2016 Great Blue Heron Casino Tournament Schedule
With only the King of the Cards (KOC) championship left this year, Great Blue Heron Casino has released the 2016 tournament schedule.
The bad: All the $300+$30 buy-ins with 10,000 starting chips have been replaced by $200+$25 with only 8,000 chips while rake has increased to over 11%.
I like win-win compromises, but this is a lose-lose situation for both the players and the casino. Many of the players I talked to (including the only other forum member in KOC) do not want to drive all the way to GBH for only a $225 buy-in. The casino will earn up to $450 less rake/tournament by replacing the $330.
The good: For those that could not afford the $330 buy-in, you can now play up to eighteen $225 buy-ins, which are better than buying in to any US 30%-taxed tournaments. You get a buffet voucher worth up to $25, and final three players win a trophy.
WWBD: I will try to play all five $550 buy-ins with 15,000 starting chips and 9.1% rake. PM me if you are interested in carpooling, like DirtArse, Irunit4times, PocketTwos, lynx5, etc. have previously done. I was thinking of playing the $225s, but will probably miss too many of them with all the bigger tournaments DirtArse and I are hoping to play in 2016.
The bad: All the $300+$30 buy-ins with 10,000 starting chips have been replaced by $200+$25 with only 8,000 chips while rake has increased to over 11%.
I like win-win compromises, but this is a lose-lose situation for both the players and the casino. Many of the players I talked to (including the only other forum member in KOC) do not want to drive all the way to GBH for only a $225 buy-in. The casino will earn up to $450 less rake/tournament by replacing the $330.The good: For those that could not afford the $330 buy-in, you can now play up to eighteen $225 buy-ins, which are better than buying in to any US 30%-taxed tournaments. You get a buffet voucher worth up to $25, and final three players win a trophy.
WWBD: I will try to play all five $550 buy-ins with 15,000 starting chips and 9.1% rake. PM me if you are interested in carpooling, like DirtArse, Irunit4times, PocketTwos, lynx5, etc. have previously done. I was thinking of playing the $225s, but will probably miss too many of them with all the bigger tournaments DirtArse and I are hoping to play in 2016.
Comments
Also, do they have NL cash games or is it limit only? I haven't been there in years...
There is a 1/2 spread limit game available, with a maximum bet of $100. You should sign up for this when as you arrive, as the list takes time to get to ten players and seems to be the lowest priority for each newly available tournament table.
In the past two championships, nobody was against paying out everybody in the final table, but the TD seems to think that players only want very top-heavy payouts, with a whopping 50% of the prize pool going to only one player! ^-^ In 2014, we could never agree to any deal during the entire final table, unlike the many multi-way chops at Playground.
In Wednesday's KOC, all the players agreed with me again that the payouts should be flattened for next year and it's better for the GBH poker economy. Some players recognized the REG patch I was wearing and asked, and I told them that I was going to donate a percentage of any winnings to my favourite charity of Raising for Effective Giving. The chipleaders kept saying no to any deal, until we got 6-handed and the two former CL became short stacks. The two finally agreed with the rest of the table to give cash to whoever the bubble boy will be. When it got down to 3-handed, I was on friendly terms with the other two finalists; one I have seen many times at WPT/WSOP events and the other I just had lunch with when he was a short stack. The three of us had similar stacks so we agreed to a money chop, and we all won a trophy. The final hand was all-in blind.
We collected all the prizes at the cashier, then went back to the table and distributed the cash. They were both unaware that unlike Fallsview & most US casinos, OLG casinos do not have any deductions for staff gratuities. I left a dealer tip as always, and one of them decided to also leave a tip.
Congrats Neil on the win! See you at fallsview!
Thanks!
And thanks again....see you in Fallsview!
- Rama: March 21, April 4, etc.
- Woodbine: April 3 and May 1 Deep Stacks.
- Brantford: April 14; May 8, 19 & 29 Deep Stacks.
- WSOP/WPT Montreal: April 19 - May 5.
- GBH: May 18 $550 Deep Stack.
The last $550 GBH Deepstack had 81 players. There were 78 players at the Deepstack last Thursday at Brantford, with Toronto Pimp, EdtheTed and moose there.
The TD took all his chips, but could not disclose the reason for the disqualification. I asked the TD for a chip count so I could factor it in the total number of chips and accurate average.
When it got down to 12 and 11 players, there were the usual bubble donation proposals. Unlike Playground, Rama and Brantford, the chipleaders declined to light money on fire!
I obtained a copy of the greatly improved tournament schedule for 2017, :h: and posted a photo on my Facebook.
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I'm not sure if I have the time to play, however I would be willing to BAP if someone was interested.