If you get my newsletter from BlackjackInfo.com, you'll already know this. (And if not, what are you waiting for? Get over to http://www.blackjackinfo.com/news/ and sign up! You can also read yesterday's newsletter there.) 888.com is having one heck of a promotion this Saturday July 15th. Starting at midnight casino time (Eastern time in the US), the first player who is dealt 21 blackjacks in Spades wins $200,000. The competition ends at 23:59 Eastern time Saturday night. You must bet a minimum of $5 per hand to qualify. Now, it'll take a lot of hands to get 21 blackjacks in spades, since you expect that about once every 336 hands. If you're not substantially ahead of pace after two or three hours, you can probably throw in the towel and save yourself the effort. There are some other prizes amounting to $30,000 as well, so you may want to read all the details here.
For a six deck game, it is about... ( 312 * 311 / 2 ) / ( 6 * 24 ) * 21 = 7075.25 hands How fast can one play at 888.com?
I haven't played there in a long time, and I don't recall whether the game was fast or not. Certainly 300 hands an hour is probably doable, and it would take about that to get the designated hands in a 24 hour period. Even if that's a reasonable estimate of hands per hour, I bet somebody does it in 12 hours or so. Somebody's gotta get lucky, and they'll have a ton of players.
More like a lottery At first glance, winning $200,000 looks interesting but then I did a little math. I figured, on average, I'd loose about $100 to $150 before throwing in the towel. Now, how many player will they have? 1,000 , 10,000 , 100,000 , who knows? If they have say 10,000, then I am risking say $100 to win $200,000 or a return on investment of 2,000 to 1. If there are 10,000 players, my chances of succeeding are 1 in 10,000. All of these numbers are just guesses of course because nobody knows what the actual numbers will be. However, I think I'll pass on this one because this seems to me to be nothing more than a lottery since no real skill is involved other than playing as fast as you can with basic strategy firmly implanted in your mind. Naturally, the basic strategy will not increase your chances of getting the required BJs, it just keeps your losses to a minimum. As another thought, it doesn't seem to me that the speed of the game is critical since all players will be playing at the same speed so the playing field will be level on this point. Also, this has the potential to be a really big money maker for the casino. If it is, this could spark a whole wave of promotions on this order by this and other on-line casinos. Be interesting to watch the development.
My three cents! Great post. This is what is needed on this site. Good accurate information for the benefit of BJ players.
Assuming an 0.5% house edge, your expected loss if you go all the way is $177. So, unless you really do end up going the distance, your theoretical loss will be a fraction of that. Still, even with a lower expected loss, your points are quite valid toolman.
Quitting early I was taking into account the probability that I would not go all the way. As you pointed out Ken, if you're not well ahead of pace after a few hours then you may as well throw in the towel.
Add'l info I'm not advocating playing this event but for those still interested in trying, the following info is from their web site. Another thing that may sway some to play is that they have a 100% new member "bonus" during the month of July. The "bonus" is 100% of your initial deposit up to $200. I don't know how much play is required before you can withdraw the bonus dollars but the bonus is available to play immediately. Quote from their web site: July 15, 00:00-23:59 CONT Another $200,000 grand prize plus an extra $30,000 in prizes are up for grabs during our fantastic $888,888 Weekend event, and all you need to do to win your share is play BlackJack! A whopping $200,000 will be awarded to the first member to accumulate 21 Spade Blackjacks!! The top 5 members with the highest number of Spade Blackjacks will win the following prizes, totaling $10,000: 1st place = $3,500 2nd place = $2,750 3rd place = $2,000 4th place = $1,250 5th place = $500 The 10 members to accumulate the highest number of comp points whilst playing BlackJack will win the following prizes, totaling $10,000: 1st place = $2,500 6th place = $750 2nd place = $1,750 7th place = $500 3rd place = $1,500 8th place = $350 4th place = $1,250 9th place = $250 5th place = $1,000 10th place = $150 All other members who accumulate between 4 and 9 Spade Blackjacks will be put into a draw where 33 members will be selected for a share of $10,000 in prizes, ranging from $100 to $1,000. So play Blackjack today to win your share of $230,000! To qualify, you must deposit at least $50 during event hours. A minimum bet per round of $5 is required, in order for the round to be considered.
Do NOT waste your time--Something is wrong here Something is wrong or the site is overloaded. You cannot get to 100 hands per hour. Also I question the randomness of the situation based on my first 86 hands. With flat betting, taking doubles & splits, I should be down 4 units. But quite the contrary, I am down 18, yes 18 units. Something does not sound right. I will continue playing longer & update the post from time to time. I did get the 100% sign on bonus but do not know what I have to do to earn it. Have now played through it about 5 times, but doubt that it is anywhere near close enough to withdraw.
I'm curious... Are you using the download version or the no-download version? On the bonus, their bonus policy page shows the wagering requirement as 25x the bonus.
Wrong date Springbac, I thought the tournament doesn't start till midnight tonight. Are you playing just to check out the site or are you really playing in the tourney already? Pat
Slow play & house advantage Springbac: I too am curious as to why the site appears to be so slow. Do you have any possible theories other than what Ken Smith asked? As to you losses, I cannot come up with your expected loss of 4 units for 86 hands unless you are using $1= 1 unit and your "flat bet" amount is 10 units or $10. Am I close? If not, can you elaborate on the bets - if you don't mind of course. PS to Ptaylorcpa: The event does not start until the first second of July 15. By the way, this is not a tournament. At best it is a contest of who can pass GO first.
Toolman, I was just trying to get a feel for the site & how it functions. On a continous shuffle deck, I expect to win 44% of the hands, including pushes. I have been doing $5 flat bets, & taking all possible pushes & doubles as are appropriate for this game. I am on a cable connection so I have no idea why the site is so slow. I think you & Pat are correct concerning starting time of midnight, even though it is confusing since they are posting in GMT, without clairification. Comments welcome.
I spoke to someone who was playing today, and estimates they can play about 270 hands an hour. My understanding is that the casino promotions operate on Eastern time. This is unfortunately all a moot point for me personally, because I have a schedule conflict tomorrow that would prevent me from playing all day if I were doing well. I still can't decide whether it's worthwhile or not. I guess the question boils down to how many players will seriously play it with a chance of succeeding.
Really slooooooooooow Ken: Do you think the 270 hands per hour is a reasonably reliable estimate? That breaks down to 1 hand every 13 seconds or so. Can't gain a "playing fast" advantage at that slow pace. That could get to be pretty boring and by 2 or 3am, one is likely to fall asleep. :sleep:
I am playing the download version with a cable connection. Should be able to get at least 500 hands per hour.
Well, I am seeing this at www.888.com/?page=hbonuspolicy&lang=en All Initial Deposit Welcome Bonuses, 888-Day Bonuses ($88 Bonus) and Happy Hour Bonuses received via funds Deposited by NETELLER or Moneybookers may be Cashed Out only after an amount totaling no less than 50 times the Bonus amount has been wagered.
I do not recomment that you play this site. It is the slowest site I have ever experienced. There is no way that you can play enough hands in 48 hours (constant play) to achieve anywhere close to 21 suited BJ's. I played approximately 250 hands & received 1 suited spade BJ. Also when you prepare to cash out it staqtes it may take up to 5 days to process the cash out, even though I used Neteller & requested the cash out to go there. Then it states to go to www.888.com to learn more about cash out procedures. I went there & found nothing. Playing flat bet, in 250 hands I lost 26 units, which is well above the expected lost. 10 units would be more like it. There are to many good places to play to fool with places like this.
888.com Blackjack Promotion I was just made aware of a misunderstanding in the spaded blackjack promotion at 888.com Brace yourself, this is not pretty.... The idea was to see who could get 21 suited, in spades, blackjacks first in a 24 hour period. The problem stems from the fact that the promotions department at 888.com counts a suited, in spades, blackjack as Ace-Jack only. Now before you start cussing or laughing, I spoke with Lloyd, a manager at the casino, and he said he would speak with the promotions department to rectify the situation. I explained our view of the situation in this manner. We just promoted your casino because of these possible large jackpots this weekend, and we now look like fools. Not only that, but most of the players who ventured to your site for the first time probably won't be back, unless you fix this misunderstanding. I told him they will lose a lot more than the $200,000 prize, in lost future revenue if they don't own up to the problem, and count all suited blackjacks, which will give someone a chance of actually hitting the 21 needed to win the bonus. Ken Smith is in transit at the moment, but will have more to say soon. We apologize for any problem this may have caused, but we will not stop until they take care of this situation. This will be resolved in the player's favor, one way or another.
