Are they just going to constantly double the blinds?

or are they gonna go 25/50,50/100,75/150,100/200,150/300,etc?

I talked to the guy Ryan on the phone yesterday and he told me the Ballroom will open up registration at 9 AM on saturday.

I'm gonna get there at that time. He said I should almost definitely be able to get in at that time (won't be shut out).

I really think the levels should be like 35/40 minutes since they are making a big to do about this tournament.

Yeah I'd prefer/love longer levels too....what decent MTT player wouldn't?

Buy-in is not that high, therefore the juice is not that much. You want longer rounds, you would have to pay more in juice to cover a longer tournament, more dealers/shifts/etc.

You need to keep in mind the philosphy of Atlantic City tournament poker. Except for a few larger tournaments (WPT, WSOP, Borgata specials, etc.), all they want is your money. They are in no way concerned about making sure you get your entertainment value for your buy-in. They offer the tournaments only as marketing, becuase once you donk out, they want you to sit at the live cash games and run a rake over you. They can rake more off you in 3 live hands vs. the juice from a tournament buy-in that you will be in an average 2 hours. Why do you keep seeing stories of floor/management screw-ups and horrible decisions during tournaments on here? Do you think they even care? No! (For an example, Hilton used to run a nice cheap $50 tournament weekdays at 2PM, you started with 3,000 chips, 25/50, 30 minute levels, antes start at level 3. I went last month and AFTER the tournament started, I found out they changed the levels to 20 minutes. Just that change alone took the tournament structure from fairly decent structure to a total crap shoot.)

Well from what we understand of this structure on Saturday is this likely to be a crapshoot?

I never play live tournaments and can't really come up with a definitive answer.

I've played the Borgata 300+40, which is the same chips and 30 minute levels, quite a few times. It is pretty far from a crapshoot for a one-day.

My guess for this structure is that if its comparable to the one I'm used to, there's going to be enough play in the starting stack for 5-6 levels. After that you need to have made something happen.

I'm about 50/50 (waking up early enough to register sounds hard) on playing this.

The Showboat tournament this Saturday is a good structure for the buy-in amount. It seems like the structure for this tournament is similar to the Borgata regular tournament.
LEVEL ANTE BLINDS
1st - $25 - $50
2nd - $50 - $100
3rd - $100 - $200
4th $25 $100 - $200
5th $50 $200 - $400
6th $75 $300 - $600
7th $100 $400 - $800
8th $200 $600 - $1,200
9th $300 $800 - $1,600
10th $300 $1,000 - $2,000
11th $500 $1,500 - $3,000
12th $500 $2,000 - $4,000
13th $1,000 $3,000 - $6,000
14th $1,000 $4,000 - $8,000
15th $2,000 $6,000 - $12,000

All my post was stating that you can not expect long rounds for such low buy-in/juice. This is mainly all of the lower buy-in daily tournaments.

That's identical AFAIK and I absolutely agree that you get what you pay for - 25 bucks juice for this structure is fair in my book.

Sorry, I did not even see your post.

This would have been a lot better if they included 75/150 and 150/300 levels or just made each round about 45 minutes long.

If they are playing up the tournament this much they shouldn't make it a push fest at the end.

Are the satellites running through Friday?

I would imagine they would, unless they sell it out.

I just spoke with Chris in the poker room. He said they currently have 140 registered and are expecting around another 90 today. This would leave about half the available seats open for walk ins tomorrow. I am planning to go but with a two hour drive I won't be getting there until around 9:30a. No big deal though, if they do somehow sell out I guess I will head to Borgata for super satellite day and fight the crowds.

GL to everyone who plays this weekend.

Highly doubt that you would get closed out if you get there 9:30 AM...thats what Im gonna try and do anyway.

barring sudden illness, looking forward to seeing you guys and gals tomorrow.

Shooting to get there between 9 and 9:30...if that's not early enough, its not worth it

I am here. got registered in under 5 minutes. there was no line. the cashier said she did not know how many runners we have but thought it was around 200. the cap is 600 so it won't be selling out that's for sure.

I am preparing a boring TR which no one will read/care about...lol

also....I HATE my Treo.

It filled up at 400 people plus it had ~20 alternates.

421 people, $29k first place

I played a lot at table 35 with that Eagles cheerleader Alicia Lee..

crippled when I lost a flip during the 500/1k 200 ante level with tens vs KJ spades..QJ2 flop,gg.

From my view from table 3, I couldn't tell if it was Alcia or J R Reid in drag. Anyways, arrived at 9:00 am and there were about 6 people ahead of me in the registration line.
When the gentleman in front of me handed the lady his card, license and money,she said he was already registered by way of a SNG. He said he sorted remembered something about that.
Drinks were free, but they only had 4 waitresses to start.
They had a food stand set up but that cost ya. Two "Hugo Boss" girls were there,carrying around signs that indicated blinds and antes at the beginning of each round.
I was knocked out shortly after they announced 250 people were left in the tourney. Three of us were elimanated by the table bigstack. My 99 vs young Asian kid 99 vs old grouchy lady's 77 vs big stack's K 10. Of course Big stack
hit a 10 on the turn. I'm not sure they have the way they break up tables down pat. The first time I was moved, the table I went to broke up after one hand. The next table I went to broke up after one orbit. I did enjoy it, even when stuck with Met fans at my table. Everyone was invited to the Foundation room at 9:00 pm. I usually just play the daily Showboat tourneys. I cashed on the Labor day 7:00 pm tourney, so I used that for todays tourney. Thanks for reading my ramblings. I hope to play this in the future.

R they goin to run another one soon?

I heard the winnings were chopped between the final seven only after some douchebag was bounced out at eighth. Knowing this guy, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. And since he's the one that said it, I actually believe it.

This is true. I was the one who bounced him. I am going to do a TR but still don't know WTF he was doing calling me with that hand.

That's awesome. I can't stand that guy, he's the biggest douche in poker and life.

He walked into Harrah's with this stunned look on his face. He could barely even get out what had even happened. Someone had to ask him about five times how much did he win out of the deal, eventually he said something around $2,000. But he was just amazed by what happened.

He didn't mention the hand just the fact that the tourney chopped after he left. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

It is so cool to hear all good things about the Saturday Tounrey at Showboat. I had such a kick ass day too! It went so good all day. I didn't think the food was that expensive. A dollar for chips, a buck fifty for a slice of pizza, that's pretty reasonable i think. It sucks for you Slubard that you got moved so many times. The tables broke down so fast for a while. When 400 people go down to 250 in the first three hours of a tournament thats alot of tables combining.
I heard they are planning another one some time in October maybe. That would be cool.

See you guys there!

Thats funny. I was also one of the 7 that chopped. And that guy was so miserable the whole time and begging for us to include him in the chop during the break before the final table. With blinds at 30k-60k with a 10k ante, and him sitting with 70k or so in front of him, it would have been stupid not to wait and see if he doubles up or gets booted. And even better, a different guy made a stupid play and ended up gettin knocked out first in 9th, with that guy at least squeezing up to 8th. When he showed up to Harrahs, he should have been happy to have even gotten to that spot as I sat with him for a while and saw him survive a couple all ins while coming from behind

Overall a very well run tournament. Chris and his staff did a great job, especially Kelli, who I think really helped it run smoothly and professionally. Can't wait till the next one