Can anyone give me any info on the monthly tournament at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, IN. Is it ever cancelled for lack of entries? Does it usually fill up? etc. Thanks in advance.
Bring your lucky charm to Blue Chip I have been playing the Blue Chip tournament every month of the current year schedule which is is March -Nov., 2005. I say you need a lot of luck because you can go "all in" at any time. This makes for some wild betting and often you need 4 to 5 times your starting bankroll to win a table. Elimination format: 1st round - 1 player per table advances 2nd round (semi-final) - 2 players per table advances 3rd round (final) The only time they "filled up" was the first month - March, 2005 - 126 players. Last few months they have cut the sessions for the first round down to 2 (42 per session) - 84 players, due to lack of players. In Aug., 2005 they still had 7 openings when play began and therefore only 7 re-buys were available. But, because of the elimination of the 3rd session of the 1st round, they drew 9 wild cards for entry into the semi-finals. 9 chances out of a field of 65 (winners were not eligible for drawing) aint bad. Registration starts at 3:00pm. If you get there by say 4:00pm, you probably will be able to get in. If you wait til 5:00 (registration stops 5:00), your chances are iffy. I hope this helps you but you may want to reconsider about the Sept., 2005 event. It is being held on my birthday so the winner is already set. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Good luck.
Blue Chip This used to be a nice tournament when they had $10,000 for 1st place, guaranteed. The casino would cover any shortages in the prize pool if it did't fill. Most times the tournament filled. They had the tournament only 3 or four times a year.
Wish I was around I started playing tournaments after that $10,000 prize guarantee. Now the prize pool is based only on entry and re-buy monies. In all fairness I must say they do return 100% of the entry and re-buy monies. 1st place now pays 44% of fees taken in. For Aug., 2005, that amounted to about $3,500.
Blue Chip Toolman1: Are you sure you're going to the same blue chip that I am? I only missed last monday the 22nd, but they filled every other one. Cause no rebuys were available. It is cut at 120 total(with re-buy) You get eliminated and don't get to reregister in time, you're sol, except wild card. Never encountered 9 wild cards. Yes, it can be wild, with all in bets and some even do it when they don't have to. Yes, they return 100 per cent. And from what I've seen over a couple of years, even back when it was 10k gauranteed....If you get by the first table of seven with only one advancing to the semi's where two go to the finals with one wild card, you've got a good chance. You wouldn't be mistaking that they have two sessions for the preliminary round would you?
No mistake At both the July and Aug., 2005 events they only had 2 sessions for the 1st round. July, 2005: I asked the pit supervisor, before play began, why they were only having 2 rounds. His response was "I wish someone would have told me". After he inquired, he said not enough players for a third session. I believe you are correct, noman, in that there were no re-buys because the 2nd session was full. My best guess is that they probably sold out the 2nd session close to the 5:00pm deadline and decided that instead of having just a couple of players for the 3rd session it was not worth while. I disagree with that because opening up the 3rd session would have resulted in enough re-buys to fill the session (since most people do re-buy) and the prize money would have been greater. Aug, 2005: I played in the 1st session of the 1st round. When they announced that there were only 7 re-buys available, I immediately went "all in" and won. Ended up winning the table. Only had to wait for 1 more session (of the 1st round) to play in the semi-final. But I lost that. The 9 wild cards comes about as follows: 1) With 3 sessions for the 1st round, they plan on 3 wild cards. 2) Each session has 6 tables with one advancing. Since the 3rd session was was cancelled, they need 6 more players to fill the semi-final tables with 7 players each. 3) The 3 planned wild cards plus the 6 because round 3 was not played makes the 9 wild card total. As to being "full", they cleverly call it "full" if the 2nd session is full. Using termnology to fit their needs is poor but casino do it all the time. If they were indeed "full", first prize would be over $5,000. In both the July and Aug., 2005 events, first prize was only about $3,500. I see you are keeping me on my toes. I somehow knew you would.
Michigan city toolman: It seems it's you keeping me on my toes. Since I played in the city tourneys when they guaranteed 10,000, I believed these monthlies were along same format. If as you say their terminology as to full fits their needs, that's where I'm missing the boat. I'm seeing 9 to 10 tables each round for the two rounds. Limit 120 entries. at $100 initial would be 12,000. 45 per cent to first. If second round is filling to rebuys at 60 bucks it certainly is reducing top. If as you say they would run two full first rounds with a third rebuy or late entry, then it truely would be full with a larger payout. Thanks for enliightening me.
6 tables per session noman: I think I see the reason we are having a mis-communication problem. There are only 6 tables used in the tournament with the present format. At 7 players per table, that makes a total of 42 players for each session of the first round. 2 sessions would naturally make 84 players, 3 sessions - 126. Their literature reads: "Blue Chip Casino will host the Blazin' Blackjack Tournaments for up to 126 players on ...." In addition, and this is the part I love: "The number of preliminary rounds depends upon the number of entries into the tournament. The tournament will consist of at least one (1) preliminary round; one (1) re-entry round will be played if there is only one (1) preliminary round; ..." In their own pea brain mind, since they fill up the first session, they choose to call the tournament full. Makes sense to me since they say the tournament is for "up to 126 players". They don't say they need 126 players to be full. Damn, are they clever or what? Getting back to our descrepencies, I was not there when they had the $10,000 guaranteed prize money. They may very well had 9 or 10 tables in play at that time, but not any more. Anyway with their "all in" format and only 1 person advance, they are doing a good job discouraging players. The numbers keep declining but the rate of decline has slowed. I, personally, would not be surprised to see the tournament cancelled after the the last scheduled one in Nov., 2005. They'll just blame it on "lack of interest". After all they can't blame themself - can they? I'm leaving on a 9 day, 3 tournament trip at the end of this week so I may not be able to answer any response. But I will be at the Blue Chip (can't miss that one) on Sept. 26, 2005. If you are there, look for me in the winner circle since, as I said before, it's my birthday - victory is a foregone conclusion. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Michigan City tourney Toolman: Yeah, silly me, I believed their literature literaly. Good luck on your tournament tour and I'll look for you on sept 26th in second, behind me. I'm do.
