Don't get your hopes up; it's not quite as grand as it sounds. Just in case any of my fellow countrymen haven't spotted this in a betting shop window - There are four or five Coral betting shops within walking distance of my home. I went into one today to try and find out more. I could only get sketchy details ... It's an accumulation tournament, played on video slot machines. The machine will be loaded up with free credit, and then you are given a short period of time (probably of the order of five or ten minutes) in which to play. I don't know how much credit (i.e. how many max bets) will be given. I also don't know if you are limited to just one attempt per shop. In any case, if it's not raining I may spend Saturday afternoon running from shop to shop, trying for the £50 local prize as well as the £5,000 national one.
Corals Tournament Colin, My work mate Neil Gagg had told me about this tournament because he likes to play on these BJ machines. Our work place relocated to a town centre last week (no more having to drive for a sandwich for your lunch) so we had a tour of the betting shops. He took me into a Corals shop but all the machines were being played so I was unable to have a go. Interestingly, on another day when we nipped out for a break, Gagg had a look in the William Hill betting shop and the BJ machine minimum was £5.00p. We will call in Corals tomorrow on our lunch break and suss the tourney out. I am sure there was a strategy posted on here about playing in accumulative BJ tournament games. Anyone remember the thread or can give advice? Andy
Coral Tournament I called in at my local Corals bookmakers tonight and they informed me that they were putting on food for the players in their shop during the tournament. According to their staff you are credited £50 on a machine and have five minutes to play. I did finally get to play on a BJ machine and doubled my winnings. I also picked a horse, which romped home to win in the 9:20 at Kempton. So I am now in the money. Tomorrow afternoon I will be doing battle with London Colin in the Coral tournament. For both of us it is just a bit of fun and we have little chance of winning because of the way the tournament is set out and how punters will bet. Of course I want to beat Colin and he would like to beat me. The games are free between 11:00 and 14:00 so any British player can have a go. So why am not happy? The simple fact of the matter is that these BJ machines are addictive to some people and it I don’t like them. Andy :flame:
I'm back from my odyssey I managed to get through five betting shops, and busted out at all of them. With a few minutes to go, the total to beat for the national prize was £1,000. I was surprised to find that not only was the max bet £100, but that was the max for an entire round of hands - no doubling down or playing multiple spots once you have put a max bet out. I had planned to just keep trying to double up my BR, putting out as many max bets as I could, but that was not possible, making the £1,000 a very remote target. At three out of the five shops I had the lead for the local £50 prize just by winning one or two max bets; few people seemed prepared to bet big and risk busting out before their five minutes were up. But I had my eyes on the main prize. The highest I got my BR was a meagre £300. Maybe next time.
Coral Tourney Unfortunately Ken Smith’s e book does not tell you how to play in a BJ tournament with the worst hangover in the world. To say that I was feeling rough would be an understatement. Anyway, yours truly ventured out to his local Coral’s bookmakers wearing his new BJT .com polo shirt and registers as Rick Jensen for luck. A chap with a stopwatch gives me a quick demo of the machine and tells me that someone in the shop has got up to a total of £250.00. that I need to beat. Another member of staff informs me that a guy from down south as got up to £1000.00. It falls on deaf ears when I ask is he from London and called Colin. They credit me for fifty pounds and I have five minutes to play. I am a playing okay but quickly realise that my betting spread will not get me anywhere near the leader board and going all in does not seem a bad idea. Half way through the tourney the chap with the stopwatch informs me that I can bet on all of the six boxes on the machine. When I protest that I did not know about this I am refused another go (where are Barney, Leftnut and Ted when a complaint needs to go in?). I do my best but bust out trying to win. The pub across the road from the bookies seems inviting so I go in. I have a “hare of the dog” to bring me around which appears to work. Several hours later I return home to be told by my daughter that my wife is no longer speaking to me. Playing in the tourney was good fun (I think). Thanks for the information Colin. Andy
Betting spread? You weren't card counting, were you? I'm sure it will have been a shuffle-every-round arrangement, and even if it weren't it would make little difference in five minutes. In fairness, there'd be little point in the machine displaying the boxes if you couldn't bet on them. But I don't think there would be any tactical reason to do so, anyway. I had only planned to split to mutliple hands if and when I ran up against the max bet limit, which proved not to be allowed. If you need to turn £100 into £200, you stand more chance of doing it by winning a single £100 hand than two separate £50 hands.
