Ute Mountain WSOB 2-3 December Qualifier

WSOB Qualifier at Ute Mountain Casino, Colorado

PART ONE

The 2-3 December WSOB Qualifier did not go as planned:

What Had Been Planned

__"Event #1"- 12:00noon Friday
Up to 210 entrants compete.
7 players per table; 3 tables per round; 10 rounds
30 Event #1 table first-place winners would advance to the semi-finals.
30 Event #2 table second-place winners would advance to "Event #2"

__"Event #2" - "Wild Card Event - 6:00pm Friday
30 Event #1 second-place winners compete
5 players per table; 3 tables per round; 2 rounds.
6 Event #2 table winners would advance to semi-finals.

__"Semi-Finals" - 10:00am Saturday
30 players advanced from Event #1 and 6 players advanced from Event #2 compete.
6 players per table; 3 tables per round; 2 rounds.
6 Semi-Final table first-place winners would advance to the "Money Round Finals".

__"Money Round Finals"
... 1:00pm Saturday - One player is chosen by random draw from players in Event #1 who did not advance to Event #2 or the Semi-Finals.
... 2:00pm Saturday
6 Semi-Final table winners and 1 player drawn at 1:00pm compete in the Finals.

Prizes
1st Place: Seat at WSOB + $3150
2nd Place: Seat in Ute Mountain WSOB 6,7 January Qualifier + $2625
3rd Place: $2100
4th Place: $1050
5th Place: $525
6th Place: $350
7th Place: $350

What Happened

Only 21 people entered the tournament. The Tournament comprised 3 Rounds completed on Friday afternoon.

Round One comprised 21 players
7 players per table; 3 tables.
3 table winners advanced to the Finals.

Round Two comprised the 18 players not advanced in Round One.
6 players per table; 3 tables.
3 table winners advanced to the Finals.

One player was chosen by random draw from the remaining 15 non-qualifiers.

Finals
6 table winners and 1 player drawn before the Finals competed.
The Prizes remained as originally planned.

A Troubling Note
Because of the extremely low turnout, this tournament was pretty much an improvisational exercise. Nonetheless, it did reveal the Ute Mountain Casino hadn’t planned a lot of important details; if there had been 210 entrants the scene might have become chaotic.

For example they hadn’t worked out in detail the rotation of the betting order and playing order.
The plan presented to the players when we sat down for the first round was:
__Seat #1 bets and plays first in each round.
__As the button rotates, the player on-the-button must play first, but player #1 always bets first.
__The dealer always deals her own cards after seat#7’s. (e.g. If the button is on seat 3, the cards are dealt #3,#4,#5,#6,#7,dealer,#1,#2; but the play is #3,#4,#5,#6,#7,#1,#2,dealer.)

Before the round began a player in seat#1 objected to the Tournament Director that requiring Player#1 to bet first every hand placed him at a distinct disadvantage and Player#7 at a distinct advantage. The Tournament Director understood, consulted with his team, and changed the rules to have the betting-order rotate along with the playing-order.
No one objected to Seat#1 playing first in each round. Because seating is randomly selected and the round is timed, not a set number of hands, it was a less important consideration.
No one objected to the odd order in which the dealer’s cards were dealt; again although unconventional, the randomness of the card distribution among the players and dealer isn’t really affected statistically.
I suspect objections were few partly because everyone knew the odds against winning a WSOB seat were only 21-to-1, and, having invested only $100, they were happy with that.

I am not alleging any bad intentions on the part of Tournament Personnel. My perception is they are less experienced at running a big-time tournament than many visitors to Ken Smith's web-site are at playing in them. The "rules packet" distributed to the players detailed the overall schema of the tournament very well, but presented too few details on actual dealing/betting/playing at the tables. Nonetheless, they do listen to rationally presented objections and consider them seriously. I hope they are not overestimating their ability to resolve disputes amicably real-time during the two remaining qualifying tournaments.

 

Ute Mountain WSOB Qualifier Part Two

WSOB Qualifier at Ute Mountain Casino, Colorado

PART TWO

Some Pertinent Tournament Facts

__The Game
... 6-deck CSM
... dealer stands on all 17s
... double-down after splitting allowed
... NO Surrender
... NO re-split aces
... Natural pays 2:1
... NO insurance

__Stake and betting Limits
... All play is with non-negotiable tournament chips
... Event#1, Event #2, and Semi-Final stake is $2000; Final stake is $4000.
... Minimum bet is $25; Maximum bet is however many chips the player possesses.

__Round Length
Event #1, Event#2, and Semi-Final are planned to last 21 minutes + 5hands.
The Final is planned to last 30 minutes + 5hands.

__Countdown
At the Final played on 2 December the Tournament Director announced any player could request a count of any/all player(s) chips anytime during the last 5 hands.
(n.b.The 2 December Final was the concluding event in a very shortened tournament. Whether such a liberal chip-counting policy will be in effect for any preliminary or final rounds in the 2 remaining WSOB Qualifiers is unknown.)

__NO Re-Buys
If the players does not win Event #1 or qualify via Event #2 his only chance is the Finals Drawing.
There is no re-buy. The Tournament Director affirmed there will be no Re-Buy in the two tournaments to follow at Ute Mountain.

 

Ute Mountain WSOB Qualifier Part Three

WSOB Qualifier at Ute Mountain Casino, Colorado

PART THREE

Ute Mountain Casino-Hotel-Resort
There is a no-alcohol policy within the casino and restaurant. This policy extends to the hotel; small placards request guests to respect the no-alcohol policy. The adjacent Ute Mountain Travel Center comprises a gas station and quick-stop; I saw no alcoholic beverages for sale here either.
There is only one restaurant operating in the casino-hotel; on Friday there is a seafood-buffet.

Ute Mountain Casino Floor
__The casino is a fairly typical Western State Indian operation of moderate size; casino personnel were friendly and competent.
__The casino is primarily a slot-machine operation.
__There is a Poker Room located at the casino entrance from the hotel lobby.
__There is live Keno.
__There is a Bingo Hall.
__The pit comprises 6 tables, if I remember correctly: one 3-card poker and 5 blackjack tables. I saw 4 blackjack games in progress with rules as in the tournament except a natural pays 3:2; insurance is available; and late-surrender is offered. 2 tables dealt from a standard 6-deck shoe; 2 tables dealt from a CSM. Colorado limits bets to a $3 minimum and a $5 maximum; a player may play up to 3 spots at $5.

Ute Mountain Casino Hotel
__Rooms are functional, not fancy . . . think Holiday Inn. Bathroom fixtures, furniture, lamps, etc all were in excellent condition; only the carpet showed slight wear.
__There is no in-room refrigerator in the standard rooms. However, each room has a balcony; in January this balcony should serve as a refrigerator during the day and a freezer at night.
__There is an in-room safe, about the size of a miniature microwave-oven. However the safe just sat on the carpet; it was not bolted or secured to anything. Although I am not skilled in any bunco-arts, this struck even me as unsafe. I chose not to use it.
__TV has lots of channels; local stations represent CO and NM.
__There is a hair dryer in the room.
__There is an iron and ironing board in the room.
__There are no neat you-can-take-it-home-with-you soaps or shampoos. Soap and shampoo is dispensed from a wall unit below the shower-head.
__There is in-room coffee and a coffee-pot. There is also complimentary coffee/tea for hotel guests in the hotel lobby.
__Room Rate: The cheapest Winter room rate is $55.95 for a King Bed; this is lowered to $45.95 if one joins the casino players club before one checks in. And, for the Friday/Saturday of the tournament the tournament folks see to it that tournament participants pay only $30/night. Suites run from$75.95 to $105.95 and include an in-room refrigerator.

 

Excellent report

PhillyPhlash deserves an ovation for the best trip report post! Didn't report results, but hopefully finished in the money.



One question, how do you get to this casino? Is it in the mountains, so if there is snow the driving conditions could be an issue? Mapquest shows that it is about 262 miles from Albuquerque and estimates 4 1/2 hour drive, but is the time estimate good since it looks like it is a state road for most of the trip? Are the roads mostly two lane or is it a divided highway? If it is two lane, do they clear the roads well enough to drive close to the posted speed limits or should you count on needing an additional hour to drive?

I thought they have had a lot of snow in the recent weeks in this area and wondered if that kept the turnout so low. Based on the normal blackjack rules I don't see why anyone would go there to play blackjack except for fun. Do they limit their Poker as well? If so, maybe I need to take up Bingo.



Pat

 

Reply to One Question from ptaylorcpa

ptaylorcpa asks:"One question, how do you get to this casino? Is it in the mountains, so if there is snow the driving conditions could be an issue?"
(Technically, this is two questions, . . . and there were many more too.)

I get to this casino by driving through the Navajo Nation; but this is because I reside in Arizona.
But the remainder of ptaylorcpa's post suggests starting from Albuquerque, . . . here's how you get to the Ute Mountain Casino from Albuquerque:
__I-25 from the airport north through the city.
__US-550 heading northwest from Bernalilo to Bloomfield.
__US-64 heading west from Bloomfield to Shiprock.
(Note:US-550 and US-64 are 4-lane divided highways. The geological curiosity, "Shiprock", will guide you to Shiprock; I suspect it is visible from Bloomfield. I know it is visible from the Ute Mountain Casino parking lot.)
__US-491 heading north from Shiprock to Towaoc; this is a well-maintained 2-lane road; there is no development along this road.
Except for possible delays in Albuquerque you should have smooth sailing.

Towaoc is located in the high desert, at about 5700 feet above sea-level, between Sleeping Ute Mountain to the west and the West Rim of Mesa Verde to the east.

The entire route could be affected by a significant snowfall. This area has not gotten any snowfall accumulation yet this season; it is not like being west of Denver among the 14,000 foot peaks. But if there is a significant snowfall, especially accompanied by high winds and drifting snow, even the InterStates can be shut down for hours or days.
If such a snowfall descends upon the Four Corners you are just out of luck. If I could predict such a snowfall, I could also have predicted the order of the cards in the deck last week and won the WSOB seat; I could not do so.
Weather did not affect the turnout last week. The Casino has increased advertising for the next two events.

The State of Colorado limits bets to a $5 maximum. An online Directory of Poker Rooms states the following games are available at the Ute Mountain Casino:
Limit 7-Card Stud Game Size: $2-$5
Limit Hold 'em Game Size: $2-$5
Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Game Size: $2-$5

Unfortunately, the WSOB Qualifier is conducted in the Bingo Parlor; bingo may not be available for the duration of the tournament.

If you've some time, there are 7 or 8 Indian Casinos around Albuquerque with maximum bet limits ranging from $500 to $3000. The better blackjack rules can be found at Isleta Pueblo to the south, Hollywood Casino to the north, and Sky City to the west.

 

Great information

Thanks PhillyPhlash for the great information. I realized that my one question turned into many, but I think you gave me enough information to decide to probably give it a shot unless they get blanketed with snow in the four corners area around the time of the tournament.

One question (I promise just one...) Your directions were to go on I25 north to US 550 and go that route. Mapquest takes you on I40 West and up Hwy 491. Is one route better than the other? I was afraid that either route might involve driving a lot in the mountains, but it sounds like your route is mostly flatland. I'm from Huntsville, Alabama and although we have hills here and up in Tennessee it is not like driving in the mountains like around Denver or between Reno and California.

Sorry to hear that you didn't get the cards. Let us know if you are going to give it a try again and maybe we can meet up in January. I know Ken is still planning to be there and this information helps us both out a lot since we have never been in this area.

 

Great info.

So who goes to this part of the world? Durango is close.

Once again, be forwarned. Weather could be life threatening. What was that Jan 1995 when I-40 was shut down for three days from Texas to Nevada. In Flagstaff, the schools were closed for an entire week, in the big city...not on a Rez.

 

January-SW Co.-no skiing?

http://www.hardware-depot-online.co...sn_on_039_world_series_of_blackjack_baee.jspx

 

ptaylorcpa inquires which route to take from Albuquerque.

Niether route is "mountainous" even by Alabama standards; both routes are hilly, . . . maybe Tennessee hilly, more than Mississipi hilly.

The route using US-550 is about 5% Interstate, 80% Divided 4-lane, and 15% 2-Lane through the Navajo Nation; and pr'bly a mite over 40 miles shorter.

The route west along I-40 is about 50% InterState and 50% 2-Lane through the Navajo Nation.

 

oneeyedjacks writes: "So who goes to this part of the world? Durango is close."

Actually the winner of the WSOB seat was a lady named Patricia from Durango.

I'm sure most of the casino's customers are locals, . . . from within a 150-180 mile radius centered at Four Corners. My experiences elsewhere "out West" have always suggested few Indian customers at the Indian casinos; but there are a lot of Indian patrons at the Ute Mountain Casino.

 

Ute Mountain

My old Road Atlas shows part of this as Hwy 666. Is it still there or did they change it.

 

Route 666

BJMAILMAN asks: "My old Road Atlas shows part of this as Hwy 666. Is it still there or did they change it [?]"

Yes, they changed it. Someone objected to the number 666, . . . not to mention the fact that the State of New Mexico was losing lots of route-signs to devil worshippers or pranksters or both!
Highway 666 is now Highway 491.

Here's the whole story ( . . . hidden in here is also a brief explanation as to why there's no alcohol at the Ute Mountain Casino.):
www.unm.edu/~humanism/route666.htm

 

Phillyphlash rules!

Thanks for the devil's link. So you down there in the "Valley of the Sun"?

You doing another run at the Ute's Prize?

-jacks

 

Ute-2

So they had just a handful again?

What did they payoff this time?

That is funny about the $5 side action.

You really lucked out on the weather...hope it good in two weeks. Are the ski resorts even open?

 

It is done all the time at the IP

Monkeysystem

I don't know if it was done at Ute, but it is done/attempted all the time by those in the know at the IP tourney - 40 minute rounds and then 5 hands.

The Count