Open Letter To All BJT Members

I started this thread because it seems the only logical place to address the many issues that are bouncing around this board.

The issues I would like to address are

Skill vs. Luck

Another issue is the never ending trashing by Rick Jensen and a few others of anything and everything that UBT or Bet 21 does.

Another issue is trying to compare customer service at Global-Player.com vs. customer service at Bet 21.com

And finally the bitching about not getting your freeroll's

There is no reason to respond to this as these are my thoughts as to what I have seen going on here the last 2 weeks. I believe this should be a time for celebration and not a time to be throwing a tantrum because you missed your free lunch.

But feel free to respond it you want......

So let me start my open letter

Dear Fellow BJT Members:

In the last 2 weeks this community has gone from having 1 weekly established blackjack tournament that at best drew 40 players to it.

We also have had Sit & Go tournaments at the same site available to play 24 hours a day yet you could only find games during about 5 hours a day if you were lucky.

So when you say that the customer service at Global-Player is head and shoulders above any of these new sites. I say this to you when you only have 40 customers to tend to on your best day you better have a " Great " customer service staff. Because if you lose 4 players you lose 10% of your customer base.This is not to say that all customers problems should not be handled promptly but when you are only dealing with at best 40 players at one time results can happen quicker.

Now this is no way a slam on Global Player. I have played there as often as anyone and there are a sponsor of the "Be In Action" radio show that Kenny and I host every Thursday night. What they offered to all of us was a place to play the game we all love. But this community of over 5,000 members did not get behind them they way we should have to make them a success.Once again a missed opportunity.

On Saturday Sept. 16 one hour after the UBT show on CBS there were 12,000 players on Bet 21.com . That is not a typo there were 12,000 players ,most I would assume who have never played a tournament in their life.Some might even call them "Dead Money". A great opportunity for all and instead of taking advantage of a positive EV situation some selfish members here try to spread a cancer about how bad UBT and its licensed sites are.

I believe their intentions are self serving and they fear they will be left behind with their old and dusty ideas.So their only hope to gain support for their agenda is to try to create a false impression of how things are really bad. Fellow members of our community these times could not be any better.This time should be embraced and not trashed

The sites that offer elimination blackjack have games going nearly 24 hours a day comprising of 1 table Sit & Go's, multi table Sit & Go 's and Free-roll Tournaments offering free trips to Las Vegas a 2 night stay at a 5 Diamond Hotel and 1,000 in cash and Free-roll tournaments giving away 2 seats right on to the Final table of every UBT Tour stop including airfare and Hotel.

All new companies have bugs early their venture and with time all the bugs and problems will be resolved.Global-Player who has been around since 1996 still has problems popping up.So to expect miracles in the first few days is just not fair to UBT and its on line licensed partners.


Do we embrace this no, we have a few members here who for some reason have their own agenda . A agenda that seems hell bent on trashing everything associated with UBT and to tell you the truth it's SAD

Before Sept 16 we had 1 yearly blackjack TV show that was only open to 40 players at the most, that aired for a few weeks on a TV station that was not available for all to see for the most part GSN is considered a premium channel, and not seen by most viewers who only have your basic cable package..We all appreciate what GSN did for our community and our game and they are to be always remembered for that. But we now have the Ultimate Blackjack Tour (UBT) which has
made for the most exciting TV blackjack tournaments ever seen. If you think last weeks show was good you are in for store for the NUTS when you see the other shows.

Now with UBT we have multiple web sites offering elimination blackjack tournaments 24 hours a day from the comforts of your home. A Blackjack TV tournament that will be seen by 100 of Millions of viewers every week on CBS and open to all with no player limits or restrictions. Viewers now can see and discover our game. Look what TV coverage did to the poker world, right before the TV Poker explosion casinos all over the US were closing their poker rooms now that are taking out slot machines to make room for poker rooms.

This could only be good for blackjack tournaments and we need to realize what is upon us and not try to infect it with a cancer.

As far as Skill vs.Luck if you keep on looking at Rick's post that twist my words and try to make me sound like someone who is just not seeing the overall picture let me make these following points and make my position as clear as i can

First off because of UBT we will be seeing a lot of new players appearing on this board checking out our game and community and when the see some of the post claiming there is no skill but just plain "Dumb Ass" luck to this game the smart people will leave because if they want to get lucky they could play a slot machine or a game of Keno.

So Rick if you think you post are funny and cute what you are really doing to our game an this site is an injustice for anyone who happens to stop by and check this site and our game out.

Most of us who know you, take what you say with a "grain of salt" and know that maybe you should just use your time running smaller tournaments for players that want that market to exists because if you are going to rely on luck you will go "BROKE" so please don't continue to spread your cancer to anyone else especially our new members .

I have never said that doubling down on a hard 18 and catching a 3 is a skillful play

The skillful play here is knowing that you have to Double Down. I have seen many players just wave off on their hand and play basic strategy when the leader has a similar hand or a better one and they can't win unless they take some sort of action on their hand.

The players they rely on luck will say they lost because they had an 18 and the opponent got dealt a 19. They got UNLUCKY I GUESS.

Another skillful play that could also be used in this situation is knowing not only to double down on your hard 18 but doubling down for less, enough to win if you get paid on the hand and holding enough back to win even if you bust your hand. This is where the skill comes in. And only some of the more skillful players will recognize this situation and use this skillful play.

What about the skillful play of not doubling down because you may want the flexibility to make additional hits. Is this lucky ? I think you already know the answer to this question

Yet Rick and a few of his blindly led friends just don't get it.

Is the Surrender Trap a lucky play? No its a skillful play you just don't get lucky and the surrender trap appears .

Is making a bet to counter the surrender trap a lucky play NO

There are so many things that you can skillfully do in a tournament and Kenny and Hollywood showcased some of that skill on Saturday for all to see.

Their battle when it got down to just the two of them was a skillful display of taking what was there and not just trying to get lucky they used the math of the game and the chip counts another skill by the way in tournaments and played their hands according to the situation.

Was Kenny's daring Secret Bet just plain DUMB ASS luck or did he calculate what Hollywood would think he would bet and make his bet accordingly and if you cant see the skill the 2 of them showed the world you are blind to the fact and in terminal denial.

Your skill will set the situation up .If you never acquire the skill to recognize a situation and make the best play giving you the best chance to win or lose the least amount of chips to win that way, then you just should stay home and play Keno or Wheel Of Fortune

In closing remember that the free-rolls are just that FREE and if they were not up to your liking what did you lose.

If you would have listened to the show on Thursday night when we had Larry Kopald the GM of UBT on as a guest he did say that play UBT.com was going live on Friday.

Did you expect UBT to call everyone at home and remind you to turn your computers on.Come on this is the best times for all don't let a very small group of of this community spread the cancer any further ..........

Lets not miss this opportunity


Joep

 

Joep-

Well said. Regardless of our various opinions, you're right when you say we should all unite and support this new venture in blackjack. Whether or not it will be successful, at least UBT is giving it a shot. If it works- the landscape of tournament blackjack will be forever changed. If it fails, then at least they tried and we, the community move on to the next possibility (although I personally believe it will be very successful).

With that said, I would like to be the first to wish you, Ken Smith, KennyE., Eastexaspro, BradleyPeterson, Hollywooddave, Fgk, and all the others from this site going to Aruba: good luck! Have a safe journey, play a great game, and enjoy!

 

"Well said indeed" - From the High Seas in between Labadee and Ocho Rios

Well, Elysse, you beat me to the first reply! Well said indeed.

All fine here at this end. Smooth seas, on schedule and w/o incident.

Chips

 

My one cent

I think you make a good point that this is a great time for us with all these developments. There never has been this much opportunity for tournament blackjack players and I don't doubt that at least one (probably more) of us here will see quite a bit of money due to the new things on the TBJ scene.

I think a lot of people are getting the mentality of being on the inside of something before it got big and watching your baby gain mass appeal. You see this happen with underground bands, one day they blow up, gain fans and their original fans feel left behind. This happeed to me when Color Me Badd got big. It broke my heart that the guy that looked like Snow was now a big star and I was just left behind as an ordinary fan...but that's another story. :joker:

I've joked with both Joe and Rick about how their skill vs. luck argument cracks me up. Truth of the matter is that I'm somewhat in the middle on that. I firmly believe that skill is why we're all here, if there was none, we'd all be wasting our time on coin flips. But I've also seen how often one doesn't even get the chance to use any of that skill when someone has quadrupled their BR by hand 3. In the long run, I believe that playing well will beat those types of players more often than not, but they're going to get their share as well. I just don't think it's a big enough of a deal to cause a split in this community over.

As far as UBT, Bet21 and UB go...they're the new kids on the block, at least as far as BJ online is concerned and I understand that it takes a lot of work to get up and running smoothly. They may have set an unrealistic date for launch to be running at full steam in time for Aruba, but they're here now and I don't doubt they'll have it together in time for St. Kitts.

There always will be problems with online gaming, it's the nature of the beast. Legitimate gripes about software failing during a real money game should be addressed. If the customer service doesn't help, people should hear about it. But complaints about freerolls not getting anounced or things like that...come on, it would be nice, but it's not really a legitimate issue to bitch about.

Can things improve? Absolutely. Is tournamnet blackjack a much better place opportunity-wise than it was just a month ago? Again, absolutley.

I think that this is an exciting time and I really hope that people here get the chance to enjoy it as much as they should. It's been a long time coming.

 

Is this true?

""A Blackjack TV tournament that will be seen by 100 of Millions of viewers every week on CBS and open to all with no player limits or restrictions. ""

 

Skill v. Luck, etc...

We're all here because of skill. We won't get anywhere without luck. I've caught a stream of bad cards lately, both online and in casinos. Newbies have gotten lucky. That's gambling. If we all knew what that hole card was, there would be absolutely no point in playing!

Let me also throw my congrats into the ring for everyone that both won and played last night. I thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone from this site advance through the rounds.

And Joe, I think it's safe to say we do appreciate UB, the freerolls and the ability to catch a S&G every 3 minutes! Makes those unlucky cards seem not so bad.

 

Still can lose

You can still lose knowing what the hole card is. I would prefer to see the next one in the shoe!



Joep,

Great post. I think we all agree. It is frustrating when you run into bugs getting things off the ground and when expectations are not meet, but we all need to move on and look forward to what is coming down the road!

And don't fault Rick for being vocal about getting things fixed. I think he voices all our frustrations at times, but gets to be the lightening rod for being so vocal. I know he wants everything to succeed, after all he has his own interests in seeing blackjack tournaments take off.

Enough said....

 

CBS would be really happy with those numbers :laugh:

 

Nice Letter Joe - One Comment to ALL

All,

My only comment around luck versus skill and I've yet to see anyone make this point is around chip counting. Chip counting requires skill not luck.

Playing at a live land based tourney, you need to chip count. Even the "best" falter sometimes. Remember WSOB II? We never hear about chip counting on this board and it is probably the #1 requirement for Blackjack Tournies.

Sidekick

 

Lets get the story straight!

Skill vs. Luck, I posted that I thought the luck factor was higher, my opinion, but YOU challenged me over this issue. I told you show me your proof and I would admit I was wrong, but you haven't show me anything, all you do is change the subject (by the way I'm glad you did change your subject material...LOL).

You put up one poll, (a survey from players) the only thing you ever posted but even after several members asked where you got the poll from you never answered. I offered an “OPEN” bet on this subject again you challenged me, but when I took you up on it YOU didn't except (it is all on record, posted on this site).

Joep get over it, it is my opinion and you have yours. If you had proof that would support your claims you would have post it other than what you did (again changing the subject). Joep it's just my opinion and you disagree, just drop it, and let’s agree to disagree.

Next you have posted how I have put down UBT, but go re-read my posts. The problems I had have been with the lack of information given to the players about the Aruba tournament, (the Aruba free roll was just another example of this). You mention me, like I was the one who started the post about the Aruba free roll being missed. Go back a check again, I didn't post until after several other members posted.

My post yesterday about the skilled players at PlayUBT was a joke because I was told that is where you got your poll. Everybody was playing $25,000 “ALL IN” on the first hand as fast as they could, including several TOP players from this site. It was a joke Joep , but for some reason any questions or jokes about UBT seem to get you upset, I don’t know why unless you are invested in the company.

Now, you can blame me all you want but the facts are UBT dropped the ball and the players suffered because of it. You want me to others to just drop it. Joep you are normally the first to RIP a casino if they do something different or unfair to the players (Remember the LVHilton Mulligan for example), but since you are involved with UBT you say nothing when there is a problem.

Funny how things are different when they’re on the other foot. Now do you see our point Joep? You were right to get upset about the LVH, just as we had a right to get upset over the UBT Aruba free roll, but now you say just drop it. Joep you’re my friend, but your wrong, your not being fair about this.

Go back over ALL the post on every site and you will see that I was the first one (If not the only one) to post where the UBT in Aruba was being held (Radisson), I also posted other answers to questions about the Aruba trip that the members keep asking about.

Do I have concerns, YES! As a player I damn sure do! Did I and do I ask a lot of questions about UBT, YES! Why did I keep asking questions, because they were never answered? UBT entry fees are higher than most of us have ever had to pay, if your getting mad about players asking questions then your wrong. I did nothing different with UBT than I do with any other casino tournament I am planning on attending, I ask questions about the tournament.

Why did I ask so many questions? Because I was trying to get a sponsor so I could go play in the UBT events (I am still trying to get one) and I needed to give then the information (I have posted that several times).

Last year I made the comment that UBT is a game show with blackjack and it is designed for TV and you got on to me over that statement saying it was false. But just this last Thursday on your radio show Larry (General Manager for UBT) stated that UBT was designed for TV and you didn’t say a word. Is that a problem? NO not one bit, we want to get on TV and play for lots of money so I personally love any and all tournaments that give others and me a chance to do so.

Like I said I will promote all BJ tournaments that treat us fair and UBT is doing a hell of a job offering free rolls to everybody and BJ tournaments 24/7, but don't get on to me or anyone else for having concerns and asking questions.

Joep and Hollywood get this straight, I am NOT against UBT, but I will question them (and any casino tournament) if I have a concern or problem.

I know that you both are involved in the UBT/Bet21/UB so I understand why both of you stand up for them if you feel they are getting attacked, but understand that those of us not getting a free ride need to know the questions we ask so that we can have a chance of going to the UBT events also.

 

Ace

I can just imagine Drudgereport.com giving a flashing police light and the heading

UBT OUTDRAWS SUPER BOWL SATURDAY MORNING

Hell, we only need 141 million+ viewers to accomplish that! No problem!

:laugh:

 

Now Joep & Hollywood I am NOT slamming UBT, I am just replying back to JOEP's post so don't get upset.

 

Kudos to You, Tex.

quote "I know that you both are involved in the UBT/Bet21/UB so I understand why both of you stand up for them if you feel they are getting attacked, but understand that those of us not getting a free ride need to know the questions we ask so that we can have a chance of going to the UBT events also."end of quote
Well said. A small group of people who have a clear conflict of interest are adamant that UBT needs unconditional support and are trying to gloss over legitimate request for information and solutions to some of the start up problems. What other online site would get away with offering a 100% sign-up bonus dollars and then not honoring their commitment. Instead of turning their energy on obtaining unconditional support from the players, these same "conflicted" people should use their influence to get the bonus promises honored by UBT/bet21 for all players.

Without constructive criticism, we enter into a state of tacit acceptance of things that need to be fixed. In the end, UBT/Bet21 will be the better product we all want if it is more responsive to the players.

We have the absolute right to complain. We, the players, pay the bill.

 

I agree Ken, unless there is another problem later on I voiced my opinion and concerns I am willing to I'll drop it.

Now I can go back trying to find a sponsor for the UBT so I can play in all the rest of their events.

 

INDEED! I miscounted during the Vegas tournament Sunday night and missed advancing by $250.

 

Response to joep's Open Letter

To joep: Below are the three paragraphs you wrote about Global-player in your open letter. You say this is no way a slam on Global-Player, but there is no way I can take your comments as anything but a slam. They sponser your radio show and you come on to this site and make these comments. What you state might be facts but in my humble opinion I don't feel this was very professional. I guess this is one way to get Global to pull their advertising so you only have to advertise for the UBT blackjack tourney sites.

I take everything you and Rick say with a grain of salt but I agree with Ken Smith and think you guys need to move on. Your comments about Global really bothered me and I felt the need to respond. Thanks for listening, thrasht

So when you say that the customer service at Global-Player is head and shoulders above any of these new sites. I say this to you when you only have 40 customers to tend to on your best day you better have a " Great " customer service staff. Because if you lose 4 players you lose 10% of your customer base.This is not to say that all customers problems should not be handled promptly but when you are only dealing with at best 40 players at one time results can happen quicker.

Now this is no way a slam on Global Player. I have played there as often as anyone and there are a sponsor of the "Be In Action" radio show that Kenny and I host every Thursday night. What they offered to all of us was a place to play the game we all love. But this community of over 5,000 members did not get behind them they way we should have to make them a success.Once again a missed opportunity.

All new companies have bugs early their venture and with time all the bugs and problems will be resolved.Global-Player who has been around since 1996 still has problems popping up.So to expect miracles in the first few days is just not fair to UBT and its on line licensed partners.

 

100 millions of viewers

per JOEP

"A Blackjack TV tournament that will be seen by 100 of Millions of viewers every week on CBS and open to all with no player limits or rerestrictions"

Lets see.... that would then have to include every man, woman, and child in the US and Canada. I think JOEP meant a few thousand viwers, open to a very few selected poker personalities, weirdos and recognized BJ "experts".

 

Response to Fredguy

You are one funny guy.:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

I curious

And this will betray my somewhat limited knowledge of American social and cultural history but is the Joep vs. Tex rivalry a throwback to the olden days? You know north vs. south

Cheers

Reachy