I'll just make it clear from the start that I'm not pot stirring! Just curious as to whether there have been any noticable effects in the world of real-world blackjack tournaments that could be attributed to the Ultimate Blackjack Tour? What effects might be seen? I would expect that if interest in TBJ has gone up it would manifest itself in bigger turnouts for established tournies, new tournies starting up, more newbies giving tournies a go for the first time, increased "chatter". Anybody seeing any of these effects? If so do you think it's related to the UBT? What other effects, if any, have been seen and why do you think that is? Have any tournies adopted a UBT-style format with multi-elimination and fixed points, secret bets, etc? I didn't put this post in the UBT section since I wondered whether any effects had been felt outside of that particular tour/organisation. Cheers Reachy
Reachy I will attempt to answer your question but it will have to be in 2 parts and you will see why. In order for a casino to legally run elimination style tournaments using the UBT format they must have agreed to a written contract with the UBT to have that right.You see the UBT format was designed like no other format around and the UBT has the right legally to prevent anyone,casino,individual person,TV show from infringing on their legal right of the product that they developed. Most Casinos understand that and want to abide legally if they are interested in using this format. They see it as a format that finally provides excitement to a once boring tournament format where nothing happened for 95 % of the hands played. Some major casino have seen this format as the future of where tournament play will go and it also brings pulsating excitement to their casino floor not to mention the marketing aspect of it as it now allows their casino and its customers TV exposure that was once never available to their tournaments. Casino that have become tournament partners with the UBT Venetian Palms Barona Cadillac Island Casino There is also the casino in Aruba & St Kitts that hosted the first two UBT Tour Stops in 2006 There are also a number of casinos that are considering signing on as tournament partners with the UBT. These casino are located in different parts of the country so in the near future this format will be available for play somewhere close to every ones home or gaming venue. The feedback from players on Friday nights at the Venetian is for the most part positive in regards to the excitement that this format bring to a blackjack tournament. Most of the comments are usually "tournaments are boring with no real action until the final 2 hands, not this format". They really enjoy playing it and it holds well for the future at the Venetian along with the other signed on partners. Now to the second part Some other tournaments and TV shows have played their tournaments using a similar version with different elimination hands and other twist to the format but when the day is done they are a direct shoot-off of the elimination format developed by the UBT. So the future for these venues is not good unless they stop using they UBT revised format and jump on board with the tournament future and that is the UBT. Most or all of these establishment's that have been using these shoot-offs have been legally notified and most have pulled it and are now considering using the UBT format exclusively. Joep
Cheers Thanks for your response Joe. So if a casino where to adopt a format that had elimination hands on hands 7, 14 and 21 as well as a final hand shoot-out they would be infringing the UBT copyright? What about the WSOB with it's elimination style (i.e. no fixed elimination hand but a card inserted in the deck that indicates when the next elimination is)? Does any TBJ format that includes any sort of elimination before the final hand infringe the copyright? I must admit I'm not completely comfortable with a company owning the exclusive rights to a format like this but on the other hand I suspect it's rather easy to get around with slight rule changes. Aside from that, what I was really interested in was whether there had been any obvious impact on the rest of the tournament world outside of UBT. Has there been a growth in the traditional format; more players, more games? Anybody seen numbers for their regular tournies go up at all recently? Cheers Reachy
Defend Your Patents/Copyrights Companies and individuals have to defend their rights in court or they can lose them. There is precedent for this. This is why companies like Disney and McDonalds go after copycats so aggressively. If UBT wants to keep the rights to their patented format they have to go after copycats. Then the courts decide what constitutes infringement and what constitutes public domain. The courts may decide no one can use the term "Elimination Blackjack" or any of the symbols, colors, etc., but that secret bets and removal of low bankroll players was already being done and therefore in the public domain. If a patent lawyer advised UBT that they can patent their format, it's a safe bet they can successfully defend it.
Elimination Had the removal of BRL pre-final hand been used in other tournamnents before UBT? Cheers Reachy
Reachy, to give you an answer to your original question: No, none of the tournaments I have played in the last year or so have utilized that format. As Joe pointed out, that is probably more to legal caution than any dissatisfaction with the format. Of course, few people like change and a lot of tournament directors probably feel comfortable with what they know.
other effects Thnaks for all your replies guys. Actually what interests me more than the format is the impact on TBJ as a whole. Do you think the added exposure that the UBT has given to TBJ has increased interest, participation and the number of available tournies? Cheers Reachy
Defending a patent You can take them on Monkeysystem! I can understand why UBT needs to protect its trademark and copyright but every now and again a company can over step the mark. Take the case of a country pub verses Kentucky Fried Chicken that I have been following. Are we to believe that KFC invented the words “Family” and “Feast”? So two words that are in the Oxford and English dictionary now belong to a fast food giant? In this case common sense prevailed but it shows how aggressively a company will protect any infringement of its trademark. Here is link to the end of the story. Andy http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=453871&in_page_id=1770
Perhaps not yet, but...... If it is true that UBT has not influenced entry levels in B&M TBJ, it's likely only a matter of time. TV exposure is the king. Had Moneymaker, Raymer, Hachem, and Gold (especially Moneymaker) won their WSOP titles in the quiet recesses of Binion's without a gazillion TV cameras recording every move, the HoldEm juggernaut would never be the monster it is today. Now we've got rerun after rerun of old poker tournaments on TV, further feeding the frenzy. It wouldn't hurt to have WGN replay UBT's Season 1 again. The ratings were quite good during the first series of reruns, right? Activity in the UBT freerolls kicked up dramatically during the first set of reruns, with the daily qualifiers seeing literally hundreds of players. It's been awhile since those were broadcast, and those entry counts have dropped by about half. TV exposure is the king. From my ploppy point of view, having Joe Nobody from Podunk, USA win the big bucks at either the WSOB or the UBT season finale would be the kick in the pants the TBJ needs to take off. If Smith, Einiger, Stann, Pane, or any of the other well-known TBJ pros win (I didn't leave anyone out on purpose), then the mainstream media will greet the news with a collective yawn. If Mr. or Mrs. Nobody wins........
