I got invited to a Blackjack tournament up in Tahoe on Saturday. Total prize money was $30K. Nice weather, free room and some free play...why not?
The format was two rounds of 25 hands each. You got $10,000 in chips. Max bet on the first 20 hands was $5000 and the last five hands of each round you could bet $10k. The top 30 cumulative scores advanced to the third round and then the top six advanced to the fourth round and played for the big money.
After the first round, I was a little over 20K in chips so I asked the dealer "what score it took from both rounds to get into the third round." She tells me "high 20's to low 30's." So, when I sit down for my second round play, which starts off at $10,000 in chips, I figure I am already in. I decide to play defensively and end up both rounds with 33K in chips.
At 4 pm, they start calling off the 30 semi finalists. The top chip position was at $75K and by the time they got to 30th position, you needed $40k to get in. So, I played based on some advice but didn't get in. Of course, even if I would have played more aggressively, I still might not have made it. It's a tough call and maybe next time I will do things different. Or, maybe I will just stick to Video Poker.
Ted in Chico
The format was two rounds of 25 hands each. You got $10,000 in chips. Max bet on the first 20 hands was $5000 and the last five hands of each round you could bet $10k. The top 30 cumulative scores advanced to the third round and then the top six advanced to the fourth round and played for the big money.
After the first round, I was a little over 20K in chips so I asked the dealer "what score it took from both rounds to get into the third round." She tells me "high 20's to low 30's." So, when I sit down for my second round play, which starts off at $10,000 in chips, I figure I am already in. I decide to play defensively and end up both rounds with 33K in chips.
At 4 pm, they start calling off the 30 semi finalists. The top chip position was at $75K and by the time they got to 30th position, you needed $40k to get in. So, I played based on some advice but didn't get in. Of course, even if I would have played more aggressively, I still might not have made it. It's a tough call and maybe next time I will do things different. Or, maybe I will just stick to Video Poker.
Ted in Chico
