STREETWISE Blackjack

Craps!

The three-day event starts with a welcoming banquet complete with musical accompaniment and a gift for each participant. Items like jackets, shirts, and tote bags have been given in the past. Just in time for summer, a nifty backpack and blanket were handed out. When opened, the backpack revealed a full complement of useful items for a picnic -- a real nice touch!

The food was fine as usual and the music better than expected. Most casinos hold these events with hoping the players will do what comes naturally -- play dice and cards on the floor. Although some get lucky, most players don't win, thus the casino anticipates generating a profit after the tournament money is divvied up and the complete costs are figured. After all, you couldn't expect a casino to throw a major affair on this scale without attempting to make some money, could you? Like most, this is a bottom-line business.

Everything from discounted room prices, restaurant comps, show tickets, the players' gifts, limos and other miscellaneous expenses are totaled and placed against the win/loss for those entered into the tournament. At the typical Bally's tournament, 250-350 participants play with most bringing a significant other or two, making these affairs potentially chaotic. Fortunately, most tournament support staff are veterans of the wars and clearly understand the ropes. This means meeting the specific needs of the players, accommodating them as much as possible. It also means insuring guests are assigned specific playing times, tables and clearly understand the tournament rules.

This part can get sticky. While the tournament staff -- in this case led by master of ceremonies Len Burnie -- do their best to cover almost every contingency, there's always a few wrinkles along the way. Just when you think you've seen it all, a new unsettling situation arises calling for a clear-headed decision. Burnie and his crew have rarely failed to rise to the occasion through the years and this past tournament was no exception.

At the welcoming dinner, players are required to fill out forms stating they understand the rules and structure. Each person is assigned a table and time for the following day's festivities, to start at 10 a.m. Then it's off to the tables to gamble. For the vets, they understand the nature of the beast: this is a tournament, which means a long haul. The first day is only one session of play per person -- an elimination round, leading up to the second day.

That is where the right stuff shows. Those who are just learning or lucky might make it past one table, but by the time the quarters and semi-finals are reached, most have some experience and understand tournament play isn't like regular casino action. You are vying against other players at your table seeking to advance. The idea is to win the most money, or in this case, finish in the top four in the early rounds, then the top three and ultimately win the money at the final table.

In a structured blackjack tournament, you are trying to beat the dealer and the other players. With dice, it isn't as clear-cut as you aren't playing against the dice as much as hoping they come your way while eliminating other players. Everyone starts off with the same amount of money‹in this case $5,000 in non-negotiable tournament cheques or chips -- and unlike a poker tournament, you don't carry your money from table-to-table, round-to-round as you advance. Each round begins fresh, each player starting equal to all others in money and opportunity

At Bally's there's a joker in the deck -- the wild card. After each round has been completed, prior to the start of the next, the players who lost have their tournament cards placed into a large brass rotating drum. After several spins, a few lucky names are chosen for immediate re-entry. As the number of tables dwindles, fewer names are picked, leaving only two picked for the final table.

As most players know, craps offers an unusually large number of choices for the player. Regular play is fast. In a tournament such as this, it can be dazzling. Bally's tournament structure called for 35 hands total, the first 30 moving at a fast clip. Prior to the 31st roll, action ceased, all chips from the rack placed in front of each player, counted, with the amount read aloud, making everyone was aware of his/her own position vs. the other players. Then betting progressed, one by one, rotating from the shooter clockwise for the final five hands. Here play slowed to a numbing crawl. As one spectator growled, "This is far worse than watching paint dry."

That's from the observation deck. For the players, it is riveting, figuring chips, bets, possibilities, strategy, the difference between advancing and failure a breath away.

As the rounds progressed, with more experienced hands along the rail, the last few rounds got even more intense, leading up to the final table with 18 players crowded onto one small space, the atmosphere electric. After all, how many chances in life does one get at grabbing $50,000 for a roll of the dice -- or 35 of them? At this point, after two days of action, having survived five rounds of play, the element of luck, although not eliminated, was not entirely responsible for each person's happy circumstance -- there was a good deal of money management involved.

At the final table the first ten hands were like a boxing match, all 18 participants testing each other, peering at individual tactics. Most dared only a chip or two on the Pass or Don't Pass line. Not surprisingly, more than half the players were "wrong" bettors, putting their minimum $100 bet on the "Don't's." Most regular craps shooters maintain a special place in purgatory for wrong bettors, feeling they damn a table by betting on that accursed "7-out." While not nearly as exciting as the "right side," it is often the Don't which brings home the bacon -- after all there are more ways to make a 7 than any other number.

Player number 5, made an early move. He put $4,000 on the Field and when the point 4 showed, he won both giving him the early lead with $10,000. He led the pack through hand 25 when player 15 reared up and struck. A big hard 4 followed a bet connected to a placed 4, followed by a strike on the Field had him up to $20,000, way ahead of the pack. Four players had dropped out after taking poorly aimed shots. Four others were near extinction. At the countdown prior to hand 31, the individual racked chip count was determined and read. Chips on the table were not tallied. The two leaders were entrenched with most bunched between $5,500-7,000. Several had less than that and a few players were flatlining.

After two days of almost non-stop action, the game came down to the final draw. For hand 35, each player took his best shot. Many chose the "Hop" bet for thousands with the best payout of 31 for 1 on the "hardway (1/1; 2/2; 3/3; 4/4; 5/5; 6/6)." This is a one-roll bet with the largest payoff. Most of the pack faced a tough choice. With a $50,000 top prize, $10,000 for second, $7,500 for third, all the way down to $1,000 each for 12th-18th place, the players could stand pat and hope others dropped out or simply shoot the moon.

One by one, with great deliberation, each person stood thoughtfully, then leaped from the precipice. There was more hopping money on the table than one could imagine, many seizing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win thousands on a roll of the dice. After an eternity of reflection, the stickman shoved the dice to the shooter. He held them in his hand as time froze. Then in one quick move, the dice flew in the air then spilled across the layout‹a 9 leaving the lucky leader in place, a winner of $50,000 on a roll of the dice.