Justin Bieber Fresno tickets go on sale Saturday

Tickets for Justin Bieber's Oct. 5 concert at the Save Mart Center go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Saturday, and all indications are that Fresno should expect Bieber Fever to rise to a Black Friday-like frenzy.

"We fully expect it to sell out quickly," says Steve Tadlock, the general manager for SMG, which manages the arena. "Probably within a matter of minutes."

Tickets have been available through exclusive pre-sales since the concert was announced last week.

For instance, joining the Justin Bieber fan club ($27 quarterly or $99 annually) got people first crack at tickets. There was also a pre-sale for American Express card holders, which has since sold out.

By Saturday morning, a nice piece of the Bieber ticket pie will be long gone. But Tadlock promises: "There definitely will be tickets available for the public."

While pre-sales have been "strong," according to Tadlock -- he said he couldn't divulge actual numbers -- there's a chunk of seats only available at the public on-sale. He wouldn't give a specific number.

The configuration of the arena for the show should allow for 12,000-13,000 seats.

Regardless of the numbers, there undoubtedly will be disappointed fans unable to get their hands on Bieber tickets Saturday.

"But that's not going to be anything specific to Fresno," Tadlock says. "That's going to be in every city he's going to. There are more people who want to see the show than there are tickets available."

Fresnan Sandra Martinez just hopes she's not one of the ticketless -- for the sake of her 4-year-old son.

"If I don't get these tickets for my son," Martinez says, "it'll probably break his heart. We've actually already had a little meltdown."

As any savvy shopper will tell you, a Black Friday-like situation requires one very important thing: strategy. In Martinez's case, she's getting friends and family members to call Ticketmaster simultaneously, hoping to be one of the lucky ones.

Deciding on! a Biebe r ticket strategy -- phone vs. Internet vs. in-person -- is tricky. They have different advantages and disadvantages, but all the sellers are pulling from the same pool of tickets, Tadlock says.

"No matter what point you are choosing to buy your tickets, there are hundreds if not thousands of people trying to do the same thing at the same time," Tadlock says. "With all the avenues that you can buy tickets, there are many, many transactions happening simultaneously.

"People just need to strategize."

People like Martinez, who choose to call Ticketmaster, should have the number -- it's (800) 745-3000 -- and a credit card ready to go. Likewise, online shoppers should go to ticketmaster.com with credit card info handy.

The advantage of both of these avenues is that they can handle a much higher volume of customers than the Save Mart Center box office, which has six ticket windows, or a Save Mart Supermarket that sells tickets and often just has one ticket terminal.

People who want to buy their tickets in person at the Save Mart Center should know there's no use in camping out. In fact, it's not allowed.

The Save Mart Center uses a lottery system to determine its line. Numbers will be handed out starting at 8:30 a.m. At about 9:15 a.m., they'll start calling "winning" numbers.

"It's the most fair system because everybody has the exact same chance of being first in line," Tadlock says. "There's no advantage to getting here at 5 o'clock in the morning."

Once tickets are sold out, the next thing Bieber fans (or their parents) need to watch out for is the secondary ticket market -- through Craigslist or any other website selling tickets other than Ticketmaster.

"Buyer beware," Tadlock says. "You're not guaranteed what you're buying is legitimate if you're buying from somewhere other than the authorized ticketing locations."

In fact, some people online are selling tickets for sections that don't even exist at the Save Mart Center.

"Ticket scalping is! really sophisticated," says Jacqueline Peterson, the director of public relations for Ticketmaster. "You'd be surprised at how nefarious their tactics are sometimes."

For instance: A simple Google search for "Justin Bieber tickets Fresno" brings up sites such as "savemart.centerfresno.com" -- which is not the real Save Mart Center website.

"Scalpers concoct URLs to make them look like the actual box office," Peterson says.

Because you might be wondering: Peterson says it's impossible to say which of Ticketmaster's ticket-buying avenues is quickest.

"There are so many variables in that," she says. "There's how fast you can type, your Internet connection speed. You really couldn't say what's fastest."

But she does have one key piece of advice.

"Just don't wake up at 10:05 a.m."