Venetian UBT event

Have I got this right? A player has been ejected from an "Open" UBT tournament event at the Venetian?

 

Oh my god! Who could it be? LOL

 

Venetian Event concluded. 36 original entries + 18 rebuys.
First ) John Ressman
Second) Norm S.
Details ?? in future mag article. Tough match, many swings.
re: outed person: up to them to reply.
I don't think the outed individual did anything wrong.

 

Nice job, John...you made a hell of a comeback to make that final table and made it pay off.

 

Congrats to John!

Attaboy, John! Good job, it sounds like you overcame some long odds in recovering to win.

I'm dying to know who got ejected - and why.........

 

Ventian EBJ Review

Venetian UBT Circuit Event Elimination Blackjack Tournament – May 12, 2007

The registration was on Friday night and I missed this because my flight didn’t get into Vegas until 10:30. When I checked in there was a packet at the desk with the rules, times, etc. Everything looked great. I hurried to the casino floor so that I could play in some of the infamous Venetian Friday Night SNG’s. When I got there it was already 11:15 pm. I had the opportunity to watch Ace Donavan get knocked out from his SNG on the last hand. Holy Shades of The Palms was heard as the cards just didn’t fall kindly for him.

I was surprised that there were only 3 SNG tables running. HD was there and upon seeing me quickly suggested that I play a 500 SNG with him. I could see him licking his chops when “dead money FGK” showed up. In a matter of minutes we had 6 players, Hollywood, Ace Donavan, Kenny Eineinger, John Blount, myself and an EBJ newbie at the table.

For the first 3 hands things weren’t looking well for me and I realized that I would pull that rabbit out of my hat. So hand 4 rolls comes and I put out 20,000 and received a BJ! At that point I was feeling pretty good! One by one the experienced EBJ players fell off until it was just me and the EBJ newbie on the final elimination hand. I had a 750 chip lead. Secret Bet time for us both we me being on the button. I received an 11 with the dealer showing a 10. My opponent had a soft hand. Secret Action to hide the outcome.

Now my opponent simply hit and hit and hit. Here it was 4 cards and he had a 16. He stopped. The dealer turns a 3 or 4 and has to hit. BUST! Oh crap. My secret bet? ZERO. My opponent’s secret bet? 10,000! So I take a 2nd place, a deck of UBT cards and wait for the next 200 SNG.

At this SNG Kenny Eineinger was replaced with Kaminari. Alas this luck magnet ran out and was eliminated first! 1 for 2 for the Friday Night SNG.

On the day of the tournament the Venetian had their staff ready for seating assignments. Ian (I forget his last name) was there to ensure things went smoothly. Players were given seating assignments and it was supposed to begin at 0900 but there was a glitch – not enough players registered. So they put all the names together (36) and hand new seating assignments of 6 tables of 6. At my table I only had one face that I recognized, the point leading in BJT, gulp!

The other players at the table were vaguely familiar with EBJ but they were very confused at times with the logistics. For example when one player busted out on hand 7 the player to my right, a seasoned BJT player, was under the assumption that no one else would be eliminated on the following hand. He was wrong. Then after the elimination hand he thought he was safe not realizing that HE would be gone on hand 16. There were many other “mistakes” throughout. The biggest problem with the 10 chip stack rule at my table. Unfortunately the pit people weren’t very nice in their “enforcement” of these rules. Several times I observed them reaching over to player’s stacks and moving chips. In addition when it was time for players to make bets I heard, you’ve got 30 seconds almost every other hand. Now people who have played with me know that I’m not one to take a long time but when it comes to 1-3 hands BEFORE the button and EH1 and EH2 I want to know where I stand. Unfortunately the people behind the scene didn’t really care.

I placed 2nd at my table and that meant I moved onto the next round which was supposed to be at 3:00 pm. However due to a limited number of players the next round became the semi-final round and that was played at 1:00.

At the semi-final round I had the same newbie to my left who was sitting at the first table (he won his re-buy). Recognizable players were Shuang Yu (Bet21.com) and Christian Lehos. To my right was a very seasoned BJT player. At the semi-finals I made it to had 14 where I busted out. I didn’t remember much except the frustration that I experienced as the supervisors were constantly hovering, harping, counting from 10-1, etc. I understand that time limits need to be enforced but there are right ways and wrong ways to do it.

There was very little excitement, very small crowds there and the overall feel of this UBT circuit event was subdued. In fact the feeling that I got was that the people running this event weren’t very happy that they were doing it. In between the rounds and after I was eliminated from the semi-finals I was playing on the cash tables. Most dealers weren’t aware of the UBT tournament. When I told them I was playing in the BJT they all asked what’s the prize pool? When I answered that we didn’t know yet it was evident that this was a totally alien concept for them.

Another dealer, Mrs. Lemon puss, complained to her fellow dealers that, “they called in all these dealers to work a BJT and then nobody showed up to play it. I can’t believe I had to come in and work this.” She went on and on to her relief, not realizing that I was one of those who played.

As I head the final table being seated it was announced that the winner would receive an entry into the July 2700 event and that the money was being DEDUCTED from the prize pool. That was in direct contradiction to what was announced by the Venetian on the radio show, Be in Action just 6 days prior.

The event was won by John Ressman, congratulations John. I felt like it went out with a whimper rather than a bang, however by this time I was running on fumes and went to take a nap and reflect on this tournament and some of the comments that I had heard from other players, people running the show, etc.

Since this was my 2nd BJT at the Venetian, the first an invite only event last year, I had something to compare it to. The registration for both was well done and professionally handled but there is where the similarities ended. The EBJ format was different for the dealers and crew and I could tell that they didn’t like it. Let’s face it there is more work involved.

In the first BJT very few of the players really counted the chips each and every hand. While the players were serious they weren’t very accurate and given that it was a TBJT with 25 hands most didn’t really bother until the final 5 hands.

With EBJ and forced elimination at hands 8, 16 & 25 it is much more critical that chip totals be accurate and I don’t think the dealers nor the pit crew were in the mood. In addition I didn’t see any banners, welcome signs, etc. The promotion of the EBJ/UBT circuit event was, in my opinion, very lacking.

Having played in a BJT at the Imperial Palace just 1 week prior to the UBT Circuit Event I had, in my mind, something very tangible to compare apples to apples. Unfortunately for the UBT and Venetian this event comes out smelling like a rotten apple. My 540.00 buy in got me a single night at the Venetian and that’s it. The hype, the excitement that I have experience in the other BJT that I’ve participated in just wasn’t there. It was lacking on the part of the dealers, the pit crew and the players. I was told that of the 36 players 21 were UBT regulars (or people familiar with the tour) Therefore, only 15 of the players were there from the Venetian. So since there were so many “locals” once they didn’t advance they simply left. Without wild-card drawings there really wasn’t a reason to “hang around” so they didn’t.

The Venetian invite-only tourney that I attended was so much better than this UBT circuit event. The hosts were nice; they had small tourney favors, a reception, etc. One comment that I heard from a player was, “The Hilton had a 125K event that I should have played in instead of this.” – I know exactly how he felt.

Overall this was my least favorite tournament that I’ve played in. I enjoyed the SNG’s more than the actual tournament itself. There are many areas of improvement and suggestions but I got the impression that the staff of the Venetian just didn’t want to be holding this event. Given my personal experience with the Venetian I won’t be back in July for the main 2,700 UBT tour stop because I didn’t feel welcomed by the Venetian. It’s sad but the whole experience just left a bad taste in my TBJ play. The UBT deserves better treatment than this. I’d give it a C- or 59 out of 100.

 

Fgk

I just had a chance to read your summary carefully and cant believe what I just read

""As I head the final table being seated it was announced that the winner would receive an entry into the July 2700 event and that the money was being DEDUCTED from the prize pool. That was in direct contradiction to what was announced by the Venetian on the radio show, Be in Action just 6 days prior. ""

Im not sure but think Joep was touting this as an overlay because of this 2700 added by casino. I for one wish Joep would comment on this. I remember back at Barona he was touting double elimination and it seemed he was saying very few players and it filled up and had single elimination. Whats up?

 

Maybe....but then again Gives whole new meaning to being backroomed!