Fri Oct 26-Sun Oct 28, 2012 $50,000 price pool guaranteed. $30,000 first place. Details at http://www.gbhcasino.com/table.php
Tournament Report I may be talking to myself here, but I thought I would report on my experience with this tournament. This was my first roulette tournament and, at first, I was concerned about the possibility of having to make some complex calculations on the final spins due to the number of possible bets that can be placed and the fact that multiple bets can be placed on the same spin. The more I thought about it however, the less concerned I became. I realized that only a couple of inside bets actually win on a given spin and that the outside bets are easy to keep track of. I decided that my main advantage would be to keep my own betting simple and to manage how much I needed to win on a given spin vs how much I could afford to lose. A little advice from a friend told me to use the high house edge to get ahead by betting conservatively and then to use correlation to stay ahead. The first round was 2 advancing from 6, 30 spins, $5,000 bankroll, $250 minimum on both the outside and the inside (i.e. you had to bet at least $500 to play both on the same spin), $5,000 maximum (except no limit on the final spin), simultaneous free-for-all betting on all except the final 6 spins. On the final spins, betting would be done in turns using a rotating puck. As the round began, I saw that the advice I had been given was spot on. The other players feverishly filled the board with all varieties of small (1 or 2 chip) bets in what seemed to me to be random fashion. If they hit anything, their wins were mitigated by the number of losing bets they placed. In many cases they lost more than they won on a given spin. I sat quietly in the corner betting the $250 minimum on the lower 18, which was the closes 1-1 bet to my seat. Within 15 spins, 3 players had busted out and I found myself BR1 with my original $5,000 intact vs BR2 with about $3,000 and BR3 with about $2,000. At this point, I began to correlate BR3's bets as best I could. I say, "as best I could" because with the free for all betting, it was not easy! Also, he made a point of making it more difficult by spraying multiple bets late and at the other end of the board. When I would be covering those, he would spray more bets elsewhere. It was truly a chaotic situation but was actually the most fun I've had at a tournament table ever. I did pretty well covering his bets, but he did manage a couple of uncovered ones on each spin and, as luck would have it, he managed to hit one which made him BR2 at that point. This turned out to be a good thing. The new BR3 was seemingly unaware of the consequences of letting me cover his bets and he made no effort at all to prevent it. This outlines the true value of strategic play in a tournament like this. If you can match the bet(s) of your opponents who trail you, you have a lock.. (Baccarat tournaments also fall into this category.). So I was a lock to advance and shortly after the 23rd spin, BR3 busted out and it was over. I felt pretty good going into the semi final round which, I figured would also be of the elimination format. Upon arriving to play, I discovered that it would be an accumulation round with the top 12 out of 48 players advancing to the final. This did not bother be too much, since I had some advice on how to approach this situation as well. What did bother me was that there would be 4 sessions, of which I would be in the first, and that they were planning on posting the session scores as things progressed. Those playing in the later sessions would have the advantage of knowing the scores from the earlier sessions. The tournament organizers seemed not to grasp this concept when I pointed it out. They seemed to believe that the tournament was all luck, that everyone had an equal chance of advancing and that posting the scores would make it more fun for everyone. Fortunately, as more players arrived to play and the number of complaints mounted, they were convinced to not post the scores. So play started, and once again, the players bet in a similar fashion, with no apparent strategy. There was a sense that one would have to win a large amount to advance, so they were making 4 and 5 chip bets on some numbers. My strategy was to try to triple my bankroll by waiting until the final spin and then going all-in on a 2-1 bet, which would give me 31.6% chance hitting. Waiting until the final hand was so as not to reveal my strategy and to perhaps be able to bet more than $5,000 should I have it. One player at my table hit a $500 number for a $17,500 win, but continued betting aggressively. As before, 3 players busted out early and by the final spin, I was 3rd at my table with $5,500, BR2 had $7,000 and BR1 still had about $23,000. I was first to bet and pushed my entire bankroll (220 chips) into the 25-36 box, the closest 2-1 bet to my seat (it occupied the entire box and there were some ooohs and ahhhhhs from the spectators). BR2 spread her bet around in the usual fashion, effectively taking herself out of contention and BR1 coasted with a $500 outside bet. Seeing this, I considered whether going for $11,000 with a 1-1 bet would have been good enough, but was still reasonably happy with my 2-1 bet. The spin came up with 0 making it an irrelevant point and taking me out of the tournament. To summarize, I think that the tournament was well worth playing, I had a great time, especially during the spins where I was attempting to cover my opponent's bets in the first round. It was also amusing watching the other players use and talk about their various systems for covering the board. However, the main reason that the tournament, and others like it, can be worth playing is that they can be very profitable. You need to understand the various payouts but, for the most part, the strategy is to bet minimum until it becomes necessary to do otherwise. There will certainly be times when some computation will be necessary during a roulette tournament. The final few spins on the final table or with more than one opponent chasing certainly come to mind. But even then, correlation and opposition strategies we use in blackjack tournaments serve us well and, in some cases, even better. It's similar to accumulation blackjack tournaments, where the strategy may not be mentally rewarding, but is extremely effective especially against a field of players who don't seem to have any particular strategy. I highly recommend that folks expand their reach beyond blackjack when it comes to tournament play.
I personnally will play any available tournament. Variety is fun and challenging and it is usually easy to put bet sizing and chip counting skills to an advantage. If it is possible, the ignorant seem to be even more so in other games. Never tried roulette but really enjoy 3 card, pai gow, and baccarrat
Indeed. I was unable to find any useful strategy advice for roulette on the web. The only discussions I did come across were well into the realm of voodoo.
