Randy,
How you play the hand is up to you. If you don't want to split or double, you don't have to. Just see what happens and if you win you get to keep 10k. If you lose then you still get $500 plus a free trip. There's no out-of-pocket on your part if you don't want there to be.
However, if you find yourself with an 11 vs. a dealer's 5 you'll be in a big dilemma because that's a prime doubling situation. If you want to maximize your mathematical chances you should pull out 5k of your own money and double down. In this case you'll end up with 20k if you win -- the 5k of Skybook's which are now yours to keep, your own 5k back, plus 10k winnings. Trouble is, if you lose, you lose 5k of your own money and only get a $500 consolation prize leaving you in the hole $4.5k. Again, you don't have to do this but mathematically it's the correct play. The casino will be hoping you don't double so as a player you are best off disappointing them.
And if you get a pair of 8's against a 5 then you'll be in an even bigger dilemma because even after splitting you could get another 8 or a doubling hand making it mathematically correct to put even more bets out there.
In any case it's your call -- let the house have a bigger edge by not doubling/splitting but staying safe, or get the maximum value out of your hand with potentially greater risk.
I would surely have at least 10k on hand in case I had to split/double, probably even 15k or 20k, and I would make deals with friends to share part of the action. Probably I wouldn't publicize the deals to keep the drama high and make the whole event beneficial for Skybook since they are being quite generous here.
Just my 2c. Good luck in any case.
