Kewadin Soo tournament report
The tournament was held in the Tahquamenon rooms, away from the main casino floor. It was March in the UP. The snow was piled up high against the windows as you walked down the hallway to the tournament area.
Preliminary rounds : There were about 80 entrants in the tournament. Saturday prelims had six or seven at each table, with two advancing. The re-buy rounds (which cost $100) had seven at a table, with just one advancing, and there were some who questioned the limited opportunity to advance out of the re-buy round.
Round two on Sunday morning was pretty hectic. There had been the daylight saving time change overnight, and with many of the players coming from Wisconsin, that was a two hour change since arrival at the Soo on Friday. In addition, the table assignments and times were not posted on Saturday night as they usually have been in the past. One unfortunate player did not show up on time for the 10:00 start, and was DQed after about a fifteen minute wait while the staff tried to locate him. The quarterfinals had seven at a table with FOUR advancing, plus the high chip count across all five tables, to get 21 players for the semi-finals. At least one of the tables was down to four players and finished early, with 15 or more hands to go. Angel Run was the high chip count to advance into the semis, and Monkey System and Cadillac Tim also advanced.
Nothing special about the semi-finals, that I saw. Two advanced out of the seven at each table, plus one high non-winning chip count across the three tables.
I believe that I was the only BJT regular at the final table. It was an all-male final table, with one gentleman from Canada, three Soo area locals, one southern Wisconsin regular, and one I am not sure of. The Canadian man took first place, I took second, and I don't recall how the others played out.