Sunday Oct. 22. First round starts 1pm. Pre register get $50.00 Match Play. $8,008 1st $3,008 2nd $2,008 3rd $1,508 4th $1,008 5th $ 508 6th $ 200 7th-13th (Free Bets(one time promo chips.) No other details. BUT, if based on third Thursday tourneys; $1,000 Bank roll. $500. add on for $5 dealer appreciation. (each round.) 108 Max players Usually three prelimins with 18 hands. $25 min. 5,000 max. Secret bet at hand 17. Rebuys if space allows. BJ pays 2-1 Top two from prelims. One from quarters. Two from semis plus wild cards. Pre register at cage before Oct. 22. Or if past experience holds. Show up by 11am to register.
I posted this in the calendar. https://www.blackjacktournaments.com/tournaments/blackjack-tournament.2922/
As it should. But I know a contingent of folks up here that might not know of it, because they have them haphazardly and for lesser amounts when they do. I guess I just wanted to make a blatant announcement.
I stopped in and paid for this one today, since I was on my way to the FourWinds monthly and go right by Firekeepers. I am entry #1. Hmmmm..... BTW, if you get the $50 matchplay, they WILL let you DD on the coupon. Although they might reconsider that after what I did to 'em.
Congratulations to Monkeysystem for his first place finish today at Firekeeper's ! It was a well-fought win against mostly Michigan tournament regulars.
It was freakin' awesome to be there with Jonny21, CadillacTim, and others to watch the Monkeydude finally hit the winner's circle!!! He's been so close, so many times, and he deserved his victory as much as anyone I know. Remember, it's hard to see chip stacks from a spectator's vantage point. With perfect position advantage on the final hand, Monkey was BR2 but only slightly behind BR1. Three of the six players were not in contention - or so we thought. BR1 shoved big & took the high. One of the lower BR's got a 2:1 all-in natural and that was a game changer. BR1 busted his hand and Monkey had bet enough to take second (now first) high, hit his 8 - 3 with a ten and we thought he had second place locked up. Much to our surprise and delight, the dude with the natural hadn't started the hand with enough chips to overcome Monkey's big bet win!
His semi final last hand play, for one to advance to the final, was classic, befuddling his one in contention opponent to under bet. Expertly played at every level, in a tournament slanted towards luck, with goofy structure and procedures. Monkey overcame all in an impressive win.
congrats. I would also like to hear the details of the play. Off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of is a surrender trap.
Possibly a smallish bet from behind induced his opponent to bet small in order to cover the high, leaving him helpless to defend Monkey's double or split?
While I wasn't there, the info in this post clearly illustrates the HUGE value of last hand bet position. Maybe gronbog or someone else can chime in with an EV for that factor alone. It has to be substantial. Billy C Edit: Please don't take this as a "slight" to Monkey's ability. He is one of the most knowledgeable tourney players out there, without doubt.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments everyone. The 2nd-place "Monkey" is finally off my back. On the hand Noman mentioned there were two of us left for one spot and I was BR1 acting first with a lead of only 75. The bet range was 25 to all-in in increments of 25. No surrender was allowed and blackjacks pay 2:1. I don't remember the exact stack sizes but 1475 - 1400 is a good representation of the situation. My read on my opponent was that there was a fair (>/=1/3) chance she wouldn't take the low if I offered it. That means an overbet of the lead was warranted. So I ruled out taking my hand out of play with a bet of 50. I also didn't want to bet so big that it would make it more likely for it to occur to her to take the low. If I held back 125 or less to take the high, she'd likely hold back 150. Most casual players know about that move. I wanted to find a bet that gave her a chance to take the high without going all-in but big enough to give me a chance at a double down that could correlate her. Based on the betting in the few hands prior a bet of about 350 seemed good, so I selected that. She followed with a bet of 550. I got dealt hard 12 and she got soft 16. Dealer had a T. I doubled for less for 200 and got kissed with a 9 for a total of 21. She thought for a few moments and with a look of disappointment on her face took a hit. I don't remember what her outcome was, because I paid no attention to it. I was golden as soon as she took the hit instead of doubling down, which was her only chance to win. On the last hand on the final table my first thought when the player on my left hit his all-in 2:1 blackjack was, "ugh.. here we go again." But a quick count of his chips while they were still spread out from the dealer's payout showed me that he had 54-something. I had that covered with my original bet, which if won would put me north of 55-something. I didn't need the extra money from a double down, so I hit my 8-3 and got a T. The dealer didn't draw out to 21, so I won. I believe two of my final table opponents are brothers. After the last count before the final hand they were BR1 and BR3, with BR1 acting earlier. I was already working on my plan for the possibility that they would high-low the table, but they didn't do that. After the guy to my left went all-in BR1 held back 225 and shoved the rest, taking first high. The next player held back 250 and then BR3 held back 275. The lady on my right made a much smaller bet. This denied me a way to take first low without giving up too many highs. This was smart. First low and fourth or fifth high from six players in an all-in situation is not where you want to be in a final table, even one as top heavy as this. So I held back 300 and gave her first low. I had second high-second low and got the swing I needed to win the tournament.