MTT Grinder

Even though they are called Donkaments, tournaments can be profitable in the long run. For a Live player, the "Long Run" can take months or even years, because a tournament can last an entire day or even a few days. For Online players, it's much different because they can play a whole bunch in one day. And if they bust out of one, there's another one starting within 15 minutes.

So how can a Live player like me shorten the "Long Run" like an Online player? By playing multiple tournaments in one day, of course.

One thing that would like to try on my next trip to Las Vegas (hopefully in June) is spend a day just playing in the smaller daily tournaments that most casinos run. Since there are so many casinos around Vegas, there are tournaments starting almost every hour. I would make a list of the better tournaments that start each hour. As soon as I bust out of one, or take one down, I would head over to the next tournament on the list. I figure that I could do between 5-8 tournaments in one day, depending on how many I go deep in.

I know what you're saying, "But those things have horrible structures and are just a shove-fest." And you're right. They are high-variance, but the players are generally horrible. I would equate these tourneys to a three or five table online turbo Sit-N-Go. Yes, the structure sucks, but they don't take that much time, and the players are terrible. By playing a lot of them, it helps reduce the variance.

So why don't I just do this in Reno? Well, the daily tournament schedule isn't as spread out as it is in Sin City. The tournaments are bunched together, with many of them starting at 11am or 6pm. Also, I work six days a week with Sunday being my only day off. And the Sunday tourney schedule just isn't as diverse as it is during the week.

But I decided to give it a try on Sunday. Here's what happened:

Atlantis 11am $75 ($40 + $15 + $20 Bounty) 10k chips. We didn't have a big crowd for this one. So the Poker Room decided to squeeze 11 players on to one table, and then have alternates. We ended up 12 players.

Since this was a one table tourney, I decided to try the Sit-N-Go strategy of Tight Early & Aggressive Later. Fortunately, I got some cards early to start building my chip stack. Then I got into a trainwreck with my KK vs QQ vs AJs. The Cowboys held up, and I won two Bounties.

At the Break (before the 400/800 Level), I had 25100 chips, and was either 2nd or 3rd out of seven players. The problem was that I had a horrible seat at the table. On my Left were the other two Big Stacks, and they liked to play pots. On my Right were three smaller stacks of players who were trying to fold to the money.

So I stayed patient while players were knocked out. I finally got to Heads-Up with one of the Action Guys after the other Action Guys blew up. After a few hands of Heads-Up in the 2k/4k/400 Level, I raised to 10k on the Button with ATd. The other player, who had me covered, raised to 45k. As you can expect, we're not very deepstacked right now (Average stack is 15BB). So I decided to take the plunge, and he had AKs. I missed my 3-outer, and finished in 2nd place for $144 + 4 Bounties.

Club Cal Neva $10 Rebuy ($8 + $2). This tournament runs four times a day (10am, 2pm, 6pm, 10pm), and I played in the 6pm. $10 gets you 2000 chips. There's a $5 Dealer AddOn for 1000 chips. It's unlimited Rebuys for the first hour (4 Levels), and you can rebuy at 500 chips or less. At the Break, you can get a $10 AddOn for 4000 chips.

Once again, I ended up in a one table tournament. This one was 10-handed with Alternates. We ended up with 12 players total. I had a lousy start by rebuying twice without winning a hand. Shortly before the break, I finally won a hand by doubling up, and then doubled up again. After I got the AddOn, I had 10600 chips, which was an average stack at the Break (before the 300/600 Level).

After the Break, the action at the table was a little ridiculous. The players either limped in, or shoved All-In for way more then they need to. And the calls they got were rather questionable. Once again, I just sat back, and played patiently.

I got to three handed (the Bubble). The Button and SB limped, which was a little rare. I was the BB, and looked down at KK. I decided to slow play this, and try to trap them for a big pot rather than just win the 2BB. The Flop was Q 7 4. The SB shoved, and I called. She had Q7, and I missed my Two Pair draw. Oh well, I gambled and lost.

There were two other tournaments that I could have played if my two tourneys didn't last so long; a $75 Peppermill at 1pm and $45 Harrah's at 8pm. I'm sure there are other little tourneys around town that I haven't found yet.

Overall, it was a good day, but this isn't something that I will make a lot of money doing in Reno. The ROI could be profitable, but the hourly rate won't be anything close to what I can make in the Cash games. However, I do enjoy tournaments, so I may do this once a month or so, just to check out some of the smaller rooms that I don't visit regularly.