The Field is beaten by Skill Today once again the skill rose to the top as both Final tables were won by seasoned tournament players. Today in the main event World Blackjack Champion Kenny Einiger won when the dealer flipped a hidden blackjack over on the final hand.Going into the hand Kenny had 130,000 Christian had 125,000 and Pete Medina from CO. the Play UBT.com internet winner had 95.5K Christian was betting first and used his secret bet,He bet 100,000 Kenny who had used his secret bet to survive an eariler elimination hand also bet 100,000 Next up was Pete who still had his secret bet and 95.5K ,he decided to not take the low that Kenny offered him and bet 95 K out of his 95.5 K The hands were dealt out and this is what it looked like it it wasnt a pretty sight for Kenny Christian was dealt 10-10 Kenny was dealt 10-5 and Pete was dealt 10-10. Dealers up card was a 10 She had the ace and Kenny has his second UBT Title in less than 10 UBT Tournaments. Speaking with Kenny after the tournament he was 110% sure that Christian had bet 100,000.He said that playing with him all week in the sit & go's he seemed to always do that when it was crunch time. He had no idea about what Pete would do but most new players there are going to bet their entire stack and he did so Kenny had the high and low before the cards were dealt.Once the cards were dealt Kenny was not looking good but when its EINIGER TIME its EINIGER TIME. In the free-roll it became heads up between John Ressman a long time tournament player who has many victories under his belt throught out the years and has actually made 3 Final Tables out of 4 UBTTour Final tables this year.Do I hear Luck or skill here ????? If you were on the fence about this its time to jump off to the skill side.The field had 4 of 7 players yet they were no where to be found near the end and keep in mind that one of the field players was seated right on to the final table The final 5 point leaders for the sit & go contest that was held here were Vera 28 Previn 22 Hollywood 20 John Blunt 17 Marvin Ornstein 17 All 5 of these players will be awarded a 2700 seat into the main event in Aruba in early 2007 Again another show of skill over a week long contest as all players are seasoned tournament players. Congrats to all and see you in Aruba where the sun always shines and the money is for the taking on the UBT Tour In the free-roll Tournament Kenny Smith was dealt 5 blackjacks in the first 11 hands and had the lead from hand 4 to hand 17. From there on John just took control of the table with correlations bets when betting after the other players and betting good portions of his lead when betting first. A classic lesson on how to play with the lead. By hand 27 John was heads up with Robert Williamson and the chip totals looked like this 252 K for John and 99K for Robert not a pretty sitution. Robert made a fatal choice and decided to split his bankroll instead of moving all in and it cost him as he was dealt an A-9 against a dealers 5. He then did what his bet was originally meant for at that was to DD so he did and received a 3 for a 13 the dealer turned over a 10 to go with the 5 and it looked like Robert dodged a bullet but the blackjack Gods wanted to show the Poker Champion just how cruel this game can be if you leave it up to them. I hope you all have enjoyed my post from St Kitts as I have enjoyed doing them . See you back in Las Vegas real soon Joep
Joe, you will get the real test of skill vs luck when the players numbers increase. You are reporting a microcosm from Aruba and St Kitts.
The Real Story Barney keep in mind that in Aruba only about 20 % of the field was seasoned (Pro) Tournamnet players and we had a stellar showing there.But I will always believe that there is a skill factor in tournaments that is affected by the variance that comes along with the game, some may even call the variance "LUCK" I call it the effects that prevents the skill from showing up near the top in every tournament. Trust me on this point if the Pro's were not having good results in the first 2 UBT Tour stops you would be hearing about it in a big way here at BJT, but the few who refuse to believe that some people can play this game with an edge are just fooling themselves. So while the Pro's are avoiding the dreaded variance of this game for now you will be hearing about it from me and a few others who know what side of the fence to be on......... Joep
Group Picture Reachy last night at the farewell party there were pictures taken by the UBT photo staff and Kenny Smith so it should be real soon that you will finally get to see what all of us really look like. Be prepared to be SCARED!!!!!!!!! In a side note the party was a blast especially the Hula Hoop contest that awarded the winner a seat into a 540 event and second place received a 120 seat into a one table tournament. Joep
Vet school dropouts And the after party after that...and the after after party after that. Let's just say that there were a few of us partying like rockstars once we got done with all our stupid card playing and realized we were on an island that we really should have been exploring more. Debauchery definitely was the theme of Friday and Saturday as some of us chilled with our newfound friends from Ross University.
"Barney keep in mind that in Aruba only about 20 % of the field was seasoned (Pro) Tournamnet players and we had a stellar showing there." Has that been about average turnout?.....20% "seasoned PROS" to 80% sheee bangers like me...
Ok just so I'm clear on this.....Are these cartoons everyone is making the latest in the BJT war? Is this just a way to get around typing it in posts, and possibly getting threads deleted? Or is this just a fun and games thing? Regardless, I'm finding them at least mildly entertaining (for now), and much less annoying than reading a bunch of ranting posts. I'm particularly liking figuring out who each new character is. I am, however, beginning to wonder what the ages of some of the people on this site are. I had guessed most to be much older than what they now appear.
Forever Young: Cherub: Continue to be "slightly" amused. Creativity(or attempts at it) knows no age. Stretch the envelope or spread your wings and fly. You, certainly as one of the muses, understand and inspire.
Picture I just realized that the picture that went out in the UBT email is just moments before Joe's bad beat. You can see the elation on hist face as he dances knowing he has an 'unbeatable' 20. You can also see the dejection on Kasey's face after his slow roll. Sorry, Joe, I just had to post this since it sums up that moment so well. Such a good shot.
Ace, do you think it is easier to count the chips during a UB game compared with a regular BJT game? You know how the chips in many regular casino BJTs are big stacks of solid color. The chips look big and the stacks are so small in most of the photos from UBT events. TIA B
Barney The chips themselves are normal size, but they are definitely more distinguishable than some of those solid color practice chips you'll see at some tournaments. The stacks can end up a lot bigger than those you see there though. That was a final table, so the denominations were big to start off with (A couple of 25,000 chips to start). Once those get broken down a bit, the stacks get bigger. Keeping in stacks of 10 or less was a must though.
chips counting The stacks are specifically limited to stacks of 10 in preliminary rounds and stacks of 20 on televised final tables to make counting somewhat manageable for the poker players.
One other thing I need to point out, Uncle Joe is wearing the same sleeveless shirt I wore to my first Motley Crue concert at Santa Monica Civic Center. FWIW
