TOURNAMENT DAY!!!
I Woke up, grabbed Starbucks and headed to the tournament play area to await my 12 noon start time.
I sat down at my assigned table and, naturally, a few people were not only in the wrong seats at the table, but at the wrong tables entirely. Once the "Chinese fire drill" was finished, we were each given 5k in chips and play began. My strategy was to bet the 100 minimum each hand in the hopes that others would burn their chip stacks. The guy to my left was the first to go of the five of us at the table. He was betting 500/hand and, when he was down to 1k in chips, instead of getting change, he bet them and was dismissed from the table a couple of hands. later, the guy at third base was on a nice run and was the chip leader after 8 of the 20 hands. However, he started betting bigger and bigger (I assume he wanted to get so far ahead nobody could catch him) but that backfired and he was quickly out as he passed a point of no return and needed to bet big just to get back into the mix. Finally, at hand 17, the guy to my right only had 1k left, the guy to my far left had 6k and I had 4900. The guy to my right bet his 1k and was dealt a blackjack. He now had 2500. His next bet, on hand 18, was 1k and he was dealt an 8,3 and doubled. He was dealt a 10 for 21 -- things were about to get interesting. The dealer had a 10 showing, turned over a 2 and then drew a 9 for 21. Wow, that was lucky for me. So, hand 19 began and the guy to my right bet 2k (max bet), the guy to my far left bet 100 and I bet 100. If the guy on my right won this hand, we would all be virtually tied going into the final hand. The button was on the guy to my left so he was dealt to first, with the hands as follows:
Far left: King, 8
Right: Ace, 7
Me: 10, 6
Dealer: 9,x
Guy on far left stayed with 18
Guy on right inexplicably stayed on Soft 18
I stayed on 16
Dealer had 9 and naturally turned over a King for 19. YES!!! There would be no hand 20 as only far left guy and I remained with any chips. We had made it to Round 2, which commences tomorrow morning.
Going to relax for a bit and see what the day brings.------Sat down at a 6D game and the guy who had been up for over 36 hours and was drinking wine to help him get to sleep was playing and yes, he had some wine 🍷He was getting brutalized and I asked if he wanted me to jump in - he declined and I patiently waited for the shuffle. Things turned around for him in the next shoe and went nicely for me as well - I picked up 600 and the trip became +2950
I sauntered over to watch the "re-buy" round of the Blackjack tournament (re-buys were $500) and those players could also, once again, purchase a "mulligan" for $50. I watched one table where the betting and chip stacks were extremely close. On the final hand, only 3k separated first from last at the table and nobody had yet busted out. The pit did a chip count, the button put in front of first base and everyone placed their bets. The average bet was 2k and everyone still had their "mulligan" cards to use. The dealer had a 10♠️ up and the best hand anyone had was a 17. First base had Ace,5 and doubled, receiving a Queen. He used his "mulligan" and received a 9 (no help at all) - Second position doubled a hard 12 and was dealt a 2. She used her "mulligan" and was dealt a 5 - Third position doubled a hard 15 and busted. He used his "mulligan" and busted all over again - Fourth position had an Ace,3 and doubled, receiving an 8. She used her "mulligan" and was dealt a 4 - Third base had Ace, 4 and doubled, receiving a 7 - He used his "mulligan" and was dealt another 7 - Naturally, the dealer turned over another 10 and everyone lost. The pit sorted out the chip count, which, for everyone, was now de minimus, and the two leaders from that table advanced
I made my way back over to the high limit room and played my way through one shuffle of 2D at a full table. I was, luckily, dealt 2 naturals and, by the end of the shuffle, had won another 400 - Trip +3350
Took a nap this afternoon to ready myself for Saturday night in downtown Las Vegas. Had some chicken parmesan at Grotto's and headed to the blackjack tables. With all the players in town for the blackjack tournament, GN raised all double deck games to a $200 minimum. I decided to pass and strolled Fremont for a bit instead. Although I did not capture it on video, a possibly homeless woman decided it would be fun to dance with me to Earth, Wind and Fire's "September" -- how could I pass up that opportunity?
Well, I decided to play at the only high limit table that remained 100 minimum, a 6D shoe game. Nothing much to write home about and by the end of the shoe I gained 1 unit - Trip +3450
Afterwards, while walking through the casino, a guy tried to grab my vaporizer - When I asked him what in the world he was doing, he replied that he merely wanted a puff. I told him "I don't think so" and he replied that it would "be ok" because had "had all his shots" - no idea what shots this guy might have needed but I walked away and left him in the dust.
On that note I decided to get a snack at the gift shop and retire to my room to get a good night sleep in preparation for round 2 of the blackjack tournament in the morning Sweet dreams