The Iron Horse! That is what people called trains in the early days, and those trains kept on chugging along thru the decades and the centuries. Sometimes, I think of Tournament Blackjack in much the same way. They both started out very different than what they have evolved into today. In the beginning, they were organized by one group of men, and all the customers came to them. Now there are many companies, each competing for their share of the customers.

Today, for the most part, casinos around the world are hosting tournament competitions, and they dictate how it will be done, and what you have to do in order to be a part of it. You play by their rules or you don’t play. There are not nearly as many players in any single event like the 1000 plus tournament players that the IGP once hosted, or the 680 or so that the Stardust casino in Las Vegas use to attract until their management decided to limit it to 450 players. Once, The Four Queens, in downtown Vegas, lured nearly 800 players for their Golden Blackjack Classic. However, in total, there are many more interested players out there today, than there ever was before.

One thing about these tournaments of yesteryear was that a very large prize could be won, and you paid only a relatively small entry fee of $175 to $300 in order to play. Yes, you did buy in and play with live money, but the rules were very favorable with single and double decks used. There were no strings attached; you could play in the host casino, or not. If you did, you could bet whatever you felt like betting, and play for as long, or as little, as you wanted. Now-a-days, players have been mostly limited to one of two choices; the small, usually $25 entry fee, fun or mini-tournaments, or the big invitational ‘house’ tournaments. In order to meet the requirements for the big invitationals, a player must come in with a huge line of credit and be prepared to gamble for a specified minimum number of hours, or meet a specific theoretical loss as determined by the casino, or pay a $1000 or more entry fee. Sometimes, the host casino might demand all three.

In the last couple of years, some other opportunities have developed. One can still

pay huge entry fees and play for the big ‘paydays’, like the UBT tournaments coupled with a chance to wind up on television playing blackjack, and the good thing is the rules are locked in by the UBT, not by some casino. There are also chances to win your way onto the big UBT events via playing and winning on the internet. But the newest alternative is "The Tournament Blackjack Players Association." This could once again be the chance for the moderate player to pay a modest entry fee, and play for big prizes with set rules that are fair to all players.

The TBJPA has started a tour, and its last stop was this September, at the Iron Horse Casino, located in Auburn, in the Seattle area of Washington State. For a modest entry of around $300, one can play for whatever is in the prize fund, according to the number of entries. So far, the entries and the prizes have been fairly small, but I see this as a great opportunity for players. The prizes should grow at the next stop this month; the Tropicana in Las Vegas (November 13-15). As I understand it, the Trop has promised to enter at least 50 of their own players in this event. So far, one man has done all the work to organize these efforts, Rick Jensen. Good job, Rick, but I see the possibility of a big future here if the players decide to get behind it.

The advantages it has for the players are the playing rules, which are the rules the members want and voted on by the members; and the fact that anyone can enter by paying a reasonable fee, and, more importantly, have no casino requirements to meet. If the membership can eventually grow to hundreds and more over time, gaining momentum with each tour stop, it could be operated similar to a bowling league, where officers are elected, and tournaments held even if Rick was not able to be there to do the onsite work. Think about all the casinos around the country that would love to have exposure to a thousand new customers, and what they might offer to throw in the pot for that opportunity. A TBJPA could thrive and be busy 100 years down the road, and all it needs to keep it growing is the support from players like you.

Back to the Iron Horse Casino! It provided me with a unique experience last month. Most of the players were Seattle area locals, but a few came from around the country. Around 1990, I was amazed to see the great number of Minnesotans showing up at the big Las Vegas Tournaments, which had once been filled primarily with Californians and Nevadans. These Minnesotans knew their stuff and were pulling down their fair share of the prizes, and the reason was simple. Minnesota held many blackjack tournaments on a regular basis, and it was a training ground for experienced, smart play. Today, Seattle is a great center for weekly tournaments and their players are learning their tournament "stuff’! One player, Terry Cloutier, won the "Blackjack Insider" sponsored event held on Friday. Way to go Terry!

On Saturday, the first Tournament Blackjack Tour event was won by none other than Dannye Long, the man that threw the first round win at the "World Series of Blackjack" with a terrible chip count mistake. We all make those mistakes on occasion, but fortunately, not on national television. Here he proved that it was only a one time error, and he definitely does know how to play the game! Congratulations to Mississippi’s Dannye Long. Rick Fortin, the man who took third place at the "World Series" and won $75,000, made his presence known at the Iron Horse too. He took 6^th place in the Friday tournament and 5^th on Saturday. Rick came all the way to the Great Northwest and proved that his big television showing was no fluke!

A big "attaboy" to Tom Karll of Missouri, who won Sunday’s Tournament Blackjack Tour event. He also came a long way to win! I missed Tom’s entire final, because that is when I found my chance to corner Norm Sheridan, another television finalist from the "World Series of Blackjack", who was in attendance, and ask him some questions:

Babe: "Hey Norm, wait a minute! I see you did not advance to the finals. How did you do here?"

Norm: "Oh boy! Lousy cards! I made it to the semi-finals, yesterday, but was dealt trash in the other rounds. I couldn’t get here for the Friday event."

Babe: "I saw you on the ‘World Series of Blackjack’. You got seven 12 thru 17 hands in a row towards the end, and still managed to advance to the Wild Card Round. If you can do it on television, why not here?"

Norm: "I know I got more than seven in a row. Maybe I slipped in a lucky ‘18’ hand between two seven-in-a-rows."

Babe: "What stopped you from making these finals?"

Norm: "These Seattle slickers are too crafty to let me sneak by with garbage!"

Babe: "Seriously, do you have any advice for ‘Blackjack Insider’ readers when they seem to get a lot of bad hands backed up like you did?"

Norm: "There’s two ways that I know to handle the chronic bad card situation. One is to throw every chip you have into the betting circle, and hope the dealer finds a way to bust. The other is to take some time off, go to bed for two weeks, and dream about anything except blackjack! When you wake up, if the cards haven’t changed, repeat the above!"

Babe: "I’ll try that! What do you think about the Iron Horse?’

Norm: "I think it was a good television series starring Dale Robertson, but his "Tales of Wells Fargo" was better."

Babe: "How old are you?"

Norm: "None of your business! O.K., I know………. you meant the Iron Horse Casino! Actually, it’s great! It’s a busy little place and has about every kind of casino card game I can think of including poker and three kinds of Blackjack (2 deck, 6 deck, and Spanish 21). I’ve always liked cards . . . . . probably because I grew up playing Old Maid, Crazy Eights, Canasta, Hearts and Pinochle………even played a little bridge in my college and Army days."

Babe: "Is this your first TBJPA event?"

Norm: "No, I was at both Laughlin events! I like to play with these rules. I only wish we could go 100 hands a round instead of 24, but I understand the time constraints."

Babe: "Will you be at the upcoming Tropicana stop?"

Norm: "Of course! Wouldn’t miss it………unless I’m in the middle of one of those two week sleeps!"

Babe: "Thanks, Norm!"

Rick Jensen, was another on site veteran of this years’ "World Series of Blackjack"

Alumni. As he was running the show and enforcing the rules, he could not get into the tournament action, but he managed to play a Sit and Go round while setting up the seating assignments for the next round. He was so busy doing that, he wasn’t even paying attention, and he still managed to outdraw me on the last hand to win. Amazing!

Hope to see all of you at the Tropicana, where you know you’re GONNA LOVE THIS GAME!