Meskwaki (October '11) News

There have been some changes at Meskwaki. Tournament Director Sara is no longer with the casino, her position now belongs to Wendy Carter.

Today I received an email from Wendy, the dates have been changed for the upcoming BJT. Now it's October 29-30. One good result is that it's no longer on the weekend immediately after the next Hilton Suited BJT, so some of you might find the new date easier to handle.

Don't know why Sara left, or where she went, or why they changed the date after they promised us at the last one that it would be two weeks sooner than this new date. Now you know all I know - for now.

The new date is a problem for me, not sure at this point if I can go. That's Halloween weekend and promises have been made.

Thoughts?

 

too bad

sorry to see sara gone. she was class act.
still hoping to see see some postive changes that would warrant a return trip, once again.

 

As for me----

I would go either weekend but Lefty's right about the gap between the Hilton and this one being greater, can be seen as a plus for some (like me).
I hope it doesn't prevent him and others from being there.
Also, as marichal said-----Sara is a very nice person that will be missed by many of us. Let's hope for a similar personality in the new coordinator.
Any "playable" video poker would help this venue tremendously!!!!!

Billy C

 

Calendar

The "event calendar" is still showing October 14-16 as being the dates for this event. I will not change that without being certain that it is now going to be two weeks later (October 28-30).

Billy C

 

I just went ahead and changed it since it was the new Tournament Director who told me about it.
Hope they don't change it again, unless they go back to the original date so that I can be there.

 

Hot shot poker

I spent the afternoon at Meskwaki today. None of the tournament directors were around this afternoon to confirm anything.

While there I discovered what they call Hot shot Poker. A new table game opened one week ago as an EXCLUSIVE at Meskwaki. It was drawing a lot of attention.

Minimum bet of $5 on the dealers first 5 cards to have either no pair or one pair. Then the option of $1 or more bet on variables of 2 pair 3of a kind etc. with odds on each side bet. After the first 5 cards are shown and the play determined you could then bet on the 6th dealer card making one of the variable sidebets. The odds still applied.

I watched but did not play. It is new and I could not quite figure the house edge at any given point, that will take someone better than me to accomplish. (Ken are you listening?). There is now room for a new book on the game. I was told that it was engineered by the former General Manager. Nice table layout, the folks playing were obviously trying to figure it out as they went.

I went to Prarie Meadows in Des Moines last week and was told by a dealer there that they were getting Blackjack Switch sometime this month. A new Hotel was being built onto the Casino.

Went to Lakeside Casino at Osceola, 40 miles from Des Moines, they were just breaking ground on an addition...hotel, amphitheatre, pools etc. New investor money, something like $50million.

In short, casino's seem top be evolving and or thriving in the midwest.

Somebody go figure out the Hot Shot for us will you?

Smitty

 

Hotshot Poker

Since Hotshot Poker doesn't sound like BJ, you might get a faster response by submitting a question to Wizard of Odds http://wizardofodds.com/ or Wizard of Vegas http://wizardofvegas.com/ You are going to have to explain the game and payouts for the various hands in greater detail. There are people on those boards that like to contemplate house edge problems. Wizard of Vegas would likely get a much faster answer.

Larry

 

Ken's other site (bjinfo.com) could prove helpful, also. Ask for help in "other games" section.

Billy C

 

Thanks

Thanks to Larry and Billy, I'll do that when I get the time. Thought I would put the info out here for the folks traveling to Tama in Oct. If anyone can figure out how to win at it this bunch will. Perhaps we can get the casino to put the table info online, I asked when they would do that and of course nobody has a clue. Thanks again.

 

I'm sure there are others, but MonkeySystem and LeftNut are the first two that come to mind when thinking about who will hopefully be there. Leilihay and marichal may have seen this game in their travels.

Billy C

 

smitty

Sounds like a variation on Ultimate Texas Holdem, a 3% plus HE.

All in all if you like poker play the real thing, except in the event of certain things, stay clear of these carny games. Hard to beat a fine BJ game or a fine VP game, or a few machines that can be had.

CP

 

Hot Shot

Ok, not disagreeing with you at all. I put it out there because it is new and EXCLUSIVE to Mesk, and with the Oct. event coming soon I just thought it interesting enough to give folks here exposure to it. I recall folks wanting the poker machines....same concept on a table game with options...perhaps...crap I don't know, I haven't played poker in years. Telling what I saw for what it is worth. Is it good? Is it lousy? Will it be found everywhere one day soon? Can we figure it out? Is it a fulltime landmine?

If anyone is interested let's see if we can get the casino to get the info up online to review fully. Maybe the computer guys can find an edge. Maybe the sky will be pink tomorrow.

Thanks for everyones input here.

 

Hot shot

If what you mean by bet that dealer has 0 or 1 pair on the first 5 cards, is there are 2 blocks and you get to choose between the two, then it would appear that it is beatable. There are many website with poker odds. Here is one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_probability

No pair is a tad bit over 50%. It would be like flipping a slightly biased coin and eventually it would win. This would mean a very slow, social, drinking game

If you have to bet that dealer has neither 0 or 1 pair, which is about 92% of the time, then you would need 9 to 1 odds to consider playing it on the initial bet.

OOPs, I mean 10 to 1 odds.

Larry

 

Already

You are already getting somewhere with this. My real problem is that I cannot remember all the posted odds for each sidebet on the #6 card. That would really be helpful I know. My day was busy, I had people with me and only a short time to spend at the tables. My first impression was that there must be an edge to it on the #6 card, after all you see the first 5. Wish I had more answers.

Thanks Again.

 

I'm afraid it has become extremely unlikely that I'll be at Meskwaki this time. My schedule had been cleared for the previously promised date, but I had made promises to others that conflict with the change. Promises made are carved in stone - at least, in my viewpoint.

P.S. I just checked their website and there is still no info about the BJT and no way to buy in. Damn. :sad:

 

That's a very commendable trait you have Lefty but I sure hate not seeing you there. Any chance the people would understand, if you explained the situation?

Billy C

 

Afraid not. As a few here know, I help run bowling tournaments for various groups in the area. Apparently the bowlers like seeing me "behind the scenes" because they know it will be run right and every dime will be accountable. I'd already committed to that weekend because Meskwaki was promised to be two weeks earlier. Can't bail on the promoters or the host house now. I gave my word. :sad:

 

Cancelled.

http://www.blackjacktournaments.com/bb/showthread.php?t=7371

 

Casino greed------

is what drives these decisions.
The "bean counters" know that along with tourneys come some advantage players and they get paranoid as a result.
Truth is, less than 10% of the tournament entrants they attract are APs and I've not seen ANY of them pushing limits for obvious reasons (like disinvitation to future events).
Tama did away with the only "playable" video poker offering they had about two years ago and even that game had the "house" at +.05% with perfect play!
These facts make it difficult to understand their reasoning regarding bj tournaments.
Sure there's overhead to cover when hosting these things but if they haven't been profiting on them, it's only because of the fact that they have not been marketed properly (as in short notice of event dates) and poor selling of the events which results in less entrants.
For a short time, this was the "jewel of the midwest" for bj tournaments. Now my cynicism says that it's just history.

Billy C

 

hey billy;

good post. you hit it on the nose. too bad that you guys lose that tournament. was one of the best anywhere. hope to see you around on the left coast soon.