The calendar has a listing for a $100k invitational bj tournament at Rio Suites February 22-24 with a note that details will be provided later. Since I haven't seen or heard anything elsewhere about this tournament, I was wondering whether it is still on, and if more details are now available.
I just looked over my LV invites & mailouts. I have a couple from the RIO but not for that tournament. The invitees are probably much more valued than I am.
Rio Tournament Kelly, sorry I didn't respond earlier, I've been out of the country. The Rio listing was posted here due to my Paris host sending me a list of HET 2008 planned tournaments through December 2008. I attempted to contact her today but she is off until Tuesday, I'll post additional details when received. As normal all future planned tournament dates are subject to change or cancellation. I suggest you contact your HET host meanwhile as that will be necessary for entry since this is an invitational tournament.
I have contacted my Harrah's host So far, my Harrah's host (essentially AC based) has been able to verify that such a tournament apparently exists, but she has not yet been able to get details on the tournament, qualifying criteria, ... I'm still waiting to hear back from her.
E1010 I heard that rio has cut the prize money because they did not have enough participant. Anybody knows how much the prize was cut? I ALSO KNOW THAT A COUPLE OF 7 STAR MEMBERS WANTED TO PLAY AT RIO 'S BLACKJACK TOURNAMENTS AND WERE INFORMED THAT REGISTRATIO WAS CLOSED BECAUSE OF EXCESIVE NUMBER OF REGISTRANT!
Rio Tournament Cuts When I arrived to register for the tournament on Friday, there were signs posted about the lowered prize fund. First prize was $25k, and I think the total prize money paid to the finalists was $48k. In addition, $3k was given out in drawings held at the same time as the wild card drawings for the semifinals. I don't know the final number of players, but there were only 94 players that were expected as of when I registered. Rio was apparently looking for more like 200-300 players. Players were given a Tommy Bahamas watch as a welcome gift along with $50 in food vouchers. There was an optional $250 rebuy available if you didn't advance in the first round based on availability. I didn't need it, so I don't know how it worked. Rounds were 35 hands with a countdown after 30 hands. Players had $5k in chips with betting limits from $100 - $2500 until the countdown, no max bet on the last 5 hands. The first round tables I saw had 4 players with 2 advancing. In the second round, tables had either 4 or 5 players with 1 advancing. This led to 18 players at 3 semifinal tables (6 of them wild cards) with 2 advancing from each semifinal table. I made the semis, but not the finals.
