Monkey Keith (Monkeysystem) is that your picture or is that your monkey that you carry around with you as your good luck charm? LOL Looking forward to seeing you in January. Pat
Thanks for the list. Looking at it, my curiosity is roused. Are all of those listed tribal casinos? Has anyone heard even a rumor of satellites being played at any non-tribal casino? Not that it makes a bit of difference but I was curious.
Just for the record KB (from GSN) told me that they are having a hard time getting any information from the casinos about their qualifiers. I guess it isn't just players that casinos mis-inform or tell us they know nothing about the events...LOL. I guess that also answers the question about why GSN isn't advertising the qualifiying satellite events.
No Bellagio for WSOB III I haven't been told where the WSOB III finals will be held, but I was told that Bellagio will not be the host casino, nor was it ever in the loop as the host casino. I was told that it will be hosted in Las Vegas (or surrounding area). Last year the selected players weren't told until a month or less before the show was being film when and where the location was. Just have a bag packed and ready to go...LOL.
Total confusion Rick, I guess even the casinos are totally confused. Here is the exact quote from the Cherokee Casino website. ************* You've heard of the WSOP. Well, now we have the WSOB! For $60, you could be the next champion, win $1 million and star on TV. Just play in blackjack qualifiers every Friday and Sunday to win a seat into the Feb. 5 tournament. If you win, you'll be spending a week at the Bellagio in Vegas with blackjack champions! ************* Maybe they are putting up their winners in the Bellagio and play will be somewhere else...that would be fine...LOL. Pat
He got fired! He's been replaced!! Anybody who witnessed the last hand of the first cruise tourney is totally with me on this one. Actually, that avatar depicts my state of mind when analyzing complex tournament situations under intense pressure... :joker: We're going up to the Chunk Saturday and hopefully I'll find out some more information about the WSOB satellites, which I'll then post here.
I got something else here. There will be a tournament on Saturday, December 10. There is NO entry fee. Limit to the first 330 players. Registration Time is... FRI 6:00PM - 8:00PM at the high-roller pit SAT 8:00AM - 9:30AM at Pit 3 Playing Time is... Session 1 10:00AM - 12:00PM Session 2 12:30PM - 02:30PM
Thunder Valley WSOB Prospect, Don't know if it'll burst your bubble but it did mine, the Thunder Valley 2006 WSOB qualifier is invitational for Thunder Valley VIP's only, you cannot buy in. According to VIP services any and all future qualifiers for the WSOB will be VIP invitational only also. UTE Mountain here I come, clean sheets and no blizzard please.
Thunder Valley WSOB Not wanting to give up on a qualifier so close to home I called Thunder Valley again today and was again told it was open to invited guests only, after asking about open seats if they didn't get 330 players I was transferred to an Executive Host. He said the tournament is open to the first 330 invited guests that register, if it's not filled with invited guests when registration closes open seats will go to anyone wanting to play. With only a 1 1/2 hour drive, $0.00 entry fee and 330 seats to fill I'll be there and take my chances.
I might go to Thunder Valley tomorrow morning towards the end of the registration and see if there are any open spots - that is disappointment about the VIP only thing. Thanks for finding that out.
I can't imagine that they will really draw 330 players. I'd say your chance of getting a seat by just showing up are very good.
I called Thunder Valley and they said to come on in during morning registration before the tournament and that would give me the best chance to get a seat. Does anyone know the rules of this tournament? How many decks are used, rounds played?, etc.. Thanks.
Yeah, it did. Good thing I read your post before making the trip (from the Bay Area) up there today. The first person I talked to never mentioned that it was invitational. So, I called again after reading your post to find out that it was indeed invitational.
A lady in the Player Development department said that it was like some of their other tournaments. (Really?) She also mentioned that there will be future blackjack tournaments (not necessarily WSOB). And, those tournaments will also be invitational only. Anybody got invited so that we can figure out how much action is required? The lady said that their computers decide whom to invite. Given the number of players and the short format, I bet that it is non-elimination format.
I hope you are right. Probably, the only reason why no BJT member is on their mailing list is that the place is filled with CSM blackjack tables (well, at least the last time that I was up there).
Thunder Valley WSOB qualifier Let me put Thunder Valley to rest once and for all. After arriving this morning and getting a players card I attemped to register at 8:30 and was told I would have to wait untill 10 to see if there were any open seats. This was not a problem and was expected, I tried to enter early to get at or near the top of a waiting list. At 10 I was told all 330 seats were filled. Read on it gets better. I then asked if they had more WSOB qualifing tournaments planned and was told "this is our quarterly invitational accumulation tournament not our WSOB qualifing tournament". They do have 1 seat purchased for a WSOB seat and will have 3 invitational preliminary accumulation tournaments with 4 from each advancing to a 12 person finals. The bad news is you need a Platinum or Presidential players card to participate even if you know God. It was not a complete waste of 6 hours, the restaurant serves an excellent breakfast.
Ditto what Rookie789 said. I was at Thunder Valley at 9AM and told to come back at 10AM after they ran my players card - I go there occassionally as it is pretty close to where I live. Came back at 10AM and told they weren't going to allow any more players in and it was obvious that they had at least 5 no-shows.
Thunder Valley Tournaments Tough to get accurate information sometimes. For example, I initially thought that it was the WSOB qualifier. "Quarterly Invitational Blackjack Tournament". It takes at least a gold membership to qualify. That requires 7500 points or 24 hours of play at $25 average bet within the last 90 days. Keep in mind that all BJ tables are CSM BJ tables. Total prize pool is $10000 with $3000 for first place and other pays through 20th. It is non-elimination format. Each player receives a gift and a $25 food voucher. Each player plays two rounds. They start with 1000 in chips each round. The total of their two round scores determines their finished place. Bet limits are $25 to $1000. And blackjacks pay 2:1. Initially, they were going to take 330 people. But, for some reason, they stopped at 312. I was there at around 10 minutes to 10:00AM and thought that I was going to be able to get in. I saw the assignment sheet and saw three tables were left unfilled. As for the platinum membership needed to qualify for the chance to play the WSOB qualifier, it requires 75000 points or 60 hours of play at $100 average bet. I guess some of those PartyPoker blackjack players would need just a weekend to make it to platinum membership.
Thunder Valley Prospect, I agree it is tough if not impossible to get correct information about the WSOB qualifiers, I called Thunder Valley twice and asked specifically about their WSOB qualifing tournament to be held 12/10 only to find out when I got there it was not a WSOB qualifier. I have read posts on this site that the rules sometimes change from what is posted at specific Indian Casinos prior to their qualifing event but the ultimate responsibility still rests with GSN, this is their baby. GSN is either producing a TV show or selling seats for a profit, both don't work and the players are paying the burden of GSN's lack of control. I planned to attend either or UTE Mtn./ Lucky Eagle qualifiers if necessary in January but no more, this is the most disorganized business venture I have ever seen and I had a business with 300 + employees for over 20 years. I won't buy non refundable air fare and quarantee hotel room charges when the information regarding the tournament(s) may or may not be correct.
To be fair.... It isn't just the WSOB qualifiers the casinos don't know about, most of the time it is any of the tournaments we call up to find out about. You would think the casinos would simple print the information up for the different departments so when a customer called they could have the need information at hand. NO WAIT! That would be the smart simple thing to do, and after all we're talking about casinos...LOL.
