St Ignace (July 29-31, 2011)

I just received confirmation of my entry into this tournament. My wife and I enjoyed meeting many of you at "The SOO" last year and I hope to meet those folks and more this year at St Ignace.

3 members are listed so far on the calendar entry. Anyone else going?

 

I look forward to seeing you two again-----is your wife playing in the event this time?
Several members don't note their planned attendance on the event calendar but I know of many others that will be there.
See you then!

Billy C

 

Hi Billy,

My wife will be coming but will not be playing. She plays online and does pretty well, but is still too nervous about playing live tables. Perhaps we can convince her that there's nothing to fear from the members here (at least as far as civility goes!) and even less to fear from the ploppies!

 

I will see you there,

along with son-in-law Jim.

 

Maybe - and maybe not

I will be calling tomorrow to see if they're still accepting entries, if so then DRSLYR and I will attend. Still quite P.O.'ed at them for stunts they've pulled on me in recent visits (not by tournament management itself) so this wasn't even on the radar until recently. We'll see. If we go, we'll won't be arriving until late Friday evening and blowing out the door A.S.A.P. on Sunday so no party table this time.

 

DRSLYR and I are in.

 

A Great Time!

I had had a great time and it was nice to meet some folks for the first time and to meet others again. Among the highlights for me were learning how to play video poker from Monkeysystem, 1 pint cans of beer for $2.50 and playing "psychedelic" blackjack on Sat night (oh, the COLOURS!).

No more Michigan tournaments for me this year (vacation constraints), but my wife and I do plan on being in Vegas in October for the LV Hilton tourney. Maybe we'll see you there?

 

Nice meeting up with you, hope to see you next year since you won't be making the Sept tourney.

Congrads on making it to the final table (too bad the bottom fell out after that).

I had another student make the final table (total of 6 of them now making it) and she took 3rd. I've got only one student left to make it but he only gets up there once every couple of years.

Hope to see others up to the Sault in Sept.

-Pill

 

You were learning VP from the Monkey???????? :yikes: :laugh:

I also enjoyed seeing everyone there again, and left quite a number of empty pint cans of beer scattered here-n-there on Saturday night. The psychedelic blackjack featured a very bad side bet, the cards were printed with colors and a player got paid for matching colored cards. Few were betting it and it did a fine job of making the cards difficult to see, especially after quaffing a good number of those pints!

Deb and I plan to be at the Hilton but the cost of airfare will figure prominently in that decision.

Yes indeed - congrats in a big way to both Gronbog and MrPill's "student" for making the final table! A pair of very nice folks, well-deserving and I couldn't be happier for both of you. DRSLYR and I heard about it by phone after it was all done, were over halfway thru our drive home since Kewadin BJT management still insists on ignoring the concept of using a wildcard to fill the 7th final table seat, with the idea of keeping players in the casino longer.

Deb and I plan to be at the Soo as well. Lookin' forward to seeing many of our BJT friends there!

 

On another note.......

Many folks expressed an interest in seeing a CHEERS-n-JEERS for this one, but it isn't going to happen. I try to maintain balance within those reports but it's not possible this time. It'd come off as whining & complaining. There is only one CHEER - the usual professional job of running the BJT itself by the staff. Unfortunately, there is a laundry list of JEERS for the other areas of the Ignace casino/hotel. The unannounced 40% rise in the price of the infamous crab legs & prime rib buffet is not a huge issue, but piled on top of the increasing list of degradations in the value of the BJT package, I'm done with Iggy and cannot recommend it to others any longer.

 

Worked out very well actually. I made $65 while earning the 200 points required for the $50 in free play and then turned that $50 into another $60, despite throwing away a flush by accident (forgot to hold the cards -- OUCH). I'll upgrade my skills next time with a lesson from the master (that would be you, Lefty )

Thanks! Of course, that was also one of the highlights of my weekend (until I got destroyed on that final table), but I didn't want to blow my own horn too loudly.

I will make a point of attending at least one Kewadin tournament next year. Best of luck to all of you in Sept.

 

I would have to agree with this CHEER. A perfectly executed tournament as far as I could see.

Another thing that stood out for me was the total lack of pressure on players who took the time to think about important bets and hands. One player at one of my tables was even encouraged to take as long as she needed. That gets a big CHEER from me.

 

Still like this one

My congratulations also, to gronbog and Pill's student.
I can't disagree with anything Lefty said. The value has diminished some ($50 free play instead of cash and less food coverage). However, I'm in the camp that still feels this is a very good tourney value. Purse is guaranteed which is a big positive and tax considerations is another. I overheard a guy saying he paid $90 a night for a room so it could be said that $70 covered my tourney entry plus the other considerations-----nice deal in my way of thinking.
Little Ernie has gotten to be a good tourney director and the dealers make VERY few mistakes and are friendly enough (I always consider these things).
This is also an event that draws many, many pleasant entrants that make it a "look forward to" event for me.
$24.95 is WAY too much for THAT buffet and not seeing a royal by anyone on the vp machines has lead some of us to question them. Personally, I was lucky enough to hit an extraordinary amount of "quads" this trip and came out something like 3 or 4 hundred on the plus side.

Billy C

 

Random thoughts

Learning VP under The Monkeydude's tutelage means you have an excellent teacher. I was just teasing in the earlier post. He's probably sharper on 9/6 JoB than I am right now, anyway, I don't play that game as much as I used to.

For those who are still going to future Iggy BJT's, there's certainly no problem with that notion here. To each their own! I'm not about to post the entire laundry list of downgrades to the tournament package which forced my own decision. However, it was rather amusing (and sad) to see the legions of BJT contestants leaving the place early Sunday afternoon. Since Iggy won't consider drawing a wild card to that 7th spot on the final table, plus their knuckleheaded decision to remove Sunday night's lodging from the deal eek, there is little reason to stick around once a player is finally eliminated from the tournament.

Note that the Soo has the same package but the difference there is playable video poker so many of us will stick around longer. All of the VP at Iggy is shockingly bad with the lone exception of the five 9/6 JoB's (dollar denom) and most of the math geeks have conceded that those have an extreme likelihood of not dealing in a truly random fashion.

 

Job

Single line JOB can be very persnickety.

I play it at Choctaw Durant a lot, because they have a progressive royal, straight flush and 4 of a kind.

Winpoker can be put on autoplay. I was using a 4500 Royal, 350 straight flush and 130 4 of a kind. I ran 17 three royal cycles (about 120K hands per 3 royals cycle). Two of them had no royals, two had 1 royal and 3 had 2 royals.

Using the Poisson Distribution (available in Excel) there is about a 5% chance of zero royals, 15% for 1 royal and 22% for 2 royals.

The single line game can be very brutal and seasoned VP players can get very frustrated playing the game. Just ask Ken.

Larry

 

Of course JoB can leave you on the wrong side of the bell curve, as can any VP variation, but we're talking somewhere in the vicinity of eight Royal cycles.

 

VP Ignace-Sault

concerning FP JOB, since being highly limited in the places that allow me to play BJ, or even some who will not allow me in the door, I have been playing far more VP-9/6 FP and I am amazed at the number of Royals and 4 of a kinds I have gotten, 3 of a kind does not even get my attention anymore, while playing at other casinos versus Kewadin.

I would have to concur with Lefty, the $ VP at Ignace seems to me now as peculiar, as do the .25 at Sault.

I have also been told by recent former managment people at Kewadin that they are indeed hurting business wise, to the point of paychecks bouncing. These former managment people, who have taken jobs in the lower Mi casinos, also fault Kewadin for mistreatment of patrons and lousy decisions concerning, games, hours, food and professionalism for their present pronounced drop in Business. And these former managment are Tribal.

The UP casinos must realize that the lower Mi. casinos are getting better and better in every way, while the price of Gas and Travel is going up and up, giving more and more patrons reasons not to venture N. of the Bridge for their gaming adventures.

Myself, and the wife, who were once big customers and promoters of Kewadin, rarely venture there anymore, being very thrilled with the games and comps, promos, food, close proximity, being offered in the lower MI. casinos. And yes, I can still do Kewadin, just no BJ. Things do change.

CP

 

Interesting sidebar

As an aside to Panther's comments, I just received a copy of the August issue of "Midwest Gaming and Travel" magazine. It has the results of a reader poll on favorite Native American casinos in the region. I don't put much faith in these reader polls, but in the 35 different categories under "Michigan" with top 3 noted under each, the Kewadin casinos scored a total of zero mentions in the entire list. :yikes:

 

Back again

Well, me and the wife decided to make a trip to Sault and Ignace, good news they do have Coke products on the casino floor rather than RC Cola.

Ignace was not answering their phone today, got a recording saying they were busy and to leave a message:laugh:,,no shi#

And we hit a Royal Flush for $1100, dig that

The scenery is top notch at Ignace, the food a real joke! Ignace does have a set of slots, hi-limit, that are indeed amazing. The 9/6 job machines at both sites are so old it is true nostalgia, but you have to love em:laugh:

CP