Preliminary Vintage events at GenCon: plus EV?

[aforce808]

Hello all, having never attended GenCon before myself, how many of you play in the preliminary events in which you can win byes for the Championship event?  Are they worthwhile?  Entry is $18 for a chance to win a Kindle Fire (eh) and a 2-round bye in the championship tournament.  How many players can you expect to participate in a prelim?  How many rounds is the main event?  Thanks in advance,

Doug

[The Atog Lord]

The main value of the Prelim events at Vintage Worlds is getting practice with your deck in before the main event. The two byes are nice for getting to the top eight of the Vintage Champs, but as a prize by itself, not extremely valuable. On the other hand, if for some reason you're keen on getting a Kindle Fire, by all means go for it.

[BC]

Everybody plays in the prelims, but they certainly don't do it for the awesome prizes.  If you're going to Gencon looking for some positive EV, you are going to be sorely disappointed.  Vintage and Legacy Champs (and the prelims) are about fun and pride.  The prizes suck.

[JACO]

No offense, but if any of you play Magic for serious EV you have chosen the wrong career path.

[aforce808]

Thanks for the replies!  Perhaps "plus EV" was too strong a term.  Sorry, I'm a poker player.    If everyone plays in the prelims, then it will be worth it for me to play as well.  My main goal is going to meet new people and having a good time.  If everyone else sees the prelims as worthwhile, then that's good enough for me.  Thanks again

Doug