I played in the July 25-27 bj tournament at Paris, and wasn't particularly thrilled with some aspects of it. Originally, the tournament was supposed to be at Bally's , but was changed to Paris. This was an invitational event which was supposed to have a $40k prize fund. They cut it to $20.5k when they garnered fewer than 100 entrants. There were a limited number of $250 rebuys available with rebuy players playing along with original entrants. Rounds were 15 hands with a countdown after 10 hands, and no secret bet. Entrants also received a T shirt and $100 in food vouchers for either Paris or Ballys. I really don't like the Harrah's blind draw format whereby a player cannot even indicate a preference for when they would like to play. In the second round, there were 18 tables with only 1 advancing to the semifinals. I believe that they had 30 first round tables (2 advanced in the first round) which would have meant 60 players made it to the second round. This led to some second round tables nominally having three players while other tables had four players. Sure, it is random whether you are at a four person table or a three person table, but there is no reason at all why you couldn't instead make things equitable for all by having 12 tables with 5 at a table (maybe 2 advance instead of 1?). This isn't sour grapes on my part since I was supposed to be at a three person table which ended up being a two person table when one person didn't show up. They then added six wild card entrants by way of a drawing to the 18 players who earned their way in. To me, this seems like too many wild cards. They didn't need to do this. The tournament rules simply specified that there would be at least two wild card entrants that would make the semis. Why was the turnout so low? I didn't receive an invite, but my Harrah's ADT easily warranted inclusion in this event, but trying to get details on the tournament was difficult. I went over to Bally's on Friday evening to register, not knowing exactly where the registration was being held, but knew it was at Bally's rather than Paris. I inquired at the VIP check-in area, and they weren't even aware that the tournament existed. I have to believe that Harrah's could do a whole lot better job attracting people to their tournaments. Drastically cutting prize funds when turnout happens to be lower than they would like is just going to discourage people from attending these kinds of tournaments in the future because they will start to expect lower than advertised prize funds.
September Rio BJ Tournament? I'm afraid that I know nothing about the Rio September 12-14 bj tournament beyond what is in the calendar, namely that there is supposed to be a bj tournament on those dates. I did play in the February Rio $100k prize fund tournament, which ended up being more like a $50k prize fund tournament when they similarly had about 100 entrants. I also had a serious argument with the tournament director there because I had been told up front by the marketing people that they would accommodate my scheduling needs, whereas the tournament rules specifically indicate that players must abide by the times generated by their blind draws. I won't be able to attend the Rio September tournament if it exists, so I wasn't planning on trying to track down any info about that tournament.
Rio BJ guy, I made the original event calendar post regarding the Rio September 12-14 BJ tournament upon advance date only notice without details from my host. At this point I have no further details other than what I recently posted in response to your inquiry. I recommend first you attempt to enter the tournament if qualified and then contact either your host or HET special events 3 days prior to physical event registration when the actual number of participants and final format ( number advancing per table, prize fund etc.) is determined for answers beyond my current knowledge.
Yes, I am one of those discouraged players. I am almost at the point of abandoning all BJTs at all Harrah's properties in Las Vegas. One of their problems is they seem to schedule BJTs too close to or overlapping sister properties that I feel reduces attendance at each event. Yes, my time is real close to saying HAS TA LA VESTA HARRAH'S LAS VEGAS. (not sure of the spelling of HAS TA LA VESTA but you get the idea. I tried to incorporate NUMBEROUS in it's place but that doesn't work. ) BY the way, I spent that weekend at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs (Iowa). They were short of their goal of 180 players by about 20. But they paid the full prize pool of $175,000 anyway. This in addition to a $50,000 drawing (BJT players only) where 5 names were drawn for a prize of $10,000 each - that's one chance out of 32. Kelly, you probably could have received a free entry or at least be charged a nominal entry fee and had a chance for a lot more dollars. You might want to consider their next event which may be in the Fall.
Why I Played in the Paris BJ Tournament I was in Vegas for a week utilizing offers at four non-Harrah's casinos, and booked my trip planning on doing what appeared to be an attractive car giveaway event at the Harrah's properties as well. They cancelled the car giveaway event, and I was left with the choice of: 1) ignoring my Harrah's offers for this trip; 2) staying at a Harrah's property and accepting their $100 in lieu of the car giveaway; 3) playing in the Paris Blackjack tournament; 4) playing in one of the other events going on in that time frame at Las Vegas Harrah's properties. There was a low level slot tournament and a holdem poker tournament that seemed to be worth less than the Paris BJ tournament. I deemed the Paris BJ tournament to be the best option, just barely beating out the option of ignoring Harrah's for this trip. I wasn't going to Vegas for the Paris BJ tournament. The trip was motivated primarily by offers from the other casinos. I did consider the Horseshoe tournament, but would have had to schedule it as part of a trip to other casinos to justify doing it, and Vegas seemed to be a higher ev choice given my other offers.
Kelly: Thanks for the update regarding the Harrahs properties. I was in Vegas that weekend as well, but chose to play in the Hold'em tournament that had over 800 participants. I contemplated the BJ tournament as well as the car giveaway, but ultimately decided on hold-em. I stayed at Caesar's and didn't even realize the car giveaway was cancelled. Another change that I noticed the entire time I was there was the food in the Diamond lounge. The food is only brought out from 4pm-6pm and after 6pm you will only receive chips/salsa. Plus, they have taken out my favorite wine in the lounge. I don't think I like where the company is headed with the new investors in place....
Crying shame You're about the fifth person I've heard from about the the decline of the Diamond lounge's. That's a crying shame, they use to be great place to stop in for a nice snack to mini-meal.
The online video poker forum vpFREE has been sizzling with news of the Harrahs lounge downgrades for perhaps 2 months. You can get in to see some of those messages and postings here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vpFREE/ If you're not a Yahoo Groups member, click on Join this Group and follow the instructions. I don't play at Harrah's locations because their video poker mostly sucks, but would be pretty upset at these wholesale lounge downgrades if I was one of their upper tier members.
Greed? You guys aren't insinuating that Harrah's is greedy are you? It certainly appears that they are! I don't really know which places they own in Vegas and elsewhere. Please enlighten me so I can avoid them. Billy C
