BuckHawk75 has been adding a ton of events to the Event Calendar, all over the state of Washington. Based on sheer volume of events, I'd say Washington has become the tournament center of the country. If any of our regulars visit some of these events, we'd love to hear some feedback on what you think of the blackjack in Washington. Thanks for your efforts BuckHawk!
Washington events You're very welcome, Ken, and I hope I'll be able to take you up on that dinner offer Yes, BJ tournaments are widespread in Washington casinos, although soon to be surpassed by poker tournaments, I believe, if it hasn't happened already. Part of the reason is the competition between Native American casinos and non-Native casinos. In Washington state, Native American casinos can have slot machines and have a higher betting limit on table games ($500), and I think they also have the exclusive on Keno (except for the state lottery's Daily Keno game). By state law, non-Native card rooms cannot have slot machines and have a betting limit of $200. It will be interesting to see if part of this will change, as there is a state initiative on the ballot tomorrow to allow slot machines in already existing non-Native cardrooms/casinos. Is this common in other states, to have different laws for Native American vs. non-Native casinos? This competition is great for the casual BJ tournament player, though. Many weekly tournaments have only $10-$25 entry fees, with fields of 10-96 entrants, so you can get a lot of tournament experience quite inexpensively. The prize pools aren't that big, for the most part, but what do you expect for $10? <g> Yes, the quality and experience of the players varies widely, but isn't that true of any tournament? And some casinos have added money that seems almost ridiculous to entice players in, when you consider the small fields. I have learned a lot from playing these smaller local tourneys, things that require practice and experience, such as counting your opponents' chips and calculating bet sizes quickly, not letting other players' behavior distract you, etc. There are at least 10 casinos/cardrooms within a 90 minute drive from my home, so I could play a tournament almost every day of the week, and two on some days. So come on out to Washington to visit! Except maybe this week - we're getting heavy rains and expect lots of flooding in some areas of western Washington. I live on top of a hill, so my home is good, but I may not be able to get anywhere from here if the two closest rivers flood and cover the only highway in and out. CJ
