Four winds Congrats smiling faces Johnny and Tool. As far as slow times in the week. I donno. Recent report with distribution to state of Michigan and the county stated the Four Winds has averaged 1 Mil a day in slot revenue in the two years it's been open. Supposedly 90% comes from slots. 10% from table games and they don't have to give a percent of the table games take to the state. Every Tuesday of the Blackjack tourneys they've also held a poker tournament which fills the 16 table room. In addition they have Thursday and Friday night poker tourneys and Saturday and Sunday noon tourneys. So I guess it's slow on Monday and Wednesday. They eliminated the original tourney pit to prepare to install Bradly Peterson's favorite virtual BJ. That eliminates 10 regular dedicated BJ tables.
Good job, guys! Congratulations, indeed, to Jonny21 and Toolman for making the final table! :cheers: Have to assume that neither of our heroes won the thing or we'd have heard about that, too. Damn. It's a shame that this one appears to be going away. We did enjoy the times we were able to play, but that became impossible on a weekday night for both of us. We'd both have been forced to take an unpaid day off from work (Tuesday), then gone to work the following day on 2 or 3 hours' sleep (Wednesday). Two days lost pay + two entry fees + a full tank of gasoline = just too expensive for this level of available prizes. Through emails, I begged and pleaded with the TD to make it a Saturday morning event. Taking the lost workdays out of the above equation would have made it worth the gamble, even with those silly carnival rules. I know of 6 players in similar situations who'd have been very happy to attend on a weekend but found it extremely difficult to do the Tuesday night event. All would have given the house some side action, too. What a shame.
I whole heartily agree. I suggested to them to start early on Saturday or Sunday, say 9am or 10am, to allow the tables to be open for live action when the busy time starts. But it fell on deaf ears.
Attendance for the December, 2009 event was on the light side. I estimate about 70 players. With re-buys, most of the players made the semi-final table. They moved the starting registration up to 5:00pm (Eastern) but the tournament starting time remains at 7:00 (Eastern). For those that haven't been there for a while, the tournament is now played in the same area that contains all of the live Blackjack tables. Also, they changed the "termination date" of this monthly event series to "indefinite". I updated the Calendar listing of this event to include all these changes. This event seems to draw a number of first time players and a lot of "wildcat" betters. Watch out for those "wildcats". If you get stuck at a table with 2 or 3 of them and the dealer is cold, you are in serious trouble. However, over time, the seasoned tournament player should do well. This event remains a nice "deviation" from one's normal routine. Although they made some rule changes in response to player's suggestion, they seem to be pretty set in their ways now and further changes seem unlikely. Not an ideal tournament but it's OK for a local monthly event. Makes for a nice social event.
Toolie!? Hey. They're goin continue? Somewhat good news. Maybe. Allows more kamakazieees. But "social event?" Udder dan talkin wit u or the Nutz or Monkey and Johnnie,( and nothin wrong with that), but none of yous likes to drink the Four Winds expensive beverages and its late into the evening before its all over and everyone has to go home, there's not a lot of "Socializing" to be had. Better to sit at the poker tables and oggle the waitressessss and oggle is all that ya gets. Again, nothin against all ya all, but the ogglin in the time frame allowed, is the best "socializing" one's goin get. Da only good benefit for those in the area to play, is the practice. For $65 to win close to a grand. And then if you get lucky you get to go home with a cow girl.
Oh, I think it's probably a nice social event for those who are truly local but their insistence at keeping this on a Tuesday evening means that those of us who have a fairly significant drive cannot hang around for socializing when it's over. A three hour return trip starting just before midnight nixes that idea rather nicely. The Four Winds BJT management's scheduling of this event has made it clear that they really don't care if we show up or not, and that's OK. P.S. Thanks for keeping us updated, Toolman!
I can confirm that they are (apparently) continuing this event as it was done in previous months. Just got a promo email touting their monthly BJT's, among other things.
Feb. 2, 2010 The Feb. 2, 2010 event was poorly attended. Excluding re-buys, my best guess is about 50 players. Don't know if it's because of the winter season or a waning of interest. Time will tell but I'm guessing this tournament will go the way of the dinosaurs mainly because it ends about 11:30pm - people need to go to work the next day. The good news: With re-buys and wild cards, 36 of the 50 players made the semi-final tables. Also, the tournament staff is doing a better job with more experience. The bad news: Low prize pool since only entry fee money is in the prize pool. The casino does not contribute. Also, the casino no longer takes any advice and some poor rules and procedures seem locked in. I keep my mouth shut to avoid confrontation and stay under their radar.
How terribly sad. :cry: I had such high hopes for this tournament when it started. Even though it began with some truly ridiculous rules, they showed an intense interest in making it a must-do winner and it hit the ground running. Then they started operating as they wanted to with no further interest in listening to their guests, now it's fading into the sunset (or fading into the dawn's early light, considering the schedule). Compare this one to the Meskwaki event in Iowa. Those folks have showed an active interest in making the tournament as attractive to their guests as possible, and quickly started filling it up with a waiting list. Granted, the prize pools are significantly different but the evidence is clear - give the players what they want, and they will come. Four Winds does as they please and the BJT is dying. Meskwaki tries to make theirs as attractive as possible and they fill the field. Duhhhhhhhhh.......
I missed a few months of their tournaments but attended August & September, 2010. Attendance was really poor in September. I would guess about 50 players - 60 max. They tell me for the prior 3 or 4 months, attendance was very good. Maybe September was just a bump in the road - time will tell.
poor attendance I would guess there are others like me who cannot get there if it is too close to a holiday when people are doing other things. The July date was up against the 4th, and the September date was the day after Labor Day and I was out of town both times. I will try to make the October one, although it is only one day after getting back from the St. Ignace event. I would hate to see them cancel the one regular tournament that I can somewhat easily get to. So Toolman, how did you do?
Made the semi-final without a re-buy. In the semi-final, only one advance per table of 6. I was scheduled to be second to bet on the last hand. I sized up the competition as 2 good players, 3 so-so, and me - not so good. So considering the betting order I decided that taking the lead before the last hand was critical. Had to go all-in on the 3rd or 4th to last hand. I chose the 4th to last and lost. I watched the cards come out on the next hand and saw I would have got a 20. Well, at least I got to go home an hour earlier.
Hey Monkey! When you get done with all your calculating(very good info, by the way) maybe you can come up with a couple more "quotable quotes," for your signature and then you'll have a page to yourself each time you post.
The October 5, 2010 event had great attendance - recuperating from last month's disastrous turn out. Not full but with re-buys the tournament director said the prize pool was the biggest they had since starting this monthly event. I made the final table this time. It was remarkable because, for a final table, most players had no clue. I could not capitalize on that because one player made a strong bet right out the gate, got great cards, continued to bet strong while winning, and I could not catch him. What was interesting is that all the players at the final table made either a betting or playing error on the last hand - not normal for a final table.
