30K BRC Spring Double Deck Blackjack Tournament - Buffalo Run Miami, OK

It is that time again! We have our next tournament slated for April 16 and 17th. We are once again offering rooms at the tournament rate of $69. You can register on StubWire.com (NO ADDED FEES) or on property. Please email Cindy at Cindy.Courtney@buffalorun.com or call 918-542-7140 ex 2205 for further details or tournament details.

Our tournaments offer all cash payouts to the final table with a 30K cash prize pool guaranteed.

 

Hello Cindy,

Looking forward to getting out your way again. Judy and I have already started to make plans to be in Miami, OK for that weekend! We will probably register in a couple of weeks once we get everything finalized.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Pitchman told me about this tournament this past weekend while playing at the Gold Strike in Tunica. Looked at the format and it looks great! Hated thinking about driving 615 miles each way, but was lucky to find round trip airfare from the rocket city to Tulsa for only $352 round trip! Will fly in Friday night late and catch early bird flight back and actually only miss a couple of hours of work! Looking forward to seeing everyone.

 

Cindy is great to work with. I sent her email saying I was coming and she called and got me a room for three nights at the casino rate and said it could be reduced based upon play while at the tournament. Can't beat that. She also sent me the schedule and rules which I am posting with her permission. Take a look at both and let's talk up this tournament. From a review of past events everyone who has been there has said how great it is.

 

Several of the Stl bj gang are going to be there. I and the better half are going to try make it; It sounds great! Only 4.5 hr drive from Stl.

 

I read over the rules and like the format! DD dealt to bottom of deck is just like the Palace tournament in Biloxi. It can be real interesting when aces get clustered and you can track them in setting up betting strategy. I know you guys said that you are open to rules changes. I wonder about not allowing insurance or surrender? Is there some reason to remove that tool from a player who might benefit? Surrender is unusual in tournament play, although I think they allow it at the Palace tournament and it seems to be popular there on any hand where the dealer is showing ten up. I think insurance is more standard. I ask because as Pitchman can testify, it allowed me to win my table in a semifinal round where I was not BR1 betting first and took insurance when no one else did and swung the leaders to win!

On another rule, I like he $10 dealer appreciation for $500 in chips. That's 25% more chips and is probably a given. The rules say all buy ins (which would exclude the $10) go into the prize pool, so this is a nice way to be sure the dealers get something rather than having to worry about tipping if you happen to get to the final table and win. When I have been lucky enough to win I do feel obligated to tip. There is a whole lot of discussion about tipping so not really wanting to open that discussion again. You can look for yourself on this topic by using the search forums tool at the top and type in the word tipping. Great thread originated by Rick AKA TxTourPlayer from back on 4/4/09. One thing I was not aware of is that you can take those free play chips and use them as tips.

Glad to hear the St Louis mafia is still getting around and will be there. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Monkey, just be sure you sit on my right on every table and I will be fine!

 

Hey tgun,
I was glad to see your post. I've wondered why there hasn't been more participants from your area in Buffalo Run's events. Let me say that I'm sure you'll have no regrets and will probably agree with the sentiment that Cindy is the best tournament director ANYWHERE. I've played in the last four (I think?) and haven't seen anyone unhappy with her events.
I'm even more surprised that the Kansas City people haven't had a presence being they are even closer than you.
Please encourage as many as you can because this is quickly becoming known as one of (if not THE) best tournaments available.

Billy C

P.S. Cindy has also made it known that she aspires to having a bigger purse event before very long. I'm sure that is dependent on participation levels.

 

Hi Billy.
Good to hear from you. I talked to Cindy yesterday by phone. She sounds very accommodating, got me a $69 room over the phone. I'm looking forward to the tournament and seeing you and other old friends.


tgun

 

Thank you so much for all the positive comments and remarks regarding our tournament. Our team works really hard to put on the best possible event that we can! If I can answer any questions or assist any of you in any way, please let me know! We are really looking forward to seeing old friends and making a few new ones! Please feel free to call or email me with any questions or comments! Cindy.courtney@buffalorun.com or 918-541-6249.

Have a great weekend!!

Cindy

 

Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to covert the rules over to PDF so they could be posted on this site. I appreciate your assistance!! I look forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks! Cindy

 

Thank you for your suggestions. I will ask around to the players during the tournament to see what the consensus is to adding insurance and surrender to the tournament! I can't change it for this one, but can certainly take it under consideration for the next one! I am very open to changing rules based on feedback and general agreement from the players in this community as all it does in enhance our tournament! Thank you for understanding and supporting the dealer appreciation. In our market, and at our property, the dealers keep their own tips and are paid (like waitresses) below minimum wage. If we did not have someway to guarantee they would still make tips dealing the tournament it would be impossible to get quality dealers who not only wanted to deal the tournament but also provide great customer service with good attitudes! When dealers pool their tips, it is a little different. Regarding the promotional chips (free play chips), I don't know how it is in other jurisdictions but here they do not have a cash value and the dealers can't play here so there is no way for the dealer to receive any value from them. I am look forward to meeting you! ~ Cindy

 

Cindy,

Really appreciate your posts and sharing the information about tips and free play chips and also being open to rule changes. From what I have heard from prior players and posts on prior tournaments, you really do go out of the way to listen and work with the tournament players. Looking forward to actually being there in three weeks!

Pat

 

Wanted to follow up after the tournament and say it was an amazing weekend. Great to see the St. Louis and Kansas City groups represented as well as the chance to meet several people who are online but haven't had the opportunity to meet and connect a face and handle. The semi finals and final tables were well represented. I asked Cindy to send me the status at the counts so I can post some questions about what strategy would have been best considering the count at the turn and final hand. Hopefully when I get that I will post some questions. I really miss whoever it was that would actually post the play by play of the final hands so we could learn by the play made. I think that may have been Walt, but not sure. Maybe next time we can get that done. Cindy has been great to work with and I am sure if we ask and set it up we can do that.

Couple of observations. All rounds are 20 hands with count on hand 15. Finals played 25 hands with count at hand 20 and second count prior to betting on last hand. Since I have lost the touch of keeping everyone's chip counts in my head (something that our fearless leader seems to have an uncanny touch of doing), it was nice to have that last count just before the final bet and hand was played.

Also Cindy did ask for inputs on rule changes. One thing she threw out was maybe adding another round. I suggested maybe having a playoff table for the wildcard instead of just pulling one name out of the hat. I think some of the others have adopted this format, which at least gives you a shot to play one more time versus just being drawn in. I think in some cases I have seen two wildcard tables played to fill two spots. That seems like a better alternative to me than having to win an extra round. I had to reach into my toolbox more than once to advance and fortunately those worked when needed, but you can't always count on that happening.

Hopefully she will post some of the feedback she received on the questions she asked. I know that the next tournament is scheduled for July and unless the floods come, I plan to be there again.

Pat

 

One rule change note. I went back and reviewed the rules. It doesn't address what happens if there is a tie. Normal process is a set number of hands played between the tying players starting over with same bankroll. Probably even number of hands played, so whoever bets first is last to bet on final hand. Coin toss or high card draw to determine who goes first.

The reason I bring this up is I realized now that if one of my final table bets had turned out as I thought it would that I would have gotten a tie instead of a win. I'll explain later.

 

Well, another Great Buffalo Run Blackjack Tournament has come and gone, and again the blackjacktournaments.com crowd was well represented, in the tournament overall, and at the final table.

• Ptaylorcpa placed 2nd, and truly only by a hair did he miss the brass ring (The final table wild card just edged him out to win). That 2nd place finish is right on the heels of his win of the Gold Strike tournament a few weeks back.
  
• And talk about being on a roll - Dakota took 3rd at BRC this time, that being after taking 2nd in the last BRC in January, and if that's not enough, that was followed the next week in January with a 2nd place finish at the Orleans.
  
• Farmer came in 5th, and from my vantage point (Standing directly behind him), he could have easily come in 7th with the cards he drew. Congratulations to you all!!!!

This event is already so established with so many very good players so strongly supporting it, many traveling hundreds of miles to get to Miami, OK, that it doesn't seem like it was only first held last July (Not a year old yet). It's a great game, with great tournament rules, and it's held at a very comfortable casino setting that is staffed by a most accommodating personnel throughout. It's become common knowledge among the players that Cindy is the kind of determined table games director, and tournament originator and director that players hope for. She is the reason this tournament is so successful even here in it's infancy. And let's not forget Kim. She's great too. They're a pretty darned good Batman & Robin combo! And, the dealers, the hotel personnel, the great small diner (Where you can get some very good eggs cooked the way you want them, and they send out crisp bacon when you order it that way), and the Coleman House Steak House - If someone had told me before going there the first time that I would get the best Halibut steak I ever had, that being after several trips to some of Anchorage's "best", I would have taken that bet, and lost. The whole place is a hidden gem.

I think I speak for many when I offer our thanks to Cindy an her excellent crew for making this a premier destination for Blackjack tournament play. I also think many will join me in thanking so many players who have supported the event from the beginning. With Cindy's dedication to it, her openly involving the players in decisions regarding the tournament, and the steadfast tournament support by the players, I expect this one to just keep getting bigger and better!

 

I totally agree with Pitchman's post.
Members from here that haven't yet played Buffalo Run events are "missing the boat""!

Billy C

 

I think I am going in July to find out for myself. Thanks everyone for the reports and congratulations!!

 

Ok, Cindy was nice enough to send me the chip counts at hand 20 on the final table as well as the final chip count at the end. She said they didn't keep the count right before the final hand was played because that count was added and was not in the rules. I don't know how everyone else feels, but I kind of like knowing what everyone has without having to rely on my own count. I know that some who are great counters would disagree because that skill is something that gives you an advantage over someone who isn't as skilled.

So lets start with the count after 20 which leaves five hands to play:

Spot 1 1550
Spot 2 1790
Spot 3 3375
Spot 4 790
Spot 5 100
Spot 6 3800
Spot 7 2430

I am in spot 3 and the button is on five so on final hand button will be on spot 2. I have noticed that player six has been correlating her bet with mine for probably the last five or six hands, always betting just under what I bet so it is almost impossible to make any ground up. In fact I made a couple of minimum bets which I haven't been doing just to see what she would do and she almost always followed with something small as well, so it appears to me she is tracking me versus what the others are doing. Knowing that I get two bets before the button moves past her, what would you do?

I know some of you were in the other seats so you might enlighten us as to what you were thinking as well.

Remember bet limit is $10 to $2000 in $5 increments.

 

Hey Cindy (and gang), another great Tourney!

Glad I got to meet up with some old friends, meet a couple of new ones and Judy (MrsPill) ended up taking fourth!

Hope to make it back this Fall and possibly in July. Judy and I logged on 2150 miles on HaRVee the RV during this adventure and got to see some other great sites in our country in addition to attending this tournament.

Dan

 

Mr. Pill, didn't realize that was your wife on my right! I will have to be more careful about mumbling to myself while I am playing. LOL If she heard me she probably heard all my complaining about what BR1 was doing and how she kept getting the cards and my not sizing my bet enough to catch her before the count on 20.

I need some help. As noted Cindy didn't have the count prior to betting on hand 25, but did provide me the final count. If your wife remembers what she bet on the last hand or her count prior to playing, then I can get my numbers together for the final hand. I know what I bet and what BR1 finished with. I think Dakota was in spot 7, so if he can give me his inputs as well, I can set up the final hand with more information. If anyone else was on the table and don't mind providing me their seat number and either count before final hand and bet, I'll be set.

From Pitchman's post I gather Farmer was in seat one. His count and bet would also help. Thanks to all.