$50,000 Blast from the Past Blackjack Tournament Date: March 13-14, 2004 Time: Registration 12-2:00 pm, Play begins at 10 am Price: $249 Entry Fee Location: Registration & Lunch Brulo's Seafood Company/Tournament Play at Pit 6 $50,000 in Prize Money with a $20,000 First Prize! Must call 1-800-694-2202 to reserve your spot. Must be 21 or older to attend and participate. Must attend Registration to receive round assignments. Must call in to reserve a spot. Space is limited to 231 participants. Subject to change or cancellation. Thanks to Jim P for pointing this out.
Staff at the Grand indicates that it is possible to arrive on Sunday the 14th for this event. All play occurs on Sunday.
Grand Info It only took six days but I finally got hold of someone with some information about the Grand Casino tournament next weekend (March 13 & 14). Before I go on I want to mention I am more then a little concerned about the lack of informed personal at the Grand and more importantly the fact I was told by someone in the special events office that "They didn't know what they were going to do yet, they would decide next weekend how the tournament would be run" Scary! I did finally got hold of Cassandra an excecutive host @ The Grand. She told me the entry is $249 each for the first 231 players, reentries would cost $150 (limit one) per player, I thought this was pretty high (normally reentries are no more then half the entry fee). Format: Elimination 33 tables, 7 players per table, only 1 advances from each table. reentry: ? tables, up to 7 players per tables, 1 advance from each table. Cassanra told me she was pretty sure all the entry/reentries goes back into the prize fund. You need to check yourself to make sure. So with 231 X $249 = $57,519 and possible 198 X $150 = $29,700 for reenties the total prize pool could be as high as $87,219.00 Note: the $87,219 in prize money is only for full sell out and full reentries, and if they really return 100%. If I can play for $87,219 in prize money for an $249 entry it could be worth the drive down to Biloxi from Dallas for me. This is an add on to this post, the Grand finally called back and offered me a $150 buy-in for the tournament. Great $100 savings for my trouble, then they told me they are out of rooms...DUH! How can you hold a tournament and not have the rooms blocked for the players? Two nights is suppose to be part of the entry fee! I can't find any rooms now and I am scared to go down there if I do, I might get there and they lose my reservations for the tournament. Just seems like with all the trouble I am having trying to get into this tournament I should pass on this one, but good luck to all that are in it.
When I originally called, I asked if rooms were included, and I was told no. Since I didn't have any coupon offers that were good for weekend nights at the Grand, I asked if my wife and I could arrive on Sunday morning to register, since all play is on Sunday. I was told that was no problem, and they reserved our spots for a $249 entry. Later, I had friends tell me that room nights WERE included, so I called back, and was told that I'd need a host to reserve the room that should have been included, because they were almost full. After being put on hold for a moment, the person came back and said that she had been given permission to assign me a room, which she then did. When I told her I needed late arrival, she then advised me that I would have to be there between 12 and 2 on Saturday to register, in direct contradiction of the original person I spoke with. At that point, I really was irritated at the whole process, and let her know that. Before the conversation was over, I'd gotten approval to register on Sunday morning, but I don't have any idea if that is available for most players. This crew definitely seems highly incompetent. While I'm at it, did anyone else notice they reused the artwork from Bally's Tunica's recent "Blast from the Past" tourney? Now, Bally's knows how to handle tournaments. Well, I'll be there anyway. We'll see if I get to play.
What the hell are they holding a BJ tourney in the middle of Spring Break? Of course that might bring a bunch of dead money into play. There's no BJ 101 offered at the institutes of higher learning. Hey Ken, when I was in Vegas I got down on Mississippi State at 12 to 1 to win the NCAA. This might be worth the drive from Florida if all the rebuys go back into the pot.
