World Series of Blackjack III, Week One

Paul 'The Assclown' made me feel like changing the channel and watching baseball. It was like watching John Rocker try to play Blackjack.

Bummer to see Kenny E go that quickly, but that's the way this game works sometimes.

 

Bring on HDave versus Paul

and throw in chainsaw also.

sidekick

 

Wow....Nice call. I knew he reminded me of someone. At least Chainsaw could form complete sentences though. :joker:

It was like watching two people with down syndrome have sex.

And I have to watch him again in round two?

Dave would embarrass this clown. Say what you want about HWood, but he's got a brain behind his mouth.

Better yet, let me go up against him next year and send him home. *hint hint GSN*

 

Production did look good. Not sure how I felt about the Burger King deal, but at least it was a sponsor. The KO thing was very UBT-like.

 

Wsob Iii

Random thoughts:

Don't exactly remember last hand cards. numbers gurus jump in. but, given tommy's eight, don't know if I were mouth, that I would have doubled the stiff with dealer's under seven up card.

Corporate sponsorship made it a three way cost split. or exposure. GSN/Hilton and Burger Puke. What exactly each's exposure was, maybe someone knows...
GSN gets benefit of carrying and staging it(their show).

Hilton hosted it, out of their good graces, got sites and sounds and trivia questions.

Burger Puke had the "Your Way" card and a couple of probably not paid for silly chicken commercials.

One of the commentators and who else thought it was better to hit a 14 than stand on a 17 when either way the dealer had to bust.

Interesting contrast to UBT format, in that the elimination is still in play, even if a player goes out on the prior hand or in the elimination hand. In UBT, if one, two, or three players go all in and lose prior to elimination hand, the remaining players are still subject to the low stack elimination(unless that gets changed. and probably shouldn't.

Set and production were slick. Did have tension. Can only BJ players like it, or will it bring more?

And while the non-pros made less than optimal bets, they seemed to have a general concept of what was necessary. Hmmm. Does this reinforce TX's theory, or was it the way the cards were running?

 

I think he had a hard 13.

 

I have a purpose now

The one thing I can say about WSOB III is that it gave me a purpose. Now it is my goal in life to become pro level so I can crush Paul Haas like a bug.....

As for the other stuff, the gimmicks are silly as hell. The KO card adds some unpredictability to the game and I'm okay with that, I guess, but if I have to hear about freaking players "having it their way" every god damn monday I'm going to kill myself. I've never cheered harder for anyone in any form of cards than I did for Kenny and he got a horrible, horrible break, with the added insult of Haas acting like he willed the dealer into making that 21. I'm not sure how I feel about the respectability of blackjack resting in Hollywood Dave's hands but now my backing is behind him because at least I know he has the chops and deserves to be there.

 

Imagine sitting next to him!

Watching him on the semi-finals will be interesting. Anyone wanna take a gander on how much of the $25,000 award paid was left the next day?

I think the set still looked GREAT and the production crew captured the excitement. GSN did well and made me proud. Everyone looked good on TV - especially Sheila and Kenny - that might have been the most exciting first round table... 7 more episodes to decide

I am very pleased with the outcome and I had a fantastic time.

Stacks "The Investment Advisor and Financial Planner from Florida"
jaxstacks@comcast.net

 

What did I think of the show?

I'm a WSOB fan from the first time I saw WSOB I and became an even bigger fan after getting on WSOB II, but I felt like over all the first two years the players acted with class.

Tonight I want to see a tournament blackjack not players running for public office or screen testing for Anthony Perkins part in a re-make of Psycho...LOL.

Ken made the same comparison I was going to make to the WWF or worst "King of Vegas", with all the antics going on tonight.

The productions and filming was great, but I over all I was embarrass that people may think that is how tournament blackjack players really act.

Other than Hollywood's antics on the first two years of the WSOB, no one acts like that in tournament play (Thank God)! And in Dave's defense it is just an act to mess with the other players.

Paul really ruined the show for me, his actions were borderline Psychotic and he had neither rhyme nor reason with most of his bets, early anyway. Paul is a perfect example of how much luck is involved in tournament play and how anybody can win if they get lucky. Had he of been nice (or normal anyway) it wouldn't have been that big of a deal.

And then his howling didn't endear him to either the fans or me. He is only the second player on the WSOB that I just didn't care for at all (the first was the spoiled brat from Mohegan Sun that pissed on the Roulette wheel, can't and don't care to remember his name). Unless Paul is a big player (or on TV) that kind of behavior would never be tolerated in tournament play.

I guess it's not his fault though, I'd be upset too if someone cut my hair like they did his. What the hell kind of a hairdo was that? I wasn't sure if they butchered his flattop or he chickened out of a Mohawk.... LOL.

The one thing I will say in Paul’s defense is he won the right to be on the show and therefore dissevered to be on it.

Friendly jabs and joking around with the other players is one of the things I love about tournament play, but watching tonight’s show was embarrassing for me to be associated as a blackjack tournament player. This first show resembled "King of Vegas" too much for my taste.

The knockout card is very UBT like, the “Burger King – Power Chip”? I’m not crazy about, but I can live with it. It does get outside sponsorship involved (which is needed if we want to play for the big bucks).

One thing I didn’t care fore was the hand numbers weren’t posted on every hand, only a pop up in the top left corner would come up and I’m not sure if it came up for every hand.

Kenny E. had a heartbreaker getting drawn out on his 20.

Tommy was the player who just beat out LHENRYC on the last hand at the Tulsa Cherokee casino qualifier. That was the casino where I tried to qualify also.

John played a good game for a new tournament player and with any luck could have been there to the end.

Sheila could have advanced passed the first knockout round had the dealer busted, she was just unfortunate.

One last thing, what was with the dealer calling out every card? Maybe the two card total, but why call out the first card to every player?

 

Burger King Power Chip

"Bear in mind no one has used their Burger King PowerChip, so that they can Have it Their Way". Haha. What a plug.

Also, I can't believe a person like Paul made it on the show.

 

What was the format?

I'm curious, Ken. Was it a structured table advance format or highest bankroll at the end wins? If it was structured, how many rounds were there?

 

That's about right. They had 4 qualifying rounds of 280 people feeding the final. Edited to add - He didn't actually win his quarter final table. They qualified some number of wildcards into the semi finals based on money won by non-winners at each table. His table had a cold dealer and including the table winner, 5 people made it to the semi finals.

He was the one that beat me in the semi finals at one of the qualifiers at Mystic Lake. I realize that means nothing for what I would've done, but I took him to the last hand and if the dealer would've busted on the 14 he would've been on the sidelines. I didn't watch the finals that night but he was a jerk at the semi final table and he was the one who jumped on the table and yelled "Show me the money" when he won the final.

I told my wife before the show that I was kind of torn. On one hand I hoped he went down in flames early, but on the other hand since he was the one that beat me, I hoped he did well.

 

Haas

With such an aggressive betting style, anybody can get lucky and win a tournament or two. In the long run, though, that strategy will lose many more times than win. The trick is to be able to win consistently, and I didn't see anything out of that guy that would make me think he has the skill to do that.

 

Well I Could Do Without Paul And His Mouth It Sounds Like He Won A Lot Of Rounds To Get There So He Deserves To Be There But Leave The Mouth Back In Minnasota-he Should Crash And Burn In The Semi-finales-
What Was The Final Bankroll For Mr Mouth 218000?
The Knockout Card Is Interesting I Suppose You Need To Be Br1 Br2 Br3 From The Beginning To Survive
The Burger King Is Ok- I Have Lost A Position On The Final With Something Somewhat Like That Except In My Case It Was A Button You Could Use If You Had A Hand That You Could Bust On With The Button If You Bust You Did Not Loose Your Hand
I Like Max Rubin There Instead As A Host
Was There Any Friction Between Ken And The Mouth Before The Event And This Was A Carry Over Or Just Showtime?:d :d :d :d
Since There Are Big Sponsors Maybe The 1st Place Next Year Will Be A Million

 

Player info: Paul Hass

The Player information over at GSN WSOB web site has:

Paul Hass

Mystic Lake Casino Hotel Age: 24

Paul is known as “The Assassin” is single and resides in Twin Cites MN. Employed as a construction worker, Hass is one of the youngest players entered in the WS of Blackjack tournament. Paul says he plays on gut instinct and only hopes this “No strategy” philosophy will see him through.

One can only imagine about Paul's nickname, I assume during one of his rounds one of the other players called him an "Ass" while he was howling and misheard them thinking they called him "Assassin"....LOL.

As far as being only 24 and one of the youngest players on the show and his "No strategy" philosophy for the tournament both were pretty obvious.

Still no matter what I or anyone thinks about his actions and play, he won his seat and dessevered the right to be on the show.

I was told that the shows clam down a lot after last nights show, which is a good thing. Maybe next week we can just see a blackjack tournament and not "Call of the Wild"...LOL

And Maxwell, you comment about next year playing for one Million maybe be valid. All three years the WSOB has increased it's prize pool. Year one: $100,000 for 1st, year two: $250,000, and year three: $500,000 for 1st. I have never heard of any tournaments doing that before, thumbs up to GSN for bring both big bucks and blackjack to TV.

 

Ultimate fantasy TV match....

I was just thinking, how much fun it be to watch Paul, Joep, Big Chuck, and Hollywood all on the same table...LOL.

I'd just feel sorry for the other player at the table...LOL.

I have to admit it would be an entertaining table, it wouldn't be quite thats for sure....LOL.

 

Joep

YEA WITH JOEP 1 AND JOEP 2 AND JOEP 3 YOU HAVE FULL TABLE:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: