This Saturday saw the first of the Online main Qualifier's for Live Final of the £25,000 London Open Blackjack Masters. With 8 entries and a guaranteed 2 seats to the final a great Overlay existed, Our Friend and Great player LondonColin Made the Final which as this is all heads Up format he actually did not need to win as both player won Seats, But with Cards on his side he came in 1st in less than half of the designated 40 hands each round had. He had Originally Qualified during the daily Sat’s so has his place in the £25k(approx $40k) final for around $45 Congrats again a brilliant job, My 1st Main Qualifier did not go quite the same way, After practicing quite a bit during the day against the sites Bot on their sng's I had actually won Over $700 but bad cards caught up with me and my 1st round was a nightmare. All through I kept bad beating but managed with every trick in the book to keep coming back to stay slightly ahead Upto 35, Then the other player got a Bj and I was 16 v dealer 10 and even the low count did not save me I busted, by 39 I had to split my remaining bankroll and he correlated i got dealt 17 and he had 2 aces, Knowing i needed to get all my chips in I dd'd my 17 and hit with a 4 with gasps from him he sat for almost until the time out b4 splitting his aces he hit both hands thus my life saving double was short lived. Last hand I went max he had me covered so needed him to push or lose or for me to get 1 extra bet in, I got dealt 6 and he got a soft 20 vs dealer 6 up was praying he would stand but again after thinking to almost time he correctly dd’s and got another 10 so now i had to hit to 21 and hope for a miracle of course neither happened. This player went on to the final too But definitely player of the day if not week was Colin Congrats Again and hope to see you at the live final
Thanks everyone. The only trouble with these heads-up tournaments is that the end goal can seem impossibly far away. Luck's been on my side so far, but I have to remind myself that this stage is still two tables away from winning any money, and five away from the top prize. (I'm very much a glass-half-empty kind of guy.) Good luck to all.
We believe in you... London Colin you're being to hard on yourself. Yes luck plays a big part in all these tournaments, but your a smart player and with them playing 40 hands I feel this will really benefit you even more in your quest to not only cash, but win the entire event. Let me put it this way, if they offer a Calcutta on the players let me know. Placing a bet on you over there I think would be money in the bank. Thats how sure I am of you. Best of luck my friend.
Thanks Tex Actually, we don't yet have any details on what the live format will be (other than heads-up). 40 rounds has been used for the online qualifiers, that being one of the standard GameAccount formats. It's not as good as it sounds, though, as they still only give you the same bankroll (1000 = just 10 minimum bets) as in the 10-round format. I think more rounds actually reduces the role of skill in this case, as it's quite possible to get wiped out in the early stages, having done nothing but bet the minimum. (That's more or less what happened to my opponent at the final table in the qualifier.) Hopefully the live format will offer a more sensible BR and min bet, along with a large number of rounds, and perhaps other helpful additions such as surrender. Even with the best possible rules, though, I think I'd be no more than a 60% favourite, on average, at each table. That would mean a 36% chance of being in the money, and an 8% chance of winning the whole thing. I'll stick with the pessimistic view, and hope to be pleasantly surprised.
Colin, Tx is right - I'd also put a wager on you to go all the way. More hands in a round means a better chance for a BJT assassin to grind down the competition, and you certainly qualify. Go get 'em! :gun:
Event Cancelled It's all academic now. I got an email informing me this morning. I thought it might happen; there had been very low numbers entering the qualifiers. Luckily for me, I get an £800 payoff, slightly more than the equity of the seat at the final. I would hope entry fees are also refunded to people, but there was no mention of that in my email.
