My number one tip for anyone playing a craps tournament is simple: Put your chips to work on the last roll. Whether you are in the lead or trailing, if your chips are in the rail on the last roll it's usually a mistake. Of course, there are exceptions, and I just had one myself in this week's Beau Rivage dice tournament. In the first round, I had a short table with only 8 players. Three were advancing. The round started just the way I like it. Point - Seven. That crippled a couple of competitors immediately. By the end of the round, there were only four of us with a chance, and three would advance. I was in third place by the thinnest of margins, a minimum bet ahead of fourth place. But BR4 only had a minimum Don't Pass bet working, and so did I. Because I've been burned several times with my chips in the rail, I was nervous, thinking maybe I had overlooked something. But no, it was simple, and I was a lock to advance no matter what rolled. It was one of the very rare rounds in a dice tournament where I advanced while never risking my chips. My success was short-lived though. In the next round, with about five minutes plus five rolls to go, I needed some more bankroll, so I went all-in against the current point of four. I was a 2:1 favorite to win that bet, but I ended up on the wrong end. The four rolled and that was the end of my event.
It sems like the Beau Rivage uses a Sunday, Monday format for all their 50K tournaments. I wish they would get away from that.
It is actually a Monday-Tuesday format and they have been doing it the last 3 years. The invitational tournaments are Friday-Saturday. However, they have varied on the invitational tournaments on whether or not they have a buy-in amount in addition to the invites. Sunday and Thursday are the early registration days so you can be in the drawing for one of five usually 500 (50k) or 1000 (invitational) in one time only promo chips. The EV for these drawings are very small. I would estimate in general around 10-15 for the 500 and 20-30 for the 1000. They allow registration starting about 1 hour prior to the start of the tournament on Monday or Friday. I believe they continue to allow people to buy in on the non-invitational tournaments during Monday unless they fill up. They usually have round 1 on Monday (usually 2- 6/7 pm). The rebuy round, round 2, semi-finals and finals on Tuesday. The finals are usually at 8. On Friday-Saturday tournaments, round 1 and rebuy are usually on Friday. Round 2, semis and Finals on Saturday with the finals at 5. However, they do vary the finals sometimes. I don't go to all their tournaments. I have been to 15-20 over the last 3 years. They play 10 tables a round. Round 1 usually has 4,5 or 6 at the table and they take one to round 2. Had more 5 at the table than any other number. The rebuy round usually has 5 at a table and they take top 2 to round 2. They then have a drawing before round 2 of the people who re-bought, but did not advance to fill round 2 with either 100 or 120 people (2 sessions of 10 tables). I would imagine the rebuy is probably a positive EV. The semi-finals have always had 20 people, 5 tables of 4 with winner going to finals. They draw one name just before the finals to get the 6th person for the final table. The semi-finalist who do not advance to finals usually get an amount of promo chips that would be the same as the rebuy amount, but it can vary a little.
yeahhhhhhhhhhh i'll stick with BJ too even though they comped to a $100k craps tourney on my b-day wkend next month
