Wouldn't you just know it .... There have been a few small/medium bj and roulette tournaments here that I neglected to post about. (And in some cases didn't bother to play in.) After seeing Gronbog's post about the £25K tournament in Nottingham, I resolved to stride out and do a tour of the local casinos, for the first time in a while, just to check what is going on. It turns out a £21K bj tournament is what is going on! I'd sort of lost interest lately, and could easily not have discovered this before it was all over. So I'm doubly grateful to Gronbog. I'll try and get hold of the full details in a few days time. It's only just been announced, and the casino staff aren't quite up to speed yet. The essentials of it are - Qualification runs from Nov 1st to Nov 19th, in all (I think) Grosvenor casinos in London. (Eight of them exist.) Two sessions per day during that period (8PM and midnight), in each casino. £21 entry, with unlimited rebuys. 14 hands accumulation. Each day's top score at each casino wins a prize of £210. The top 3 scores from each casino, when qualification is over, qualify for the final. Final takes place at the Barracuda casino. [Can't tell from the notes I took if the final is on 19th, with last day of qual. on the 18th, or if the final is on the 20th.] I saw a breakdown of the prize structure, but didn't note it down. I think it was £21K guaranteed 1st prize, with the top 10 getting percentages of the prize pool. I didn't see any mention of the format for the final itself.
I found some of the details listed online - http://www.britevents.com/whats-on/...r-casinos-london-blackjack-tournament/657388/ The final is in fact on Nov 21st. And the rebuy situation is more complicated than I thought - Don't know if you can re-enter in the same session, as well as re-buy within each 14-hand entry. If not, then it looks like the optimal strategy for each session would be to sprint from casino to casino, until you set your target score or run out of casinos!
Hi Our Tournament is doing well; it looks like we might need to raise the prize money. You can Join us at any or all of our London clubs to entry. However is might be easier to get on the leader board on some of our smaller clubs. LONDON BLACKJACK TOURNAMENT The Barracuda Top Points Totals Mr P 50000 Mr S 16000 Mr B 15000 The Gloucester Top Points Totals Mr H 10,300 Mr Y 10,000 Mr M 9,200 The Golden Horseshoe Top Points Totals H S 18000 R J 11600 T S 10000 The Park Towers Top Points Totals A A 12100 Mr N 8400 J T / P B Tied on 7000 The Piccadilly Top Points Totals N S 9600 C P 7900 A W 4250 Russell Square Top Points Totals Mr S 10200 M S A 8000 A M 6300 St Giles Top Points Totals St 25725 D M 14250 A 9050 The Victoria Top Points Totals A T 44025 F O 42600 R F 41450
Looks like you worked out the process of listing the event, including adding a new casino. Well done! Thanks Luke
Well, I managed to qualify, but didn't finish in the money. There were 32 qualifiers in total - the top 3 from each of the 8 casinos, plus one wildcard from each (they went down each leaderboard from 4th position until they found someone who would take up the option of a wildcard seat for £210). At the finals we had a semi-final, table-elimination round of 4 tables of 8, with 2 advancing from each to a final table of 8. The only quirk in the format was no max bet. Alas, a couple of people at my table built up over 4x the starting br, and when I eventually gave chase it didn't work out for me. But the good news is the event was considered a big success and is likely to be repeated, possibly involving all their UK casinos, not just the London ones, perhaps with a £100K guaranteed first prize. (The actual first prize this time was around £31K, compared to the £21K guarantee.) Maybe we are getting to the stage where it could be worth a trip across the Atlantic to play in a UK tournament.
Looks like the repeat is going to happen. I just spotted the following on the web site of one of the casinos. I assume it will involve all the same casinos as last time -
Its BACK London Blackjack Tournament 1st prize £50,000 GUARANTEED Tuesday 21st April – Monday 11th May Semi-Finals and Finals take place Wednesday 13th May from 7.30pm, VIP Room at Victoria Casino, London Join us for Grosvenor Casinos second London Blackjack Tournament. Players will play against each other in order to win a seat at the final table for a chance to scoop the £50,000 guaranteed top prize. Players can qualify online via Live Casino on desktop and mobile or in one of our London casinos. 6 players from each London casino will qualify for the finals, the top 3 highest scoring players and the top 3 accumulative scoring players. Plus, 6 players qualifying from online. A total of 54 lucky Grosvenor Casino players will take their seat at the finals for a chance to win the guaranteed £50,000 top prize. There will be a minimum of 2 qualifying sessions taking place between 8pm and midnight across our 8 London Grosvenor Casinos. The Barracuda, Gloucester Road, Golden Horseshoe, The Park Tower, Piccadilly, Russell Square, St Giles and The Victoria. Other rounds will be scheduled- see casino for details. Entry and re-buy fee is £25* giving you chips to the value of 1000 points to start (Re-buys during the first 7 hands only, less than 50% starting points). You have 14 hands to gain as many chips as you can, which will be converted into points. Plus, daily highest points at each casino will receive £250 Free bet* Prize Breakdown 1st prize £50,000 GUARANTEED 2nd prize 50%of remaining prize pool 3rd prize 20% of remaining prize pool 4th prize 15% of remaining prize pool 5th prize 10% of remaining prize pool 6th prize 5% of remaining prize pool 7th prize Champagne dinner for two at The Victoria plus £400 Golden Cheque 8th prize Bottle of champagne plus £200 Golden Cheque You’ve beaten the dealer, now beat the players Take your seat today! *T’s and C’s apply. Full tournament procedures available at cash desk at the casino
