Blackjack Tournament

[drowelf]

I'm looking at some of the stuff that I can purchase pre-cruise and one of the them is an entry to the Blackjack Tournament. Does the $20 shown on the website represent any discount from the 'on the ship' price? Also on other lines I have been on, they would often have a 2 for 3 deal (buy 2 entries and get the third free). 

 

I figure the tournament is run similar to others I have been in on cruises. A bunch of preliminary rounds then the the highest 6 or 7 players complete for the prize. Also is the pot based on the total number of entrants? 

 

[HLN500]

I believe $20 is the normal price, no specials...tourney done on sea days early afternoon.

X takes a cut and the last table are the 8 highest points.

I could be misremembering but the pot is won by the top 3.

Pot is based on total PAID entries since sometimes you can earn a free entry.

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, HLN500 said:

I believe $20 is the normal price, no specials...tourney done on sea days early afternoon.

X takes a cut and the last table are the 8 highest points.

I could be misremembering but the pot is won by the top 3.

Pot is based on total PAID entries since sometimes you can earn a free entry.

a discount on $20?  LOL, just sayin...

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, drowelf said:

I'm looking at some of the stuff that I can purchase pre-cruise and one of the them is an entry to the Blackjack Tournament. Does the $20 shown on the website represent any discount from the 'on the ship' price? Also on other lines I have been on, they would often have a 2 for 3 deal (buy 2 entries and get the third free). 

 

I figure the tournament is run similar to others I have been in on cruises. A bunch of preliminary rounds then the the highest 6 or 7 players complete for the prize. Also is the pot based on the total number of entrants? 

 

 

The on board entry fee is $20 so there is no incentive to buy ahead of time.  The pot is based on the number of entrants although I have seen Celebrity supplement the pot when the turnout is very low.

 

The blackjack tournament is run very casually.  They do not rotate the deal or rotate the bet among players so the player at the 1st base position always is dealt first and goes first.  This gives an advantage to the 3rd base player on every hand.

 

Also the past few times I have played, only one round is used to determine who goes to the final table and only one table is used for the tournament.  So the same single table is used several times to allow all the players to play (you can buy in and play more than once).  The top 7 scores go on to the final round.   As each successive table is played, usually the host will verbally tell the players what the top scores are.  This gives a huge advantage to the players who show up late to the tournament as they have a good idea of the score that they need to beat to qualify for the final money round.

Edited May 3, 2021 by mahdnc

[Bill Miller]

I'm all in.

 

[HLN500]

That`s Texas hold em. Those tournaments cost more. They used to have the electronic tables on X but they were all replaced

[dabear]

1 hour ago, HLN500 said:

That`s Texas hold em. Those tournaments cost more. They used to have the electronic tables on X but they were all replaced

When were they replaced? They were on the Eclipse in 2018

[mahdnc]

[HLN500]

They were gradually being replaced ship by ship when the games table contract was up.

I personally liked them better for tournament play.

I'm not sure about other lines.

 

WOW. Those are super low scores.  Guess not that many preliminary rounds.

Edited May 4, 2021 by HLN500
add

[SHIP TRAVELER]

The on board tourney we have observed was nothing like the tourneys you see in land based casinos or read about in books written about strategy for tourney play.  It is more a "luck" thing where betting all in and getting a few good hands determines the winner.  It is an all or nothing situation IMHO.  There is no chance for a minimum bet waiting to let opponents bust out, not enough hands for that.

Good Luck,  We no longer play in these unless they are free due to the rules and reduced pay out.

 

[George C]

You can also pre buy chips , good deal if you buy 50 chips they will give you 55, I am planning to buy at least 500 so I will get 550. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I've never played in the tournament on Celebrity. It would appear that the price has increased.

 

From

$27.99 / per package

$34.99 onboard

(20% OFF )PRE-CRUISE SAVINGS

 

What... do they start you off with $500 in "play" chips?

 

On Carnival, the winner gets $500, everyone else gets nothing (well, the final table of players get a shirt, lol). I've won that perhaps 3 times. I typically take those chips straight to the $25 table, and see what that "free money" can turn into... often nothing !

 

Any special rules modifications? 

 

Tom

[mahdnc]

12 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

I've never played in the tournament on Celebrity. It would appear that the price has increased.

 

From

$27.99 / per package

$34.99 onboard

(20% OFF )PRE-CRUISE SAVINGS

 

What... do they start you off with $500 in "play" chips?

 

On Carnival, the winner gets $500, everyone else gets nothing (well, the final table of players get a shirt, lol). I've won that perhaps 3 times. I typically take those chips straight to the $25 table, and see what that "free money" can turn into... often nothing !

 

Any special rules modifications? 

 

Tom

 

Yes, the registration fee has gone up for blackjack and slot tournaments.

 

Yes, you start of with $500 in play chips

 

Only rule modification I can think of is 2:1 payout for a natural.

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by mahdnc

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Just now, mahdnc said:

 

Yes, the registration fee has gone up for blackjack and slot tournaments.

 

Yes, you start of with $500 in play chips

 

Only rule modification I can think of is 2:1 payout for a natural.

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

Tournament play is the only time that I'll deviate (far) from basic strategy ... occasionally splitting tens. I even doubled a 20 one time (I was at 3rd base, last hand, and I could not win without it), that didn't work out !!!

 

Tom

[mahdnc]

5 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Thanks.

 

Tournament play is the only time that I'll deviate (far) from basic strategy ... occasionally splitting tens. I even doubled a 20 one time (I was at 3rd base, last hand, and I could not win without it), that didn't work out !!!

 

Tom

 

Yes, because you're not playing just against the dealer. That's fairly common when the situation presents itself. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

3 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Yes, because you're not playing just against the dealer. That's fairly common when the situation presents itself. 

 

Common to those willing to adjust for the circumstances. Seems many folks still either blindly use basic strategy (well, on Carnival at least!) or use their trusted "I feel lucky" approach.  😄

 

Tom

[drowelf]

On 11/14/2022 at 1:51 PM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Thanks.

 

Tournament play is the only time that I'll deviate (far) from basic strategy ... occasionally splitting tens. I even doubled a 20 one time (I was at 3rd base, last hand, and I could not win without it), that didn't work out !!!

 

Tom

 

On 11/14/2022 at 1:57 PM, mahdnc said:

 

Yes, because you're not playing just against the dealer. That's fairly common when the situation presents itself. 

 

On 11/14/2022 at 2:03 PM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Common to those willing to adjust for the circumstances. Seems many folks still either blindly use basic strategy (well, on Carnival at least!) or use their trusted "I feel lucky" approach.  😄

 

Tom

Me too. When I play tournaments on ships, my standard playing technique goes out the window. I'll split and/or double down on cards I never would when playing with real $$$. 

 

But still have my original Q that I started this thread with. On Holland, you can generally do a buy 2 entries and get 1 free. Anyone ever seen anything like that on Celebrity, especially after the restart?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

10 minutes ago, drowelf said:

 

...

 

But still have my original Q that I started this thread with. On Holland, you can generally do a buy 2 entries and get 1 free. Anyone ever seen anything like that on Celebrity, especially after the restart?

 

Just off the Reflection - and there were no breaks for purchasing entries onboard, just the reduced cost pre-cruise.

 

Tom

[drowelf]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Just off the Reflection - and there were no breaks for purchasing entries onboard, just the reduced cost pre-cruise.

 

Tom

Thanks, 

 

The price showing on the website is ~$35, is that comparable to what you saw on the Reflection? The website is giving me 25% off, so I'm probably going to bite on that one for at least 1 entry. 

[mahdnc]

17 minutes ago, drowelf said:

But still have my original Q that I started this thread with. On Holland, you can generally do a buy 2 entries and get 1 free. Anyone ever seen anything like that on Celebrity, especially after the restart?

 

I did not see that offered on a Constellation TA that we completed last month.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

13 minutes ago, drowelf said:

Thanks, 

 

The price showing on the website is ~$35, is that comparable to what you saw on the Reflection? The website is giving me 25% off, so I'm probably going to bite on that one for at least 1 entry. 

 

I didn't look into pricing onboard, I was just going by what it had online. I never heard/saw any promos onboard regarding it though.

 

Tom