This is a good little local (IA/MN) tournament and if it fills, not a bad first place pay day. It is a great first timers (newbie) tournament, just don't take the regulars too seriously. I have included a reprint of the rules (since the pdf is 200 bytes too big) in hopes of enticing more and new players. Apparently the casino does not see the benefit of promoting the tournament. ********************************************************** http://www.diamondjo.com/worth/general_info.html ********************************************************** DATE & TIME: Sundays, Feb 26 to TBD ,2008; 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. Qualifier Rounds Prize Pool:_____26 or more players________25 or less players 1st Place_____41% ($1618.68 – $501.02)____50% ($587.50 max) 2nd Place_____24% ($947.52 – $293.28)_____30% ($352.50 max) 3rd Place_____15% ($592.20 – $183.30)_____20% ($235.00 max) 4th Place_____10% ($394.80 – $122.20) 5th Place ______7% ($276.36 – $85.54) 6th Place______3% ($118.44 - $36.66) REGISTRATION: Each participant must be a current Diamond Club Member to register for the tournament. The entry fee for this tournament will be $50.00. From each entry fee, $3.00 will be dropped for the dealers tip and the remaining $47.00 will be placed in the prize pool. Registration will start at 11:00 am in Pit 2 of the casino. All buy-ins will take place at the tournament registration table in pit 2. No call-in or early registrations will be accepted. Any player playing in round one, session one that does not advance may re-buy into round one session two. They may only re-buy into the next session 15 minutes prior to its start, allowing everyone that has not played a chance to register. Must be 21 or older to participate. TOURNAMENT SETUP: Each session will consist of twenty five (25) hands. Round One will consist of two sessions. Each session will have six tables with seven players at each table. The top three players from each table will advance to the next round of play. Round Two will consist of one session with six tables, each table have six players. The top person from each table will advance to the final round of play. The Final round will consist of one session with one table with six players. Seating assignments for each round will be decided through a random drawing from the table / seat cards with each one designating the players starting table and seat. Players will randomly pick one card prior the beginning of each session. The floor person will shuffle the cards face down on the table and each player will randomly pick one card designating their seat assignment. Players may only draw once and may not switch their table seat / card with another player. PLAY: Unless otherwise stated, Diamond Jo Worth Casino standard rules of Blackjack will apply. Each player must check in 15 minutes prior to the beginning of their session. Each tournament player will be issued $1,000 in tournament chips at the start of each round. Tournament chips may not be removed from the table and can not be concealed. Tournament chips may not be shared or given to any other player. All blackjacks dealt during the tournament will be paid 2 to 1 odds. The dealing sequence will begin by placing the puck at the gaming position number seven, located immediately to the right of the dealer and the dealing will begin at first base and will continue by moving the puck sequentially from gaming position number seven to gaming position number one (left to right), and then repeated until all hands are dealt. Betting will follow this same sequence. Players must bet a minimum of $5 up to a maximum of $500 on each hand dealt. If the player’s remaining chips fall below the table minimum, all of the player’s remaining chips must be bet on the next hand. The order of dealing will be the same order used to place all bets. Once a bet is placed, it cannot be removed or changed. There will be twenty five (25) white chips placed atop each table to keep track of the number of hands dealt. After each hand is completed, one of the chips will be removed from the table and placed in the bank tray. Any decision on how to bet, or how to play, must be solely that of the player. No communication, verbal or visual will be permitted between spectators or players. The Dealer may advise the player of his or her options but will not make any recommendations. If the dealing sequence is dealt out of position, the floor person will be called and the hand backed up to the spots as if the dealing sequence had been correctly dealt. The cards will not be backed up for any other reason. Players are expected to make decisions about their wagers and hand decisions in a reasonable amount of time. At the floor persons discretion “Time” may be called on a player which will force a player to make their decision in the amount of time of one (1) minute. If the decision is not made after the minute time has been called, then the players hand will stand and no cards will be drawn. If the decision was not made on a wager amount, the player will be forced to wager a table minimum bet of $5.00. Each player’s chips will be counted and announced after the 19th and 24th hands have been played. During each round of play, any ties will be broken by dealing additional hands until one player has more chips than the other player. Note: Each hand must be completed before the chips are counted and a winner is declared. At the conclusion of each session or round consisting of 25 hands, the dealer will count the player’s chips. The floor person will verify the count and determine who advances. GENERAL: No Smoking or beverages will be allowed at the tournament tables. If a player leaves their assigned table during the course of play, they will have voluntarily withdrawn from the tournament. At the conclusion of a round the players must wait until the dealer has counted their chips, before leaving the table. Gratuities may be paid to the dealers in the form of gaming chips and cash only. Tournament chips may not be used for gratuity purposes. Gratuities may only be paid at the end of a session or at the conclusion of the tournament. If a player is found to be in violation of any rules it is the Floor persons decision to issue one warning before ejecting a player from the tournament. Violation of tournament rules may eliminate a player from future participation. Winners are responsible for any applicable local, state and/or federal taxes. A set of rules will be posted at the drawing area Management reserves the right to change any promotion with the approval of IRGC. Winners may be required to show valid state-issued picture identification.
Death of a Mini-Tournament Sunday 3/8/09 buyins were a total of 9. Weather was an excuse. Sunday 3/15/09 buyins were a total of 17. No excuses just not getting new players. Sounds like the casino will lower buyin and try it for another month. Maybe if they post poned it an hour or two to get away from the church crowd.
It would also help if they did a decent job of advertising this tournament. They started with Flyers on the tables but once they added the Lucky Ladies side bet, the flyer was moved to the desk in the pit. Users have to know about it to ask for it. One thought I had was to offset the cost a little was pay anyone in the Semi - Finals a small token of $10. Another thought was give everyone at the Semi - Finals a $10 match play certificate.
Explain to me what is wrong with the Diamond Jo Sunday Matinee BJT I consider this casino my home turf and would hate to see them pull this tournament from the schedule. I want to know from the professionals why this tournament will not fill. If there are any new tournament players that like or dislike or have avoided this tournament for any specific reason I would like to also hear from. If you don’t want to post a thread due to fear of criticism use the private message please. DJ’s Worth is two hours south of Mpls MN where at least 6 members of this forum reside plus many more tournament players. Wednesdays in the middle of the morning, Little Six near Mpls can sell out a 42 seat tournament consistently at $40 per buy-in. Prairie Meadows in Altoona IA has a once a month Tuesday Elimination Tournament with a $30 buy-in and it normally fills. Des Moines / Altoona are about two hours south of DJ’s Worth. Therefore in my estimation it is not a population or a buy-in level problem. The rules and payout percentages are the same as the Wednesday tournament that has filled the last four weeks running, and has never had less then half filled since September 08. So there is precedence for at least the sale of 30 or more buy-ins for the Sunday Matinee. The casino even adds a $100 in an entry fee lottery; unlike the Wednesday. The bigger question: Are Blackjack Tournaments just plain dying out? I know the DJ Worth “Director of Table Games” reads this forum on occasion as do many other tournament coordinators; maybe collectively we can promote / improve weekly locals which will drive interest in large single events.
I beg to differ. The recent Meskwaki tournament was filled at 192 entries, and had nearly 100 on the waiting list. Well, I'm certainly not a professional and have zero BJT promotion experience, but I do have decades of tournament promotion and operation experience to draw on. Having said that, here's my take on the situation at DJ Worth based solely on what's been posted here. Looks to me like a frequency problem. Yeah, the other two casinos in your example are filling better but it also sounds like they're near more densely populated areas. I'd change the DJ Worth tournament to a monthly. Right now there is no urgency factor for potential players. If they miss one, who cares? There will be another one next week. If the urgency is that missing one will mean no tournament for another month, more might show up instead of staying home to cook burgers on the grill and watch a game on TV. Make it the first Sunday or whatever. On the other Sundays, offer Sit-n-Go tables with the top prizes being free entries in the Monthly. This will promote locals entries because nobody in their right mind will drive a great distance to win a $50 entry. Heck, the house is already giving away $100 cash every Sunday anyway! They could do $5 Sit-n-Gos with the winner getting a free $50 entry, casino collects $35 and effectively "comps" a $50 entry. Or run $10 versions, winner gets $50 entry plus $20 cash, 2nd just gets $20 cash. Casino collects $70, pays out $40 and "comps" a $50 entry. The house is really losing nothing on these and they're already giving away the $100 cash in the current situation.
On the other hand, St. Ignace has less tournaments and for less prize money than in years gone by. So referring to specific Tournaments will get us nowhere because there are of course exceptions that can be quoted for most any general statement. However, the general interest in Blackjack Tournaments is indeed ebbing in virtually every geographical area. Not only are there less BJTs but the prize money is steadily decreasing. I only made the "off the cuff" comment in response to ee4life66's "off the cuff" comment. It's probably not appropriate to discuss this subject on this thread because it detracts from the main purpose of this thread. So if anyone cares to start a new thread on this subject (main category: "Ideas To Promote or Improve Tournaments" would seem to be appropriate), it may prove interesting. But this subject, along with the related subject of how to get new players, has been discussed many times before without any consensus so there is no reason to think a new discussion will bare any fruit.
tournament Will there be one this Sunday, May 3rd? What Hotels are close by and reasonable? What time does this actually start? TIA.
The final one will be this Sunday(5/3). It starts at 1PM. Registration starts at 11PM. There is an attached Country Inn and Suites. Other hotels would be in Albert Lea about 12 miles N or Clear Lake about 20 miles S.
