I updated the information on the Fitzgeralds tournament from this past weekend (Dec 2005). It turned out that this event was open and free to anyone who wanted to play. They offered one rebuy for $99. It is the typical hybrid format used in Tunica, accumulation format for first round where you combine top scores from two rounds to determine top qualifiers who advance to semi-final round. Semi-final and finals are table elimination format. You can use the rebuy to improve your score by using the rebuy to replace a lower score from an earlier round. Cutoff for this event (30th position) was $1650 starting with $500 bankroll in each round. BJ pays 2 to 1. Prize money was guaranteed. This was the first tournament that the casino has held in a while, but they had good turnout since it was free to anyone who wanted to play. I forgot to get a total, but I think it was around 150 players. The tournament was very well run. The dealers were not very experienced with rotating the button and bet, but they did a good job and pit supervisors were good in resolving mistakes. Rules were clear and they followed them to the letter. One glitch they ran into was they held the wildcard draw at 8:45 for the semi-finals (six spots), and started signing up the seats to the qualifiers of the semi-finals after the spots were filled. There were eight no shows when they finished assigning the seats. The rules actually gave any qualifiers until right before play time (10:00) to show up for their seat assignment. The rules also allowed the empty seats to be filled in order of the next highest qualifying scores who were below the cut. They didn't point out this fact to the people who missed the cut so everyone was gone except for a few people who stayed around looking for the opportunity to get in because of no shows. So we had to wait about another 45 minutes to see if the eight no shows would arrive. Turns out by 10:00 there were still two no shows, so they decided to page people in the casino who were in line to move into the slots. Unfortunately for me they found two people who were still in the casino after about 20 names to fill the slots. Almost got a wildcard by default . I've seen that happen before, so if you are on the bubble in an accumulation format, be sure to stick around and make sure everyone shows up for the next round. You can always get lucky and slip in because someone overslept. They said they will do this tournament again in April. I think they were pleased with the results and maybe they will start doing more tournaments in the future. It is definately worth the price of the entry fee! Pat
This thread was posted more than three years ago. For a more recent Fitzgeralds Tunica tournament, see this thread: http://www.blackjacktournaments.com/bb/showthread.php?t=4576 The turnout exceeded expectations for that event, and the next tournament is scheduled for June 2008. See ya there!
Fitzgerald's June Tournament I called Fitz to inquire and register for the tournament. I got info from the BJ Tourn website that registration included 3 nights at the hotel. The fellow I talked to at the hotel said that only applied if I had a "promo code". Any advice?
This question applies to the June, 2008 tournament. Since this thread applies to a tournament back in 2005, I created a new thread for the June, 2008 tournament. I replied to dranes inquire in the new thread: http://www.blackjacktournaments.com/bb/showthread.php?t=4695
