$2000 Thanksgiving Blackjack Tournament

[KenSmith]

BeTheDealer Casino is holding a blackjack tournament from Thursday November 24th 2005 to Sunday November 27th.

It looks like a good format for skilled players...

Deposit at least $200 during the tourney dates.
Play at least 999 hands of blackjack, as a player (not dealer).
Three prizes are paid to the players with the highest payout percentage.
From their email:
"Payout percentage is calculated as the ratio between the amount of money wagered to the amount of money won."

Sounds like they have the ratio backward, but I assume they'll straighten that out.

1st place $1000
2nd place $500
3rd place $250

Now, a few words about BeTheDealer:
I used to advertise these guys, because they have an interesting twist, allowing you to Be The Dealer against other players, by paying a commission. They also have a lot of good promotions. I made a fair amount of money from them, playing 2:1 Blackjack promotions from time to time, as well as other profitable promotions.

However, I'm pretty confident that their video poker progressive is not a randomly dealt game. Back when I tracked the progressive at SlotCharts, it went months and months without being hit. There's just no way that noone hit a royal in that period of time unless the game was rigged. As a result, I pulled all their banners, and haven't advertised them since.

It's an odd situation. I know a lot of people who have made a lot of money at their casino playing blackjack and promotions. The blackjack game has always seemed fair. Still, there's something screwy about this place.

This tournament seems like a good deal, even though you must deposit $200 for a shot at winning only $1000. I plan to play it. Hopefully I've given you enough information to decide whether to play it or not.

If you're interested, sign up for an account at BeTheDealer.

[KenSmith]

I don't see anything posted at their website about this event so far. The information I got was in an email.

Here are some additional details:

• Winners will be announced and credited on Mon, Nov 21.
• In the event of a tie, winner will be the player with the higher number of hands played.
• We ask that winning players wager their prize money at least 25 times before requesting a withdrawal. Wagers on Baccarat, Roulette and dealer play will not count towards these requirements.

Also, did anyone else notice that their $2000 tournament only pays $1750 in prizes?

[KenSmith]

I'm still on a roll. I won first place in this event for $1000.
Of course, it's not real cash. I have to play $25,000 before I can withdraw it. Hope I have some left!

[TXtourplayer]

That great you won the $1,000, but sucks you have to play $25,000 to cash in. I hope that $1,000 doesn't cost you a $1,000.

I hope you keep your streak going, let me know which land base tournaments your playing so I can just stay at home till it's over...LOL.

[KenSmith]

I was pretty lucky during my wagering requirements as well. I had deposited $200, and ran it up to $410 during the tournament. They added $1000, so I started out with $1410. During my required action, I bet anywhere from $10 to $125 usually in some sort of positive progression. I cashed out $3605. Not bad for a couple of days effort!

Unfortunately I then went and dumped $800 in this week's competition for Fortune Lounge cruise qualifier.

FWIW, a couple of these events have been worth playing lately, but I haven't done any good so far. Two weeks back they had an event where you earned one drawing ticket for each bet you made. I used the AutoSpin feature on one of their slots to play $0.01 per spin. I figure I had about 15,000 tickets in the draw, but no luck.

[KenSmith]

FYI, I'm still awaiting payment of my $3605 from BeTheDealer. Definitely a place to avoid. My payout has now been pending for 3 weeks.

This is the first slow-pay situation I have encountered online in the last 2 or 3 years. Most places pay promptly, but there are still a few bad apples out there. BeTheDealer appears to be one of them.

[KenSmith]

I've finally been paid. It took 25 days after my withdrawal, but I guess it's just in time for Christmas.

The good news is that I've still never once been stiffed by an online casino. I've had four episodes that took a long time to be paid, including this one, but they all paid up eventually.

I'm usually picky about where I'll play, and I suspected this outfit was questionable. Now I know. Back to the many, many reliable online casinos for me.