It makes no difference I do not believe one can play 270 hands per hour on this site. but if one could 207 x 24=6480 hands in a 24 hour period. Ken Smith quoted that you could expect odds of on Spade suited BJ in 336 hands. To achieve that would require 19 hours of play in a 24 hour period. Not very likely. This site has lost a lot of creditability with this misleading promotion. It is not one that I will visit again!!!
Are They Nuts!!!!!!!! swog: I did not get involved in playing this folly but I did post (by using copy and paste), earlier on this thread, their exact wording of the event from their web site. The key sentence is: A whopping $200,000 will be awarded to the first member to accumulate 21 Spade Blackjacks!! Unless my eyesight is failing me, there is no stipulation that the ten value card in the Blackjack must be a Jack. I hate when people, companies, etc. try to use a definition that is not the commonly accepted definition for that word. I would not be surprised to see anyone who got the required BJs try to sue them. But wait a minute, they are located ??????. Good luck. PS: The odds of getting a Spade Ace and a Spade Jack (assuming no card removal) is 1 out of 1,326 (52/2 * 51). Since you would need 21 of these to win the $200,000, one would have to play, on average, 27,846 hands (1,326 * 21). Playing anywhere near that many hands in 24 hours on their sloooow web site is absolutely impossible. Their $200,000 appears safe since complying with their new definition of a Blackjack appears nearly impossible unless, of course, you are the luckiest being in the entire universe.
Suited Blackjack?? I posted the information as soon as I became aware of the situation. We obviously didn't read the rules with that interpretation, and I don't think the people in the offices at 888.com did either, because the way the rules were written, we could just as easily have pointed out to them that it said spades blackjack, which could be as simple as "a jack of spades" only. It didn't say anything about two cards totaling 21. But let's hold final judgment until they resolve the situation. It may workout OK for us. Back to the original 21 spaded BJ question. Can it be done in a 24 hour period. Yes, I played on the private table @ 270 hands / hour, and they have a multi-hand table where you can play three hands at a time. That speed would get the required hands in play. Are you going to hit 21 of them? Maybe, but it was a very low cost way to shoot for $200,000. Did I attempt it, no, but I almost did. Wait until we see how they handle the final resolution, then we can act on that decision.
What a load of crap! No, I'm not going to even bother contacting these idiots again about this. It is quite obvious that their intent from the very beginning was to mislead the players. That'll be the last time I ever consider either playing at 888.com or publishing information about them on any of my sites. At one time, this casino was the largest online casino, with a larger player base than any other. My how times have changed. With antics like this, I'm sure they'll be hurting for players soon enough. Off to the rogue's galley with 888.
more on 888 bj tourney I got up at 5:30 ET to begin play on 888 - going 3 hands at 5 per hand. After about 2200 hands I finally had 4 suited spade bjs. However, I did not appear on the leader board. So I called - had two disconnects - one can't help - and finally got Ben, from customer service on phone. After about 20 minutes - he finally told me that my suited bjs did not count - because only jack and ace of spades were counted in that tourney. I, of course, was more than upset - since I had put over 10K at risk in their tourney to that point - in order to qualify for the drawing of 4 or more suited bjs. Of course, since they are out of country, there is no appeal. Swog tried, and I thank him for that, but apparently they are not going to respond. More statistics: Ben told me that they had mailed out over 750,000 invitations by email to players to participate in their 888 weekend With their definition of spade bj's - one would need to put over 130 k at risk(minimum betting) - and play over 1000 hands per hour for 24 hrs. Anyone figure the percentage on EV for this? Ken is right, boycot and get the word out that 888 pulled one over on well intentioned bj players this time.
Any winners? Just curious. I know winning the $200,000 became nearly impossible, but there were other much smaller prizes to be won. Did anyone from this site win anything in this event?
no cash There were three categories to receive cash in the tourney -quality points (1 for each $10 wagered), top 5 number of spaded bjs (their definition, of course), and a drawing for 33 members who received 4 to 9 spaded bjs. As reported on the last leader board I observed, only two players had achieved 4 spaded bjs (jack and ace). So, I would guess that they gave rewards for the top five spaded bjs and only had a few who qualified for the drawing. I actually did get one qualilfying bj (for a total of five suited ones) - but got no prize. FYI - The player with the top qualifying points put nearly one million dollars at risk during the tournament. (Playing minimum bets for about 3000 hands - I put through about 15 k and ended up 76th on the points list). Don't know about others on the site.
