Mariner casino question

[Cpsjis]

My wife and I will be on the Mariner (8/13/06) and I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with the casino tournaments that may be offered. Also, what does it cost to enter the tournaments? Thanks.

[Motorman23]

I think the BJ Tourny is $20 bucks but it is like a lotto game. You have to bet just about everything and pray for good cards on every hand to make it to the final 5.

[cb at sea]

I was out of the tourney after 3 hands. You can continue to buy in, but it seemed a waste of money for me! In a 10 day cruise, I don't think I was dealt a winning hand once! The few times I was close (dealt 20) the dealer dealt himself 21!!!!! Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the casino that trip!

[ajtrigger]

I entered the blackjack tournament on a Celebrity Cruise (RCCL's sister line) in March, out of 70ish players, I ended up 6th in the qualifiers.

 

They'll sit you at a table with 7 people and then deal 7 hands with 500 tournament chips, the top 7 people out of everyone goes to a final round where you get another 500 chips and 7 hands.... top 3 people get paid. I ended up third and won $212 on a $25 buy-in. The first round, you have to be super aggressive... basically you have to triple your starting chips in 7 hands to have any chance at going to the final round... in the final round, betting decisions become much more important than the blackjack itself.

 

The slot tournaments are just a crapshoot... they give you 5 minutes to button-mash at a slot machine and then record the scores afterwards.

 

Good luck!