't know a lot about tournament history, but I have got to believe that this will be universally recognized as the worst gambling tournament failure of all time.

Things won't change at the Hilton until the casino management changes. It's not Resorts corporate management that is messing this up. They made some very positive changes when they first took over. The problem is onsite with the local casino management.

The best thing the Hilton could do would be to hire some people from this site, like Ken Smith, as consultants to fix their blackjack games and tournaments.

 

John, that would be a GREAT idea. What I don't understand is this:

Why is it so hard to have a good event - an event that's a win-win for the casino and players?

Thanks John for cluing us into this problem back in May!

 

GREED​

 

casinos

don't understand bj tournaments -

they know poker turnaments can be a profit center - and they are run very similar in play to a cash game - nothing really changes

slot tournaments are a promotion (usually) and very simple to run

what are bj tournaments?

the high roller invites tournaments are obviously promotions - but - when you let players buy-in - is it a promotion or a profit center - and - the play is very different - bj dealers don't understand rotating the button - etc. -

I think they try to run some bj tournaments like a big poker tourney - then don't get the sign ups - and don't want to put out that much money on what has turned into a promotional gimmick - and the dealers, etc have to learn a different game -

so things mess up and casinos renege on their promises -

we need to teach casinos that bj tourneys can be run well - and either make them money - or - be money neutral/ low cost promotions

Rick's tourneys are the right model - casinos can do that type of tourney and make it work for them - but - we have to be willing to accept raked tourneys - like poker has - and not expect positive evs except on rare occassions

 

Ah ha! Someone has stated the obvious truth. Herein lies the sticking point.

Now the more experienced players will say, "But I remember the good ole days when there where plenty of open tourneys and I wouldn't go to a -EV tourney for anything...those bat rastard casions are just concerned with taking my money...etc., etc., etc.

If a poker tourney can be run by a casino and they make $, then so much more can a BJ tourney be run by a casino and make $ too!

It's ok to pay fees for a BJ tourney - just not too many fees! there has to be a happy medium. Hopefully some of us here can find a formula that works. Any takers?

 

Thanks for the post!

I was actually on the phone with a Hilton host yesterday inquiring about this tourny and she was giving me the run-around when I asked about the current take up rate for the Oct tourny! Well, I've planned my trip to LV around this tourny, now that it's a no-go , any recommendation on how I should better spend my $2500?

 

Wsob

YES I DO SEND IT TO ME ME OR SAVE FOR THE WSOB:laugh: :laugh:

 

LOL very nice Maxwell! Unfortunately, I'm no pro and will have significant problem qualifying as the Top 40 BJ pros in the world! Thanks for the advice anyway! Guess I'll take my chances at the tables!

 

Boy talk about softball questions :laugh:

Ok, all kidding aside this is how I would think about using that 2500 in entry fees:

1. Imperial Palace end of September - see the calendar
2. Barona - last chance to win a seat in the 1,000,000 event.
3. Cruise - with Rick in January
4. Canadian Masters Final in February - see the calendar

Finally you could purchase a 1-year membership to Club UBT for your chance to win a BJT/PT cruise. Of course you couls just use the 2500 to PURCHASE a cruise package.

These are but a "few" options available.

 

Thanks for the sound advice

I would love to attend each of those tournies. However, being a working guy with a family of young kids, I can't get away for all of them. The few days that I planned in LV in Oct, I've been looking fwd to it forever! I'll be sure to attend the Niagara Fallsview one in Mar tho, I've attended the past few years and met Mr. Ken Smith there last year too!

I'm thinking the Rampart on Thu. Is the UBT SnG still on at the Venetian on Fri evenings? I've attended one of those and they're pretty enjoyable .. more so if you win I suppose (I finished just outside the bubble I think!)