$100k Blackjack Tournament: Grand Casino Tunica, July 9-10, 2004

Little Rock to Tunica and save $$$$$$

For those of you looking for a cheaper way to get to The Grand in Tunica for their July 9 & 10 BJ tournament try flying into Little Rock, Arkansas and renting a car (only 2 1/2 drive from Little Rock) and the airfare is a lot lower then flying into Memphis.

You'll have to rent a car anyway or pay a large taxi bill and Enterprise has a $39 special weekend rate (that is for the entire weekend).

Last year I drove from Texas 7 1/2 hour each way, it was a nice trip, but 7 1/2 hours. I check on airfare this year and they want over $400 - $500 to fly round trip to Memphis from DFW. But from DFW to Little Rock is only $130 (using my American Airlines discount gets an additional 5% to 10% off as well) and then renting from Enterprise and driving the rest of the way, the trip can cost under $200 even with paying for gas.

 

grand bj

just signed up for the grand event. do i understand that if i finish in the top three twice i will get entry fee back.

 

The latest issue of Jackpot magazine has some more information on the Grand tournament:
http://www.print2webcorp.com/news/jackpotmagazine/tunica/20040610/p04.asp
http://www.jackpotmagazine.com/ [Jackpot! Tunica Page 4

From this story, it seems that they are actively encouraging first-time torunament players to participate.

This passage concerns me:
"Finishers ranked 8th By Rudi Schiffer senior consulting editor through 36th place will each collect $500."
This ain't no friggin' beauty contest! I've met Rudy, and played against him in the Goldstrike tourney. He seems okay, but I think I'd rather have a CPA ranking the players.

Sentry

 

Did he mean finishers?

Rudi had ranked 8th, but then goes on to say through 36th place receives $500 each. Didn't he mean 8th place - 36th place and not rankings?

 

Schiffer is not picking the finishers but who is?

The above sentence appears to be the result of a programming glitch between the 3-column article on page 4 (Sentry's 1st link is to this page) and the one-column frame of just the article.

Notice that the byline of the article on page 4, "By Rudi Schiffer senior consulting editor", is at the top of column one. Now look at the last line in column one. It ends with "Finishers ranked 8th" and continues at the top of column two with "through 36th place will each collect $500."

Obviously the byline got placed at the bottom of the column instead of the top when shifting the format from 3 columns on page 4 to 1 column in the frame. To see how it should have occurred, navigate to page 1 and click on the article, “Birthday Blowout…”

That being said, the format vs prize money payout still does not compute.

The prize structure providing $500 for finishers 8 thru 36 and the 7 final table prizes does add up to the advertised $100k prize pool. But how are the 29 places from 8 thru 36 determined?

If the semi-finals are 6 tables of 5 players as described in Ken’s post originating this thread, then 24 places remain after the 6 table-winners move on to the final. This leaves 5 more places to be determined, but how??? (Ken's post also does not provide for wild cards drawn into the semi-finals as reported by Schiffer.)

On the other hand, if the semi-finals consist of 6 tables of 6 players each you come up with 30 places remaining behind the table-winners. To pay each would require an extra $500 from somewhere.

Ken, you’ll just have to advance far enough (like, all the way?) to report first-hand to the rest of us.

--jr

 

Grand tournament

I just talked to the people over at the Grand. Here’s the way they lay the tournament out to me.
It sounds like they want to limit the field to only 140 players and only 70 for re-buys.

140 players X $500 entry = $70,000
70 players X $200 re-buys = $14,000
$84,000 total entries and re-buys

Payouts:
1st…………..$50,000 (1st is the only place guaranteed)
2nd………….$12,000
3rd………….$ 9,000
4th………….$ 7,000
5th………….$ 3,500
6th………….$ 2,500
7th………….$ 1,500
8th-30th……..$ 500 each
$97,500 total prize money.

Friday, July 9th:
Tournament participants and a guest are invited to a welcome reception in the Gold Card Lounge from 7pm to 9pm. Hors d'oeuvres and cocktails will be served while participants receive table assignments for Saturday. Players will also receive a special tournament gift at the reception.

Saturday July 10th:
Tournament play begins at 10am by LB's. The Semi-finals will take place followed by the final round. A wild card drawing may be held prior to the semi-finals (approx. 5 minutes before 11a.m.) to fill all open seats. A wild card drawing will be held 5 minutes prior to the finals to fill the 7th seat. Players must be present to win (must report within 2 minutes of being announced).

Players will receive $5,000 in tournament chips at the beginning of each round. Minimum bet is $100, Maximum bet is $2,500. A total of 25 hands will be dealt each round. A six-deck shoe and six deck rules will be used on all tables.

Based on 140 participants, the format of the tournament will be as follows:

Round #1:
Will consist of two sessions, 10am and 11am. Each will have ten tables of seven players each. The top three players at each table will advance to the third round.

Round #2:
Will be a $200 Re-buy opportunity. The number of tables will be determined by the number of participants, with a maximum of ten players advancing to the third round. Maximum number of players 70, on ten tables.

Round #3:
Will consist of seventy players, sixty from round one, and ten from round two. There will be ten tables of seven players each. The top three from each table will advance to round four.

SEMIFINALS……..Round #4:
Will consist of thirty players. There will be six tables of five players each. The top players advance to the final table.

FINALS……………Round #5:
Will consist of seven players. The six winners from the fourth round and one wild card drawn prior to the final round.

NOTE:
All players are eligible for the wild card drawing.

 

Just a little concerned that there are ony 25 players registered for the event as of June 15. They may cancel the tournament if the turnout is low.

 

How did Ken hear about it?

This event is not publicized on their website, nor does it appear in the listings for events, activities or promotions. I'm not currently receiving mail from the Grand, but I am supposed to be getting email notices, and all I've received of late were offers of discounted rooms. No news of this tournament from the hosts themselves. For a non-invitational event, they seem to be keeping pretty quiet about things.

Sentry

 

Just a little more tweaking of the prize structure!

TX, we need just a little adjustment. The above schedule adds to $97000. Make the $500 finishers from 8th thru 31st and everything adds up: $85.5k for the final table plus $12k (24 x $500) = $97500.

It also comports with the format. All 30 players at the 6 semi-final tables collect: 6 advance to the final; 24 get their initial entry back.

--jr

 

Sorry

The amount is right, but finish positions were wrong. I forgot about the Wild card, all the semifinalist tie for 8th place and $500.

24 semifinalist.................$12,000
6 finalist and 1-wild card...$85,500
Total.............................$97,500

I'm having hell counting this passed few weeks...lol!

As far as canceling the tournament, they guaranteed the first prize of $50,000 so their kind of screwed if they don't honor it now!

 

Jackpot magazine

Jackpot magazine for Tunica has it listed. Jackpot seem to have all the Mississippi casinos covered pretty well for up coming events.

 

I have Special Events Notice from Grand Tunica

Hubby was kind enough to sign me up for the tournament while in Tunica last weekend. He brought home a flyer which seems to indicate that the intention may have been to make it an invitational event. However, they took our money even though I am virtually sure that I do not qualify.

Event Name: $100,000 Sizzling Hot BJ Tournament
Capacity: 140
Criteria: $500+ADTW three trips within 12 month
Invitation: On June 14, GTC database players of 150 up to 499 ADTW tables or combined ratings will be notified of this buy-in opportunity. On June 15 GTC database players of $500+ ADTW three trips within 12 month. First prize is guaranteed $50K. (This info is exactly as written on the flyer)

As far as I can see, the rest of the information is the same as posted previously and I have no idea what the Criteria means as I do not have a host at the Grand.

The pertinent dates listed might explain why so few people have signed up.