Big & breaking news from Tuley.

[Mall]

Many of you have no doubt seen the Brisnet/Twin Spires teaser ads touting the 12/15 contest as the "biggest qualifying contest ever." In his drf column today, Dave confirms the accuracy of the ads: "In cyberspace, twinspires.com also announced it will hold an online tourney on Dec. 15 for 15 spots (plus another five seats in the Horseplayer World Series at the Orleans) with details still unannounced." Assuming it's not one of those free contests which attracts 3-5k competitors, those who understand the principles of good domestic engineering might want to start laying the groundwork necessary to make certain that no holiday shopping is scheduled to take place on that particular Saturday.

[TEJASKIDD]

When McKay Smith was working for America Tab, he told me he was working towards an online live bankroll tournament qualifier. I wonder if this is it.

[njcurveball]

This is an interesting idea. I do not know how they will allow states like NJ or Nevada to participate. Definitely not an option if it is a live bankroll tourney.

Given the way these "live/no max" tourneys go, it winds up being much a test of luck and guts than handicapping skill.

The winner of the Delaware tourney bought in for $200 and a few hours later was betting $800 on a horse. Great guts there! Probably the new frontier is to simply go "all in" until you are first or broke, whichever comes first.

Another type of tourney is the "bet everything" one. I read where someone hit a $1 pick 3 for four grand and then sat on their money the rest of the way, coasting to Vegas.

Life gets even tougher if you are playing a no max tourney without a leader board. I guess then you need some psychic powers to go along with your guts and luck.

Looks interesting though, I hope they let New Jersey and other states participate.

Jim

[Mall]

I'm not sure how much, if anything, one can read into something like this, but in addition to Dave's article, there's a full page ad for the mega-contest in tomorrow's drf which indicates that it will be "COMING SOON to a Wagering Site Near You!" followed by the logos & web addresses for twinspires, brisbet and winticket. The only one of those sites where I could find anything was at: http://www.twinspires.com/outside/promotions/vegas.html. As you can see, it appears that we're all going to have to wait another month and a half or so for details on what at this stage certainly has the potential to be a very interesting competition.

[TEJASKIDD]

I'm pretty sure if it's live bankroll, then only their customers are allowed to play. Since WINTICKET and BRISBET are involved, I'm pretty sure this is what I talked to McKay about a few months ago.
Anyone here involved in the NTRA/NHC so called round table discussion regarding the future of the tournament?

[Mall]

The consensus speculation seems to be that it's either that contest or some variation on that contest, although I've purposely not contacted McKay (who I've heard is staying on until the end of the yr) because I didn't want to put him on the spot by asking him to divulge details which are supposed to be kept under wraps. HTR members/posters who are part of the group you mention include myself, dehere, and Tim Holland, and I've already gotten significant input from Mayo & Kardiac Ken. The other members of the group are Stanley Bavlish, Tom Quigley, and Ron & Mark Geary. You were already high on my list of people to contact, for for obvious reasons, and assuming I've followed km's instructions correctly, you should be receiving an email on the subject shortly after I finish typing this.

[Donnie]

I went to your link Mall and it appears that there is a limited (13) number of states you can be from to be a member....wonder if this will hold true for the contest...??:confused:

[Wright Stuff]

BrisBet is also a partner in this contest and they allow members from 39 states (New Jersey and Nevada excluded).

[Mall]

I have it on very good authority that the mega-contest will not be a live bankroll competition, but is instead being treated as a "major customer acquisition" opportunity. It's no more than a hunch, but I think that the fact that the details are not yet known is related to km's observations yesterday regarding the current ADW situation, particularly in Calif.

Assuming the big contest is designed to sign up as many punters as possible on one of the three ADW sites in the ad, and put together as big an email & credit card list as possible in the process, that doesn't necessarily mean there won't be any charge to enter. At least that's what I'm hoping, as I've been told more than once by those who run these contests that even a modest entry fee cuts way down on the number of competitors. If it's a freeroll, on the other hand, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect as many as 5k to enter, in which case the best approach to the contest in my estimation wouldn't change just because of the big increase in the number of spots being offered, namely: waste no more than 15 minutes taking a windshield wiper look at the entire contest card and hope for the best.

[Immanuel Kant]

As a Canadian who plays in qualifiers for the NHC,(on both sides of the border and online), I'm concerned that this contest will not be available to me....15 seats at the big dance up for grabs, but not for everyone!

I hope i'm wrong about this...but I'm worried that I'm not

[TEJASKIDD]

In response to WRIGHT STUFF

When Churchill bought AMERICA TAB (brisbet, tsnbet and winticket) they cut off wagering from residents in certain states (including Texas). I think that the 13 are all the states you can wager from using the AMERICA TAB websites. The previous owners of AMERICA TAB created their own site, BETPAD.COM, for the residents of the states that were eliminated by the Churchill acquisition. I think that you must reside in one of the TWINSPIRES allowed states to be able to qualify via their tournament.