Hilton Million Dollar Qualifiers

I've noticed that these qualifiers are on the calender. It says it is a 2 day event. Each monthly qualifier has a guaranteed prize pool of $35,000?

Is there a minimum number of entries?

Does anyone know the format?

Will it be held for certain ?

Does anyone know who I should speak to at the Hilton concerning this, rather than my host?

To our experienced members here who have participated in this event in the past, will the Hilton be true to their promotion or will they renege like the Venetian did?

I was impressed with the WSOB satellites at the Hilton. Are these qualifiers associated with those WSOB satellites?

 

They do not mention a minimum number of players. The are looking for about sixty to sixty-five each month.
The format is elimination with two advancing from each round.
The bankroll is $5,000 with thiry hands per round; except only twenty-eight hands in the final round.
Each player will have a free ace on one hand and can Mulligan one card per round.
The top four finishers will advance to the million-dollar final round to be held next June.
You do need to talk to your host or call VIP services for details.

 

They are set to start....

I stopped by and talked with Les Thacker yesterday and asked him about the LVH MD tournament. He told me just go to their web site for information on this event.

www.lvhilton.com once there you'll see the banner for the Million dollar tournament.

I suggest any and all players wishing to play the LVH MD event, to contact Les Thacker (LVH host), he is a friend of the players and we need to take care of him you go play the tournament.

 

To help answer these 2 questions:

1) When the Hilton held their three 1 Million Dollar tournaments in the past (last one ended in 2005), they never reneged on the prize money paid out.

2) The WSOB has absolutely nothing to do with this event. The Hilton was merely the place where the WSOB qualifiers were held, the Hilton did not sponsor them.

Prize pool is not guaranteed since Minimum players are required:
I just noticed that the payouts are based on having a minimum of 65 players each month. Also, it looks like the grand prize will not be the full amount of $1,000,000 if the 65 minimum players is not met each month. This means that the prize money is not guaranteed. I edited the CALENDER posting to reflect this.

Not guaranteeing the $1,000,000 is a definite negative. It could hurt their attendance figures.

 

pdf snip

from LVH rule sheet

>>>
32. The Monthly Tournament prize structure is as follows: First place receives $25,000 and an automatic entry into the finals; 2 nd, 3rd, and 4th places each receive $2,500 and an automatic entry into the finals; 5th place receives $2,500. The monthly prize money is based on a minimum of 65 entries. 33. The Final Tournament is a 64-person, single elimination tournament, consisting of the 48 monthly tournament winners and 16 wild card players. The final 16 finishers will proceed into a 16-person single elimination tournament bracket where the prize money will be distributed as follows: the top 16 places each receive $1,000; the top 8 places will each receive $2,500; the top 4 places will each receive $5,000; the top 2 places will each receive $10,000; and the first place prize will receive $1,000,000. All prize money is based on a minimum of 65 entries in each monthly tournament. 34. Everyone who participates but does not advance (top four) in the monthly tournaments will be entered into a wild card drawing to be held the Friday of the Final Million Dollar Tournament (June 2008) weekend. 16 wild card winners will be pulled to participate in the Final Million Dollar Tournament. 35. Must be 21 years of age or older to participate. 36. All taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner. 37. Participants who fail to comply with any promotion rule or applicable law shall forfeit any prize and the Las Vegas Hilton shall have no obligation whatsoever to such participants or their assignees. 38. The Las Vegas Hilton reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any lawful reason, and also reserves the right to change, cancel or amend this tournament at any time for any reason without notice. 39. The Las Vegas Hilton reserves the right to disqualify any person at any time for any reason. 40. Names and likenesses of tournament winner(s) may be used by the Las Vegas Hilton for promotional purposes. 41. Employees, officers, directors, agents, successors, and assignees of the Las Vegas Hilton, its advertising agencies or any of their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, and their immediate family members and those living in the same household, are not eligible for this tournament. <<<

 

Ken, it looks even worse when you write it out! I could tell from my posted snip you need to come in first to make it worthwhile. That was my guess anyway. From my inexperienced eye they need to drop the vig to 10% and spread the pay down the line.

 

Addendum to Ken Smith's vig calculation:

If the 65 players per month is exceeded, there is no mention that the prize pool will be increased. Therefore, if they somehow manage to get in excess of 65 players per month then the vig increases beyond 23.3%. :yikes:

With this vig, the high entry fee, and an uncertain prize pool, I'll pass on this one.

 

it's on again

Let's try to recall how Hilton was paying to all semifinalists on monthly qualifying Tournaments. At the beginning of the semifinal round they were paying $1,000 to each participant regardless of the further result. So, hopefully the logic will be the same. Taking into consideration the format of the qualifying tournaments, we can consider more or less same approach: number of advancies, rules, etc. The only change is the format of the finals, which can be much more attractive.
Let's consider now at least two free nights stay with an average $100 rate per night. That's 200/2500 = 8% savings with final withdraw of 15.3%.
Looks acceptable to me and all those who consider himself 1.15 times better than average (most of our BJT members).
I vote for it - IT'S ON AGAIN!!!

 

Two reasons to Stay Away from This Tournament

From the LVH rules:

38. The Las Vegas Hilton reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any lawful reason, and also reserves the right to change, cancel or amend this tournament at any time for any reason without notice.

39. The Las Vegas Hilton reserves the right to disqualify any person at any time for any reason.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Given the cavalier attitudes displayed by LVH in past tournaments with regards to last minute changes, it seems to me that any rational individual cannot possibly find a way to justify playing in this tournament.

 

To all members who have contributed to this thread – thanks.

It is my understanding that this event was held in the past. How did it go? Were there problems? How was the participation?

I ask these questions because with only 62 people showing up at the Palms for an identical buy-in I question if the Hilton can get 66 EVERY MONTH

In addition the scheduling of the events in July are in direction competition: TBJT versus UBJ. Who did that? Was it an “oversight”?

With the rules posted by R C, especially rule 38, what happens to the prize money should the LVH decide to cancel the event after 2 or 3 qualifiers? Will the withheld monies be refunded?

Which members here played in this event in the past and to those members would you recommend THIS version?

 

Not the same format

The past MD event was based on 200 players per month at $1,000.00 entry fee. The first 9-10 months normally had an average of about 108 - 115 players attend (no re-buys offered).

The last two months were full at 200 (everyone trying to qualify at the last moment).

All 16 semifinalist not advancing to the final table received $1,000.00 on the monthly events, plus 2 wild cards.

The biggest issues I see, is in the past MD event is the 2 1/2 times entry fee increase and the prize money was guaranteed, which makes a big difference.

Now would I play in this event? Yes, if I was sponsored, but I just can't justify this kind of money on any entry fee.

I just posted about hosting a $10,000.00 match play event for only 16 players, I think it's crazy, but if they get 16 willing players then I am willing to host it for them.

I wish the Las Vegas Hilton the best, however I think they are asking to much, too offten ($2,500.00 every month) to make this event successful.

 

Rule number 38 and 39 are pretty much standard in any BJ tournament. The lawyers insist on it to cover the casino's a** (uh, don't know, can I say that? ). It also serves to allow the casino to make or break a rule in case of an oversight. Of course it can be abused but we have to live with it. I've been to many tournaments where a rule or two was changed verbally. I've been to a tournament where the rules, in effect, described an accumulation format. When I inquired, the tournament director said "we're not going to play that way". I've also been to tournaments where the rules that were passed out were for a tournament that was played in the past and the whole sheet was discarded. No casino has a monopoly on changing the rules.

To fgk42:
This tournament as no resemblance to the prior $1,000,000 tournaments at the LVH. Completely different rules, payout schedules, and entry fees. Plus RESORTS acquired the Hilton after the old format was started. As to whether you should play or not, look back on this thread. The vig, entry fee, and uncertain prize pool make this a less than desirable tournament in my opinion. Now I think you can guess if I plan to play.

On the positive side, the Hilton's BJ tournaments are run very well. You commented, fgk42, in another thread how well the WSOB qualifiers were run in Jan., 2007. Well, the same people that ran that tournament run all the BJ tournaments at the Hilton - although the sponsor was different for the WSOB.

 

How did June, 2007, qualifiers go?

The first qualifiers (June, 2007) have ended but no information has been posted about how things went - attendance primarily. So anyone, how did things go?

 

It was an easy prediction for me that this tournament was going to be a failure. And yes, it is a failure, since only 25 of the expected 65 played. As stated by many on this site, there are too many bad features for it to succeed:

1. Entry fee too high, especially if it takes you multiple months to qualify for the final.
2. Stupid rules that turn it from a blackjack tournament into a slot tournament. The free ace hand and mulligan rules make everybody put out a max bet and those who initially get or mulligan a blackjack on their max bet move way out in front. This negates any advantage that smart players have over dumb players.
3. In the monthlies, only the top 4 can win their money back.
4. In the final, if you don't win 1st place, you get almost nothing or even lose money, compared to what you probably had to pay over multiple months to qualify.
5. Any player who can pay the $2500 does get comped anywhere in Las Vegas, so the 3 free room nights are meaningless.
6. The vast majority of the people who pay the $2500 will probably blow off giving the casino their usual action outside of the tournament, since they are paying their own way and won't feel obligated.
7. The Hilton did NOT comp anybody into their old $1M tournaments, and they are probably not comping anybody into this one. This is dumb because they could expect a lot of action outside of the tournament if they comped their best customers.
8. The $1M prize money is NOT guaranteed. Under Jimmy Wike and Les Thacker, the Hilton always paid out the full prize money for their tournaments, regardless of how many played. However, Jimmy now runs Caesar's, and Les is just a host. The new guy, Scott whats-his-name, is pretty much destroying Hilton's good reputation. First, he's the one that brought in the gimmicky free ace and mulligan rules. Second, he has cut tournament prize money twice in the last year when attendance was SLIGHTLY below expectations. In the first instance, he cut a prize down from a quoted $250,000 because there weren't enough players. So many players complained, that he relented and paid the full prize. In the second instance, he pretty much cut the prize money in half. The Hilton had always paid out its prize money for its big tournaments in promotional chips that you could play until you lost them. With no notice, AFTER all the players had arrived for the tournament, we were told that the prize money chips would be one use only, essentially cutting the prize money in half. I understand that the Hilton told you that they paid the full monthly prize money and that they INTEND to pay the full prize money at the finals, but their recent actions make it seem like a wise person should predict that there will be a surprise reduction in the prize money announced at the finals. Doesn't it make sense that if they plan on cutting the prize money, that they don't talk about it until AFTER all of the monthlies have been run? Don't be fooled by what they say right now.
9. If you have entered their match play tournaments in the past, you will know that the prize money is not paid out as described on this site. It is NOT cumulative. If you finish in the top 4, you do NOT get the money listed for the top 16, top 8, and top 4, you just get the money listed for the top 4.
10. The format cannibalizes itself. Of the first 25 to play in the first month, 4 have already qualified and won't play again. Of the other 21, probably one quarter to one half were just giving it a one-time shot. That means only ten to fifteen will sign up again, and probably half of them will wait a month or two before trying again. That means that the Hilton has to sign up a brand new fifteen to twenty people EVERY month just to get 25 each month. If they somehow manage to get 25 people per month, that is only 25/65 of the expected amount. If you apply that percentage to the $1M first prize, you will see that it will only be about $300,000. Would you really pay $2500 month after month to try to win a pretty much winner take all prize of only $300,000? I wouldn't. Let's look at it another way. If you make the final, you have a 1 in 64 chance of winning the $300,000. That equates to an expected value of less than $5000. Why would you pay $2500 month after month to try to win your way into a final that has an expected value of less than $5000, especially when the free ace and mulligan rules make it a random slot machine type tournament? I wouldn't.

Overall, the Hilton has been on the decline since Scott took over, and it will probably not improve until more customers abandon the casino until he is fired.