I signed up. It is Oct 2,3, $25k with $10k first place. Semi-finalists (42) get $100. $249 is the fee for three nights lodging and entry. Looks like they feed us twice too. Anyone do this GNL yearly before? I try to make GN my home base when in Laughlin to begin with, but this is my first time stepping up to the plate for more than a $15 entry fee for a BJ tourney. I got an invitation in the mail but no break on the price, play VP mostly. GNL still has the best regular BJ game on the river, single deck downtown rules with daytime $10 min.
last year I am signed up, too. I played last year and didn't make it past first round. That was my very first tournament. I subsequently played at the next two Pioneer Laughlin tournaments (very similar format), and made it to the finals each time. I have done a lot of studying and practicing, so I feel somewhat confident. See you there! Brian
GNL Slotclub Got a letter and a new slot club card from GNL. They are switching readers/cards once again. Plan on a line if you need to visit the booth. Hope to meet up with Faye and Brian. If you need a warmup the EW does a $1,500 tourney on Fridays starting early afternoon.
Pre-Tourney Observations Well Golden Nugget Laughlin only does this one, the 4th annual. So you had to expect some bugs, but opportunities too. Smooth check-in, where I was given an envelope with a welcoming letter. The session times were not listed though. Saturday morning they had a two hour brunch starting at 8am. By 8:15 am there was no line at the enterance. This was held in Tarzan's sports lounge. Those familiar with with GNL foyer/jungle/waterfalls know that they can block off one side for private parties. The two sided buffet line worked just fine in this area. We were given a list of the rules and a tournament badge. Linen on the tables and the wateresses had on tux shirts. About 8:45a it was announced that the rules would be gone over in ten minutes. Finally after thirty minutes someone walked through the rules, no real Master of Ceremonies. This was a lost opportunity for GNL. The one surprise was GNL just implemented DAS and splitting Aces up to three times on their regular games, so the tourney had these rules. Other ones: single deck, face up, H17, DA2, $500 in chips, $10-$500 bet, BJ 2:1. They had 101 entries on 105 spots (3 sessions x 5 tables x 7 spots) two advance to the semifinals. Thirty hands dealt. So thirty advanced. Two sessions with three tables were for re-buys ($100) for 12 more semifinalists. No wildcards. So they collected ($249 x 101)+($100 x 42), $29,349 for the $25k tourney. A fine deal with lodging (hand-me-down Bellagio Serta Pillow-top Perfect Sleeper beds) and a couple of meals included. The tourney was played in the main pit. Usher's ropes kept back the riff-raff. They had 5 lady veteran dealers who had volunteered. They wore baseball jerseys. No one really could have been called a tournament director. The position of the button was determined by a roll of three dice. They just walked around from first base with the total of the dice. Not really random, but good enough I guess. Session #1, Table #2, Seat #4 results coming up...
Session #1 I had seat number 4. The dice roll resulted in me getting the button...1,8,15,22,29...perfect! Of course if any player gets knocked out early I will lose this great position. I bet the $10 minimum. Others were chucking out $50-100 right away, a good sign. The #5 player started mimicking my minimum bet while the others kept up the aggressive play. Two advance remember. At about hand 20 I was twitching. The others were winning while my minimum bets and proper doubles resulted in me being BR6 about a max bet behind several others. I thought #5 had some tourney experience, but none of the others. Then #5 goes all-in with about $400, a total surprise to me. He loses and is out. Blondie, #6 was obnoxious and betting wildly. I can't believe they let him get away with his cell phone at the table, checking sports scores. He is next out. I have made up some ground still betting minimum. A count after hand 25 still puts me last but within a max bet. I lost the best position for the last hand, but still had three others betting in front of me with BR1 betting last. Last hand, sure enough two bettors make a max bet, with $200 and $300 or so in reserve. #3 splits his $700, so has $350 in reserve. OK, I will take the second low position. Number #3's stacks of little chips make my figuring hard. I ended up with a $75 bet with $415 in reserve. Not ideal, but I sure did not want to goof up. BR1 with $1175 only sticks out $25. #1 doubles for less on a 12 and busts. Dealer had a low card. #2 just hits. #3 hits and stays on 12. I turn my 7 into 17. Dealer hits for 19 and beats everyone. My $415 is good enough to advance. ****** Rebuy rounds were at 3:30 and 5pm, glad I did not have to wait around and cough up another $100.
Semi-Finals The semi-finals were not until Sunday morning, 42 of us now guaranteed $100. Thirty came from opening round and 12 from rebuys. The semi-final table assignments/time were posted in several spots around the pit. I crashed real early Saturday night and was wandering around the casino by daylight. The semis had 4 tables at 10am and 3 at 11:30am. Don't know how they made the assignments. Finals at 1pm. I drew 10am/Table 1/Seat #2. Once again three dice were tossed for button position. There was confusion if they should count by sevens or sixes. Six players-5,11,17,23,29...once again I win the toss for best seat. So it is a more conservative betting profile $10-50 for the table. I stick to $10 minimum. The dealer is actually winning some hands. Number 3, "SR", is betting more aggressively after 15 hands. The rest of us are all within $200. SR is down to one green chip at about hand 23, the rest of us look like we will play all 30 hands. SR goes all-in and pulls a BJ. He gets three BJs in a row and his fourth hand is A-9. Unbelievable. After the count after hand 25, I am $50 behind the chip leader so I make a $75 bet against his $10 min. Another player's double down prevents me from becoming BR1. Hand 27 the green and black chips come out and I decide to go contrary with a minimum bet. Nope, lose ground. With my strong last hand position, no one knocked out, I bet minimum on 28 and 29. My sense is I will get first low on the final hand. No one but me has any red chips and most are black on the table. #1 RB $1,050 #2 Me $610 #3 SR $900 (button for hand #30) #4 RC $850? #5 BG $700? #6 JB $700? You may note "SR" turned his one green chip into nine black ones. Sure enough everyone bets the max going around the table to me giving me first low, so I take it with a minimum bet. Dealer shows a 2. (groan) #1 RB $550 $500 10-5 #2 Me $600 $10 (I don't remember) #3 SR $400 $500 7-4 #4 RC $350 $500 8-4 #5 BG $200? $500 ? #6 JB $200? $500 ? I am pulling for an all lose hand. SR is first to act, fumbles with his remaining chips, but just hits. He pulled a ten for 21. That cooks my goose. RC doubles down on twelve and pulls a face card, bust. SR complains that RC did not have enough chips to double down. He thought you needed to match the bet! BG and JB just stand? (MY recollection is fuzzy on chip count and play) RB looks it over and doubles on his 15. He pulls a five out of the hat for 20. (I really think he just needed a win) Dealer's turn...2...8...Ace for 21! So "SR" advances with a push to the finals. Finals at 1pm, too crowded for me to see anything worthwhile. Banquet and awards at 2pm in The Deck. They fed us the leftovers from the Sunday Brunch that ended at 2pm, but left out the breakfast items. Good enough, time for the awards. Who wins? Why "SR" picked up the $10 Grand! Congrats to SR. It just shows just how much luck is involved in these things.
