Blackjack and Slot Tournaments ??

[Cruslvr81]

I see that you can pre pay to enter the blackjack and slot tournaments.  Can someone please briefly explain how it works.  I’ve been in the casinos but have never tried a tournament.  Are they at a certain time/date on board or is it open for you to use the credit at anytime ?? 

[cruiserbear55]

35 minutes ago, Cruslvr81 said:

I see that you can pre pay to enter the blackjack and slot tournaments.  Can someone please briefly explain how it works.  I’ve been in the casinos but have never tried a tournament.  Are they at a certain time/date on board or is it open for you to use the credit at anytime ?? 

As I recall, and someone correct me if I'm wrong- The casino takes a bank of slot machines and programs them all to the same game. ( I believe 12 machines). My last tournament it cost $25.00 to buy in. They schedule tournament " sessions" for 2 days, then the final on the 3rd day.If they can get 12 sessions in, you'll have 12 people in the final.( The winner of each session). That would be 144 people signing up for the tournament, which I've never seen. Usually 8 or 9 sessions. They also allow , I believe, 2 additional buy-ins if space allows, for those that lost their session. How it works is you literally pound the heck out of the spin button for 3 minutes, making the reels spin as fast as you can ,attempting to get the highest score. There are the winner and 2 runner-ups in the final. As far as the blackjack tournament, I have no idea. Anybody?

[cruiserbear55]

Sorry, usually Monday, Tuesday,and Wednesday mornings on a 7 day Boston to Bermuda that runs Friday to Friday.

[ClevelandCruisin]

The slot tournament is smash the crap out of the button and pop balloons on the screen. Talk about a work out for your hand.

[Cruslvr81]

Thanks for all the replies.  It is still listed at $25.00 and sounds like it might be worth a try especially for a slow sea day.

[ClevelandCruisin]

37 minutes ago, Cruslvr81 said:

Thanks for all the replies.  It is still listed at $25.00 and sounds like it might be worth a try especially for a slow sea day.

You can buy it on the ship as well.

[joeflow80]

Cant' say how they're run on the ships, but blackjack tournaments are usually done with everyone playing a set number of hands (around 20?). You generally only compete against those at your table. There is a lot of strategy in betting as each player takes turns placing their bets. The order rotates every hand, so sometimes you might be betting first, sometimes last. Whoever has the most at the end wins and moves on to the next round (assuming there are enough players to warrant multiple rounds).

[Coastalbreezes]

Pre-pandemic, CAS had quite a few special invitational slot tournaments scattered throughout the year some with top prizes of over $10,000. The still have a few listed for 2022:

https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/casino-cruise/special-events

 

For the regular on-board slot tournaments, held every cruise, the buy-in is $25 per round and the tournament is held over several days.  You sit and spin at your allotted time and can re-buy as many times as you like for $25 each time. Only the top 10 go to the final round, usually held on the last day of the cruise. The top prize on my last several cruises was $500.

 

 

[agrimm01]

For the Blackjack tournament on my last cruise you just paid $25 to enter and they scheduled you a seat at a table with 6 or 7 others.  I think there was a time limit and the one with the most money at the end of the time got a seat with other winners to do it again later on in the week.  They finally got it narrowed down to the final table by the end of the week for all the money.  The funniest thing was watching one guy that kept doing rebuys.  He would bet all on the first hand to try to double his money.  Every time with one exception he was out on the first hand.  The one time he didn't bust on the first hand he was out shortly after.  He must have had 9 or 10 rebuys and lost $250.

[HowardK]

The slot tournaments seem to just have one winner - is one better off just putting the money in slots? 

Also, are the payout %'s regulated like they are at US casinos? 

[AndyCapn]

13 hours ago, joeflow80 said:

Cant' say how they're run on the ships, but blackjack tournaments are usually done with everyone playing a set number of hands (around 20?). You generally only compete against those at your table. There is a lot of strategy in betting as each player takes turns placing their bets. The order rotates every hand, so sometimes you might be betting first, sometimes last. Whoever has the most at the end wins and moves on to the next round (assuming there are enough players to warrant multiple rounds).

You're right, but NCL runs there's entirely different. It's only six hands, winning score gets added to the list, top six money leaders for the week get invited to final. Almost entirely eliminates all the strategy, as you are competing not only against your table, but about 30-40 other tables.

 

You start with 1000 chips and I think the lowest qualifying score I've seen is 8800. So even winning four straight all-ins wouldn't secure your spot

 

And when you consider it's $25 per entry with 200-or-so players for a $500 prize... That's $4500 (90%!) the casino keeps for itself. You might as well stick with Paradise Lotto. 

[Mike_DeA]

On 8/7/2021 at 4:15 PM, AndyCapn said:

You're right, but NCL runs there's entirely different. It's only six hands, winning score gets added to the list, top six money leaders for the week get invited to final. Almost entirely eliminates all the strategy, as you are competing not only against your table, but about 30-40 other tables.

 

You start with 1000 chips and I think the lowest qualifying score I've seen is 8800. So even winning four straight all-ins wouldn't secure your spot

 

And when you consider it's $25 per entry with 200-or-so players for a $500 prize... That's $4500 (90%!) the casino keeps for itself. You might as well stick with Paradise Lotto. 

 

Blackjack tournament is 7 hands I believe.  I've seen leaderboard scores in the 3,000 range sometimes.  (You start with 1,000 or 1,500, I forget which).  Several timeframes  to enter preliminary rounds during the cruise but only one player from each table/round can make it to the leaderboard if their score is high enough.  Enter as many times as you like.  Top 6 scores make final table on the last full day.  

[AndyCapn]

2 hours ago, Mike_DeA said:

 

Blackjack tournament is 7 hands I believe.  I've seen leaderboard scores in the 3,000 range sometimes.  (You start with 1,000 or 1,500, I forget which).  Several timeframes  to enter preliminary rounds during the cruise but only one player from each table/round can make it to the leaderboard if their score is high enough.  Enter as many times as you like.  Top 6 scores make final table on the last full day. 

Yes. To clarify my comments, 8800 chips to qualify for the final table (i.e., top six). You can win your table with 3000, but it won't get you a seat for the prize game. 

 

I could have sworn it was six hands, with the dealer using a die to indicate which hand we were playing. But whether six or seven, it is a comically low number for a blackjack tournament. 

[Mike_DeA]

8 hours ago, AndyCapn said:

Yes. To clarify my comments, 8800 chips to qualify for the final table (i.e., top six). You can win your table with 3000, but it won't get you a seat for the prize game. 

 

I could have sworn it was six hands, with the dealer using a die to indicate which hand we were playing. But whether six or seven, it is a comically low number for a blackjack tournament. 

I have played in dozens of these tournaments and many times 3-4k will get you to the final table.  I did it with 2,600 once.  Every cruise is different.  If you have a few people who throw money at it like crazy and enter multiple times and/or go all in every hand, that can inflate the leaderboard scores.