Showboat Poker Tourney
 

Question for all of you. I was at Showboat this weekend and I heard a few of the players on my 1/2 NLH game talking about a big Poker Tournament at Showboat in September. Does anyone know anything about this? Or is this just a rumor?

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

I'm not sure I'd necessarily say it's a "big" tournament but definitely something bigger than they normally do. It's on Saturday, September 15th at 11:00 a.m. $225 + 25. They are running turbo satellites for $25 + 5 also. I believe there is a $20,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The structure isn't the same as the daily tournaments - most notably is that antes will be included. $10,000 in starting chips. I talked to the poker room manager and he says they are going to really try and push this in an attempt to get the first place money > $20,000.

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

How often are the satellites getting off?

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http://63o.blogspot.com

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

It's not a rumor mcbride. It is true. Showboat is hosting a Guarantee Tournament. It not a 20 grand prize pool though. It's a 20 grand FIRST PLACE- guaranteed. Registration for it is open now and you can buy a seat outright at the Boat for 225+25 or you can stop in and play a 25+5 Satelitte for the seat. It's a Turbo Satelitte with ten minute blind levels. They have them about every other hour, all day, every day. The sign ups are always up and they drop them as soon as they get ten people. 30 bucks for a chance to win $20,000 isn't a bad deal. They are hoping to get a great turn-out and exceed the guarantee. I think they will.

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

I played in a Satelitte at Showboat yesterday and took home the seat. It took about 40 minutes to get the satelitte running but I just killed some time on a 1-2NL. It was quick and painless. Most of the people registered with me were just there to donkey their chips to me. I could have bought the seat cause 250 isn't that much, but why buy it when you can win it easily. I don't know how often they run the satelittes but they had two in the three hours I was there.

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

How can Showboat not have any info on this on thier website?

Seems like there might be a lot of fine print to this. What is the payout structure to guarantee $20k to the winner? I don't feel like doing the math but wouldn't that require a TON of people, more than Showboat could handle?

I'd like to see info on the structure as well. Seems odd there is no info available.

Did I miss it somewhere?

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

I'm pretty interested in hearing more about this, if the payout table is sane and I don't have to work that weekend, I'll be there.

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

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How can Showboat not have any info on this on thier website?

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Yeah... that is kind of ridiculous. I was at Showboat last week and have played in about a 10 tournaments there this year. Still, there was nothing posted about this tournament at the property itself, and I have not received anything in mail. In contrast, I've been to the Hilton exactly once in my life to play poker, and this week I received a postcard about the New Jersey State Poker Championship that it will host next month. I guess Harrahs feels that marketing is for other casinos.

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

It could certainly be more people than their poker room has seen at one time, but it's not that big a number. (But it'd surely require extra tables, which would require CCC approval, which might be keeping them from marketing...although pretty much every big tourney announcement I see says in the fine print that the event is subject to CCC approval.)

Anyway, if $20k for 1st is, say, 25%, the prize pool is $80k. $80k/$225 = 356 players. 30% and you can do it with just under 300 players. I don't know Showboat's normal payout percentages, but a similar size daily tournament at the Taj pays 34.7% for 1st.

Re: Showboat Poker Tourney
 

It should probably be noted that the Borgata Poker Open Main Event (a WPT tournament) starts on 9/16. The Borgata is holding a supersatellite for the ME on 9/15, apparently the same day as the Showboat tourny. The buy-in for the Borgata supersatellite is $250 + $30.

Also, for what it's worth, Borgata's "$50,000 Friday" tournament may be a good analogy for what Showboat is trying to accomplish. Borgata's Friday daily costs $250 + $30 to enter, and it typically draws over 300 players. First prize usually exceeds $20,000. I've been there on Fridays when the number of players has exceeded 400 and first-place exceeded $30,000. Heck, I played in Borgata's "$10,000 Wednesday" tournament last week, and it drew 457 players.

So the demand is out there in AC for a good tournament with a fair structure (as the Borgata tournies always are). Can Showboat pull this off on the same weekend that WPT is in town for the Borgata? Who knows, but one thing that makes me skeptical is Showboat poker room management. It frequently has problems running its daily tournaments with only 100 players, as many posters here have noted. I'm not sure the Showboat is ready for a big field tournament.