LeftNut
Top Member
Sorry for the delay in posting this, long work days are at fault.
Usually when I do one of these posts, I will try hard to balance the Cheers and the Jeers but can't do it this time. Unfortunately, the negatives simply outweighed the positives. Having said that, I want to make it crystal clear that I firmly believe the mistakes made at this BJT are realized all too well by Meskwaki's BJT management team and they are firmly determined to restore these events to their former glory.
And awayyyyyy we go...............
CHEERS - To the entire BJT team for again running a professional tournament. Sara, Bob, Kenny, and the others on the management side as well as all of the dealers who did a great job of dealing a game similar to what they deal every day, yet those dealers made few mistakes related to the difference in table vs. BJT dealing. A few dealing mistakes were made but all that I saw were quickly rectified correctly. Thumb's up!
JEERS - to those in Meskwaki's management who had position over the BJT team in the casino's hierarchy and did a fine job of screwing it up. Raising the entry fee in the face of obnoxious gasoline prices while also taking away many of the benefits that we BJT entrants are accustomed to was one of the most boneheaded stunts I've seen in my relatively short BJT career. On top of raising the entry fee and ceasing any casino participation in boosting the prize fund, they took away the meal discount coupons (which we didn't know about until arrival), drastically lowered the earned comp rate for those who gave side action, and did a fine job of making us all feel generally unappreciated. From an event that almost always filled up @ 220+ entries with a waiting list to an event that drew under 180 entries. I heard from three different well-placed sources that the two geniuses responsible for this debacle were fired just a few days before the BJT started, principally due to the obviously depressed rate of incoming entries.
CHEERS - to the BJT team who expended a great deal of effort in exercising damage control by being available for player's comments even though most of those comments ranged from disappointment to an outright furious butt-chewing. They actually sought out players whom they knew were going to blow up at them. Promises were made to do things a lot better the next time. We will see.
JEERS - for the final table set-up which made it nearly impossible for the large roomful of spectators to see what was going on. Even though I was sitting at that table so I wasn't affected, I've been there watching at past BJT's and know how hard it is to see. A suggestion - take a note from the LV Hilton's arrangement. They have a large flat mirror suspended from the ceiling at a 45 degree angle so the spectators can see the table. If that's not feasible, we noted many ceiling mounted camera bubbles and one of those could be trained on the table with a closed circuit feed to the many TV's in that room. It also wouldn't hurt to use the microphone when announcing chip counts at the appropriate times late in the final round.
CHEERS - to the well-trained BJT dealers. They'd obviously been practicing! But there's a JEER within this Cheer due to the few dealers who would count player's bets out loud - a massive no-no in any BJT, especially one of this magnitude.
CHEERS - to the BJT team for implementing a good system of evening out the player counts at the tournament tables. There were a few off-balance tables but they did a great job of avoiding the debacle from the last tournament. Excellent!
Now, on to the things mostly unrelated to the BJT itself.........
JEERS - for yet another hotel mess. Yes, they did it again. Most of us didn't end up with the room style we requested. Apparently the hotel merely gives a block of rooms to the tournament management, even if those particular rooms make it impossible to accommodate the player's requests. I'm not familiar with hotel management but it seems to me that the tail is wagging the dog. At least we didn't end up with a handicapper room featuring a belly-button high showerhead this time.
CHEERS - for the good buffet-style meals that were provided for the players right in the tournament room. Dinner on Friday & breakfast on Saturday/Sunday. This helped offset some of the disappointment due to the expected meal coupons that were surprisingly absent from the player's welcoming packages.
JEERS - to the pathetic WiFi in the rooms. They gave us a cable to hook directly into their Internet in the room but the procedure to use that was so onerous that even Deb couldn't figure it out. WiFi signal was nonexistent. C'mon, people, this isn't new technology any more. FIX IT.
CHEERS - to the buffet again! When we first started going to the Meskwaki BJT's that buffet was stocked with road kill. Last October, it was downright excellent. This time, it was even better! The crab legs on Saturday night were nearly the most awesome I'd even enjoyed, only exceeded by those on Bellagio's buffet many years ago. YUM. Great job!
JEERS - for the ridiculously tightened comps. I know of one player who spent a great deal of time on BJ tables @ $25-$50 per hand yet was refused a simple meal comp. Saw another player who was admittedly only playing $5 to $10 per hand but was told she had 37 cents of comp available. Both of these players traveled quite a bit to be there, too. Apparently the pit and floor have no power to override this nonsense, either. Between the nasty surprise of the missing meal coupons for players and this new comp policy, many were not happy at all. Quite a few actually left the property to take their chances having dinner at other local restaurants, costing Meskwaki a lot of player table time. Bad, bad, bad.
JEERS - for only having one cocktail waitress on the entire casino floor on Sunday night. We typically stay over that evening to play BJ and drink WAY too much beer. Granted, that place isn't as big as MGM in Vegas but..... only one waitress? The drinks are so overpriced that I would have thought they'd be anxious to sell as much as possible. One can't even go buy a round at the bar because customers cannot take anyone's drink but their own away from the bar. We felt like we were almost begging to spend our money on beverages. Geez.
And finally........
AN OPEN NOTE TO MESKWAKI BJT MANAGEMENT:
Even though you weren't personally responsible for them, the recent changes have hurt your BJT severely. You've got to make a ton of changes back towards the way things were, and make those changes public knowledge. Already many repeat BJT players have stated that they won't be back, another mess like this and you might as well stick a fork in your BJT's because they'll be done. We know you truly want these events to fly, but you've only got one chance to overhaul this thing. One. Please don't blow it, we want your BJT's to work as badly as you do.
Usually when I do one of these posts, I will try hard to balance the Cheers and the Jeers but can't do it this time. Unfortunately, the negatives simply outweighed the positives. Having said that, I want to make it crystal clear that I firmly believe the mistakes made at this BJT are realized all too well by Meskwaki's BJT management team and they are firmly determined to restore these events to their former glory.
And awayyyyyy we go...............
CHEERS - To the entire BJT team for again running a professional tournament. Sara, Bob, Kenny, and the others on the management side as well as all of the dealers who did a great job of dealing a game similar to what they deal every day, yet those dealers made few mistakes related to the difference in table vs. BJT dealing. A few dealing mistakes were made but all that I saw were quickly rectified correctly. Thumb's up!
JEERS - to those in Meskwaki's management who had position over the BJT team in the casino's hierarchy and did a fine job of screwing it up. Raising the entry fee in the face of obnoxious gasoline prices while also taking away many of the benefits that we BJT entrants are accustomed to was one of the most boneheaded stunts I've seen in my relatively short BJT career. On top of raising the entry fee and ceasing any casino participation in boosting the prize fund, they took away the meal discount coupons (which we didn't know about until arrival), drastically lowered the earned comp rate for those who gave side action, and did a fine job of making us all feel generally unappreciated. From an event that almost always filled up @ 220+ entries with a waiting list to an event that drew under 180 entries. I heard from three different well-placed sources that the two geniuses responsible for this debacle were fired just a few days before the BJT started, principally due to the obviously depressed rate of incoming entries.
CHEERS - to the BJT team who expended a great deal of effort in exercising damage control by being available for player's comments even though most of those comments ranged from disappointment to an outright furious butt-chewing. They actually sought out players whom they knew were going to blow up at them. Promises were made to do things a lot better the next time. We will see.
JEERS - for the final table set-up which made it nearly impossible for the large roomful of spectators to see what was going on. Even though I was sitting at that table so I wasn't affected, I've been there watching at past BJT's and know how hard it is to see. A suggestion - take a note from the LV Hilton's arrangement. They have a large flat mirror suspended from the ceiling at a 45 degree angle so the spectators can see the table. If that's not feasible, we noted many ceiling mounted camera bubbles and one of those could be trained on the table with a closed circuit feed to the many TV's in that room. It also wouldn't hurt to use the microphone when announcing chip counts at the appropriate times late in the final round.
CHEERS - to the well-trained BJT dealers. They'd obviously been practicing! But there's a JEER within this Cheer due to the few dealers who would count player's bets out loud - a massive no-no in any BJT, especially one of this magnitude.
CHEERS - to the BJT team for implementing a good system of evening out the player counts at the tournament tables. There were a few off-balance tables but they did a great job of avoiding the debacle from the last tournament. Excellent!
Now, on to the things mostly unrelated to the BJT itself.........
JEERS - for yet another hotel mess. Yes, they did it again. Most of us didn't end up with the room style we requested. Apparently the hotel merely gives a block of rooms to the tournament management, even if those particular rooms make it impossible to accommodate the player's requests. I'm not familiar with hotel management but it seems to me that the tail is wagging the dog. At least we didn't end up with a handicapper room featuring a belly-button high showerhead this time.
CHEERS - for the good buffet-style meals that were provided for the players right in the tournament room. Dinner on Friday & breakfast on Saturday/Sunday. This helped offset some of the disappointment due to the expected meal coupons that were surprisingly absent from the player's welcoming packages.
JEERS - to the pathetic WiFi in the rooms. They gave us a cable to hook directly into their Internet in the room but the procedure to use that was so onerous that even Deb couldn't figure it out. WiFi signal was nonexistent. C'mon, people, this isn't new technology any more. FIX IT.
CHEERS - to the buffet again! When we first started going to the Meskwaki BJT's that buffet was stocked with road kill. Last October, it was downright excellent. This time, it was even better! The crab legs on Saturday night were nearly the most awesome I'd even enjoyed, only exceeded by those on Bellagio's buffet many years ago. YUM. Great job!
JEERS - for the ridiculously tightened comps. I know of one player who spent a great deal of time on BJ tables @ $25-$50 per hand yet was refused a simple meal comp. Saw another player who was admittedly only playing $5 to $10 per hand but was told she had 37 cents of comp available. Both of these players traveled quite a bit to be there, too. Apparently the pit and floor have no power to override this nonsense, either. Between the nasty surprise of the missing meal coupons for players and this new comp policy, many were not happy at all. Quite a few actually left the property to take their chances having dinner at other local restaurants, costing Meskwaki a lot of player table time. Bad, bad, bad.
JEERS - for only having one cocktail waitress on the entire casino floor on Sunday night. We typically stay over that evening to play BJ and drink WAY too much beer. Granted, that place isn't as big as MGM in Vegas but..... only one waitress? The drinks are so overpriced that I would have thought they'd be anxious to sell as much as possible. One can't even go buy a round at the bar because customers cannot take anyone's drink but their own away from the bar. We felt like we were almost begging to spend our money on beverages. Geez.
And finally........
AN OPEN NOTE TO MESKWAKI BJT MANAGEMENT:
Even though you weren't personally responsible for them, the recent changes have hurt your BJT severely. You've got to make a ton of changes back towards the way things were, and make those changes public knowledge. Already many repeat BJT players have stated that they won't be back, another mess like this and you might as well stick a fork in your BJT's because they'll be done. We know you truly want these events to fly, but you've only got one chance to overhaul this thing. One. Please don't blow it, we want your BJT's to work as badly as you do.
