Freerolling in the Bahamas, Part 1
Donna and I have been to the Cable Beach Resort in Nassau, Bahamas a couple of times. The first time was when I played in the World Poker Tour Battle for the Season Pass I. Donna loved it so much, she wanted to go back there for our honeymoon. So we went, and of course, we played in the casino. As a matter of fact, we spent a lot of time in the casino. We were very aware to use our players card when we played. When we were done, we ended up having over half of our room comped for us!
In July, we received a mailing from the Cable Beach Resort saying that we qualified for FOUR free nights at the Wyndham Resort and Crystal Palace Casino. We both figured that the room was for a Sunday through Thursday stay, but we could not find that fine print that said such. So Donna called them and to our surprise, the four free nights were valid ANY TIME through the end of October. This was a pretty good deal because rooms go for about $170 per night plus tax. We looked over the schedule of events, and picked out target dates: September 27 - October 1. There was an “Everyone Wins Holdem Poker Tournament” that weekend. The operator verified that there was availability that weekend, and we booked an ocean-view room for a whopping $0. The only thing we needed to do was to find airline tickets.
Next on the task list was to find out more about the poker tournament. I called the telephone number on the website and found out that the tournament was by invite only. The operator looked me up and said that Donna and I did qualify, but had to pay a $99 entry fee. She also told us that everybody who entered was given $100 in casino free play money. In essence, it was a freeroll.
I quizzed her on the payout. They pay the top 10 places according to the following schedule:
10th: $200
9th: $300
8th: $400
7th: $500
6th: $700
5th: $750
4th: $1000
3rd: $2500
2rd: $5000 + Gold ring valued at $2500
1st: 2008 WSOP Main Event Seat + $1000 cash for travel + Diamond championship bracelet valued at $8000
WOWIE! Not bad for a freeroll. I was curious about the chip stacks, blind structure, and number of players. She reiterated that not just anybody can enter. Entry into the tournament is by invite only. When I pressed about how many entries there typically are, she said about 150. Every player starts with T10,000 chips, the levels are 20 minutes long, and the blinds start at 50-100. I do not like the 20 minute blinds, but everything else seems great.
When asked about the playing schedule, her response was, “You play on the first day for three hours. If you do not bust out, you come back the next day for another three hours. If you still have not busted at that point, you take a 2 hour dinner break, then come back for the final table. The final table usually lasts another three hours.”
Am I hearing this correctly? You start with 10,000 chips, 150 people, and the tournament is over in 9 hours? Very Nice!
So, we are off to the Bahamas to play in a freeroll! We leave on Thursday the 27th. Check back for updates!