WSOB $2,500 qualifiers.....

""appreciated your aggressive tendencies at that table""

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsFClz9Xkv0

 

Yeah Right!

Hey Dave,

Trust me I played WAY BETTER than I imagined! In fact your max bet on hand 23 was a HUGE swing cause I lost a 2500 on that hand.

What I LEARNED from that final hand was this: I screwed up - not the cards but me!

When I split the faces my first card pulled was a 3 versus the dealer 8. IF I were smart I would have just hit, instead I used the PC and switched it for a 7 (I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO PULL A JOE P AND GET A BJ!)

After the fact I've come to the conclusion that since I didn't have a big enough BR to split the second 10 that I should have DD on the 13 and done a power chip.

In hindsight I would have had a max bet plus the extra 2300 with a 20 (the 7 was next). then I would have had the 20 on the second hand. That would have changed YOUR move.

The player to my right, who played last, has the "best shot" but the cards didn't work out. Because I misplayed the power chip the only way I could have advanced was for the dealer to pull a 9 instead of busting.

Trust me, I'm not whining but learning. And to steal a phrase from you, "I'LL BE BACK! "

 

Either or.....

EBJ vs. WSOB

Wow. This is really a hard comparison for me. It’s like me going to a car dealership and test driving a Porsche and a Ferrari. Then the dealer asks me, “So which one do you like better?” Let me explain further:

With regard to TBJT my first experience was Global player, snail BJ! Then there is TBJT on Blackjack21.com – slug BJ. Both are grinding! EBJ is a much quicker pace. With respect to live BJT – I’ve only done on EBJ live event – Aruba. I’ve done several TBJT in comparison.

My personal bias was EBJ – SURPRISE! There were several reasons for that:
1. TBJ – move slower than EBJ (usually)
2. TBJ – more of a “Wong” format – meaning most people min bet – or 5x min bet (wow) until the last 5 hands. In fact for all other TBJT that I’ve played in a lot of people kind of put it on autopilot
3. TBJ – no surprises. The most powerful part was button position on the final hand

Now for my discussion of WSOB. It was very similar to TBJT with a 10,000 BR, min bets of 100 and max of 5,000. But the POWER CHIP (PC) was something that I had only seen on TV and was not really familiar with. When I observed how it SHOULD be used, as compared to how I lamely used it, it is my personal belief that the PC is THE MOST POWERFUL tool in BJT!

Betting and BR: This was probably the most difficult adjustment that I had to make – mentally. With EBJ and the 25,000 max bet (starting BR) I have down my 3 & 4 step progressions. In addition with the use of a higher max bet it gives me, many possibilities.

In the WSOB with a 5,000 max bet I find that the same betting styles that I use on EBJ didn’t work in my simulations. Therefore some of my favorite betting schemes that I use had to be modified. Overall I believe that a higher max bet favors us less experienced ploppies! Having a smaller max bet restricts the “Hail Mary’s”. In addition it is my belief that the smaller the max bet limits the more advantage to the aggressive bettors – assuming the dealer is NOT hot.

In addition I played 3 rounds of TBJ while at the WSOB. On each table I had a dealer named DAVID. David was tough. He put the screws to us. Once the card hit the felt David was looking at his watch and running a tight ship. Unlike other tourneys where the dealers were kind of ho hum not David. I can’t tell you how many times I heard 20 seconds, 10 seconds, 5 seconds….. So the pace at WSOB was much faster than I had anticipated.

Thirdly I thoroughly enjoyed the players at all 3 of my tables. At my first table I was competing against HD and Joep, amongst 3 other players. All through the match HD and I were able to talk “smack” back and forth. Not to be outdone Mr. Pane tried, unsuccessfully I might add, to “shame me” into NOT surrendering a 15 versus a dealer 10 on a 7,000 bet. “What! You came all the way from Florida to surrender? Why didn’t you just send the Mrs. to play for you?” was one of many comments from Joep! For 5 seconds I thought, “I’ll show you” then I had flashbacks of Back to the Future where Marty gets called a chicken…..I surrendered – dealer had 20!

My second table had Skip (Dreamer on TBJ.com) in seat 6 with me in seat 2. We went back and forth over EVERYTHING, from Marines don’t surrender (they regroup) to who would have the button on hand 24 to whether a DD card was a face card or not. On hand 8, I pointed out to Skip that he would be on the button on the last hand. Skip was confident that he wouldn’t be - that someone would bust out before then. Well I was watching the other players min bet, min bet, min bet. I did a side bet with Skip for $20 that he would have the button. 4 hands later, after I won a 2,000 bet and Skip pushed I pressed him for a side bet between the two of us on who would have the most chips at the end of the game. Since I was BR2 and he was BR3 at that time I gave him 2:1 odds. We shook on that for $100. Now it’s the last hand and Skip was right, someone busted out and he was LAST to act. I made a bad bet, leaving the window open for him. Everyone had max bets out and I had a 10. I DD on it. Skip and I had a $20 side bet that it was paint – I claimed I had a 20 so he HAD to DD, Skip said it wasn’t paint. Skip won that side bet too. But in the end the dealer came through, Rick Heartsill won the table, I was BR2 and advanced and I won the $100 for a total profit of $60. But it was the good natured banter that I really enjoyed.

Finally there was table 3 where TX was to my left and Rick Heartsill to his left. While there weren’t any side bets the gentle ribbing about reminding each other to use the power chip when busting on a 100 bet, predicting cards and telling the dealer to get a BJ proved very entertaining! I placed second on that table too just that wasn’t close enough.

Now here’s something interesting. Table 1 – no one busted out. Table 2 – 2 busted out. Table 3 – 1 busted out. These were the exceptions as most tables I observed didn’t have a lot of people busting out. Why? There was very conservative betting upon the final 5 hands. There were exceptions to the rule – namely me!

In EBJ how often are there 5 people remaining on the last hand? Not often! At WSOB this was common and having 4 people’s chips to count in the short period of time – tough! PC usage – tough and challenging! Entertainment during the tournament – priceless (not really it cost me 3,500!)

So when it comes down to choosing between one and the other – I like them both. As far as people claiming that the PC makes it a carnival game? I TOTALLY disagree and feel that it makes the game great – I just wish I had realized that BEFORE the tournament.

I have to admit that as far as enjoying myself. I had a great time. I saw so many players who were angry at themselves for losing. In fact I was privy to the fact that a top ranked player was so dismayed at their results that they were going to announce their retirement from live TBJ play! For me, this minnow was still swimming in the shark tank but I think it’s like anything in life – you get out what you put into it!

I had a great time meeting Saberjack, Toolman, Thrash, TXTourplayer, HD, Joep, Ken Smith, Adrianna Jade, Sweetteabird and others. Overall the BJ “pros” were extremely nice to me. S. Yama actually tolerated my dumb questions and after listening to him for 10 minutes I’ve come to this conclusion: When S. Yama and I disagree on a point – I’m wrong!

I had a wonderful time playing against the best of the best. I saw great play and players. My only regret? It was over too soon. What I would like to see is a week long event, similar to what Eric Woods will be hosting in 2 weeks, in which SNG’s would be available to players with satellites for the satellites, etc. There was a definite demand and I think it surprised the people holding the event. Hopefully these skilled players will encourage fence sitters to become involved in playing this great game!

 

I (aka other) had a great time meeting you as well. You and your fancy cigars and king of clubs shirts.

 

Ace? re "Others"

""I (aka other)""

Which one are you? I hear you have 14 new episodes starting next week!:laugh: