I recently played in a blackjack tournament and won! (to my surprise), now, I'm interested in doing it again. I've noticed that many tournaments say "Invitational"....what does this mean.....what do you have to do to be invited? Also, I understand what "elimination" is, but what is "Hybrid"? Any other helpful advise? I'm in southern CA.....if anyone knows of any good tournaments for beginners. Thanks
To get invited you usually have to play casino games at a sufficient level for the casino to want to send you an invite letter. Hybrid means the tournament uses accumulation or chip stack totals during one part of the event while using elimination during another. Maybe someone wants to go more in depth. A good tourney for you to try is the Golden Acorn coming up Feb 16- I gotta see why its not on the calendar. Viejas Casino is having a good tourney mid March. Keep an eye on the calendar for casinos you recognize in So Cal. http://goldenacorncasino.com/promotions.aspx#BlackJack
bellarae You don't say where in SoCal you are located - Golden Acorn is a reasonable priced tourney - I believe now $25 and $15 for buy-ins and rebuys - and you can usually get in two rebuys if needed - located in Campo CA - about one hour west of San Diego on I-8; Prize pool has been lowered to $2,500 though Viejas is a bigger tourney - runs about once every three months? - $100 buy-in and rebuy, but a $50,000 prize pool and they pay deep - top 60 players (out of 280?) get money - and they do a lot of wild cards (advance by drawing) - that's a two day tourney - so - be prepared to spend the night (in El Cajon) - or drive back the next day - Viejas is in Alpine - if it is convenient - Augustine Casino in Coachella runs a tourney evey Saturday - with $30 and $20 and a $1,800 prize pool - both the first and semi-final rounds are two advance - and tourney is fairly well run - all these are listed in the Events Calendar if So Cal means El Centro or such - we have a monthly tournament in Yuma - $5,000 prize pool - with $30/$20 - two rounds, both single advance to the final table - also listed in Calendar - at any of these tourneys - don't hesitate to find the bjters - at Yuma that means me - sometimes Bluelight - at Golden Acorn or Viejas - may be quite a few around - at Augustine - it would be me on the rare occassions I play there - we are easy to spot - we are the ones standing in a group whining about how much better we are than the ploppies who beat us :joker: - I think Pechanga may still be running tournaments? Barney would know - also other tourneys at the Palms Springs casinos - during the week - do check the Events Calendar
Yes Pechanga is running a first Friday of month game. 75$ buy in two 40$ rebuy chances 4 grand to winner. Most of the casinos in So Cal are in San Diego county. I changed the Pechanga game to a multiple entry rather than a monthly. That way it shows on the main calendar each month. So, it is important to remember to choose monthly when checking the calendar or a game might be missed. Soboba casino has a weekly game also. You just need to get to know the casinos near you.
Newbie I live in the Inland Empire area, so Pechanga is only about 45 minutes away from me. I saw that there is a tournament on March 7th at Pechanga. I think I may go to that one. San Diego is obviously a little farther away for me. So, for the "Invitational" tournaments in Vegas....I would have to play in tournaments in Vegas to be invited?
To get invited you need to risk money at the casino on regular casino games like table blackjack. You need to play at a rate that opens the door for you. Pechanga is having an invitational tourney this week, I hear, and their basic rules is to require 10-20 hours at 25$/hand for blackjack. They invite off other play even poker. So, you can see why many of us like to find open events because we can show up and play, not worry about risking money on the casino games. BTW, http://www.soboba.net/calendar.htm , is in the Inland Empire. They have a weekly game that runs tonight.
To get "invited" to a tournament generally requires that you give the casino "action" well in advance of the invitational tournament. Then you keep your fingers crossed. That's the easy part to understand. The hard part is trying figure out how much and what type of action the casino is looking for before they will send you an invite. A few examples with general guidelines: The Orleans generally require a $50 average bet for 12 hours over a 3 day period at the table games. The Harrah's group (in Las Vegas) has smaller tournaments where a $40 average bet for 12 hours over a 3 day period at the table games may get you an occasional invite. If you up your average bet to say $100 to $300 then the gates open up to more and larger invitational tournaments. But you still may not get invited to all of them. The MGM group (Las Vegas) wants a average bet of $250 and up before they will consider inviting you. At most casinos Video Poker and Reel Slots play will be considered for invites although the method of calculating credits for invites is different than table games. Even if you give a casino "some" action, sometimes you may get an invite to a lower value tournament if the casino perceives you as a person that may give them more action if they can get you back in the casino. If you do get an invite and you accept, it's critical that you give them the "required amount" of side action during the 3 days of the tournament. If not, you will be perceived as a "dead beat" and future invites, well, there will not be future invites. The bottom line is that you need to find out what the play requirement is at the casino you want to play. Talk to a casino host, marketing, promotions, or any other department that my have your answers. It's not easy getting this information but persistence should pay off. Also, if you have acquaintances playing tournaments then ask them. Good Luck in your quest.
