We are aware of the Ultimate BJ Tour. Unfortunately our profession is BJ against the house not tournament BJ. Congratulations to those who no longer have anonymity and make a living writing books and playing celebrity BJ tournaments. Who knows if television will be able to capitalize on Pokers success and reproduce the same drama in tournament BJ. In any case it is not our gig. What we do know for a fact, is that making money playing BJ requires a set of skills. The skills can be demonstrated visually, empirically and analytically. The world's best BJ players can be distinguished objectively much like it is done on the PGA tour. By using a weekly open and tracking the money leaders. We believe there is an opportunity to create an actual tour for Advantage Players.
Without going to far into the weeds with details here is the view from 10,000 feet. We are looking for 10-20 high stakes players. By high stakes I mean you would be willing to buy in for at least $30,000.00 (thirty thousand dollars) each week. In exchange for the buy-in a host casino will agree to providing a single deck a game with no worse than the following rules SD, H17, NDAS, Double first 2 cards, Spl-3 (aces once), 3 players per table, 4 rounds per shuffle, and insurance. The players must play a minimum of 2500 hands over a three-day period. There will be five 500-hand rounds. The min/max bet will start at $100/200. The max bet will increase by $100 each round. A player may choose to drop out when down but not while up. After 2500 hands the top three money leaders will play 500 hands heads up. The money leader after 3000 hands will be the open winner. The prize money will be whatever you have won plus small cash prizes to the top 3 and a title to the overall winner. During the final round, the top 3 will not be aware of each others money position until after the 3000th hand. A one-day qualifying tournament will be held prior to the start of the open. Anyone who wants to try and play in the open can qualify by placing in the top 10 of the qualifier. The qualifier will have similar rules to the open but for a small buy-in of $200-$500. The qualifiers will play with $30,000 in fiat chips. They must play all 2500 hands in the open to have a shot at any prize money. There are two ways to enter the open buy-in for $30,000.00 or qualify, but you can only choose one way to enter. All open players who finish the yearly APBJ Tour with a positive stake, will receive an APBJ tour card. Anyone who earns an APBJ tour card can no longer enter a qualifier. They must buy-in.
We believe that there are several casinos that would be willing to capitalize on the beaten down BJ game. While behemoth casinos will try and capitalize on the new, huge and soon to be disenfranchised poker army by switching them to tournament BJ formats, we believe more progressive thinking casinos will tap into the true allure of poker and BJ which is the opportunity to become a professional player who makes a living gambling. Anyone who now plays for a living, knows just how truly difficult it is to perfect the craft to a level where the game is beatable at a high stakes level. The few of us who are out there have an opportunity to come out of the black books and disguises and create a money - money situation for us and the casinos. We are in the beginning stages of pitching the concept to a select few casinos. Before any further money is invested we need to know how many die-hards are still on the circuit and willing to buy-in. If you are interested in more info, please post an email that you can be reached at. We will initiate the dialogue discretely to your terms and satisfaction. Your comments and suggestions are welcomed.