Leaving Montana

It’s hard to believe that another summer has come and gone. Most of the snowbirds here in Montana have already flown south, looking for warmer climates. But those suckers missed out on an Indian summer that has kicked in. I’m not sure if it is an official Indian summer, as several cold fronts moved into the area in quick succession, making it seem as if summer was over when it really wasn’t, but who cares? It’s warm again, and that’s all I care about.

I have a few more chances to take my boat out on the lake or hike up in the mountains. I just wish that we’d had this weather throughout my tournament. It was nice only two of the six days, and rained the rest. In an effort to improve my tournament, I’m going to move it into August, as that should almost guarantee nice weather, since August is as sunny as Vegas, without the triple-digit temperatures.
There are a few other changes that I think I’m going to make, such as making it a two-day tournament. Some people don’t like rebuys, so I figure that I’ll have a short day one with rebuys and add-ons. Players who want to play just a regular tournament can show up on day two and make all of their buy-ins at once. (There’s a limited number of rebuys, if you were wondering.)

I can see why some players don’t like rebuy tournaments. Things got a little hectic during the rebuy period. I started the event as slowly as possible. If you took all of your rebuys at once, you started with 50,000 in chips. Most people, however, decided to rebuy one at a time. After a while, it sounded like a Mexican party, as “A rebuy! A rebuy!” was heard continuously. The blinds started at 100-200 with a 25 ante; from there, they went to 200-400 with a 50 ante, and then 300-600 with a 75 ante. These limits lasted a little over an hour and a half each. Now that’s a lot of play!

After that, there was a dinner break, and the rebuy period ended. Next year, I think I’ll have the rebuy period on a Saturday (for about five hours), and the rest of the tournament the next day. That way, people who don’t like rebuys can just show up on Sunday, and we’ll have more time to finish things up.

You see, we had a bit of a problem with time constraints this year. I thought that if the tournament went too long, we would just come back the next day and finish up. The manager of the resort said that wouldn’t be possible, as our permit expired at 2 a.m.!
I took a poll at around 1 a.m. and gave the final-table players three options: finish the next day at a private venue, play it out that night at a private venue, or just keep increasing the blinds to force a conclusion before 2 a.m.

One player had to leave early the next morning, so that was that. I doubled the blinds a few times to force the action. Luckily, this prompted the final four players to make an even chop of the money and play just for the trophies. This also absolved me from having to report anything to the IRS, thank God.

The four players who chopped it up were Rick Fuller and Nick (Creamy Italian) Brancato, the two WPT Boot Camp instructors, and Sharon and Loreen, two students from the camp. These camps are obviously a great learning tool. Make sure that you attend the next one that I teach.

Next year, I also think I’ll check anyone with marijuana cookies, brownies, or anything that smells of skunk for a medical permit or doctor’s prescription. I know that some people have them, but some don’t, and if they are in charge of counting money, they should watch what they eat. Thank God that Becca from the WPT Boot Camp was there to help out. She saved us all.

I’ll put any other changes I come up with on my website, www.ToddBrunson.com, as well as what I’m going to be up to. I’ll have done three poker camps by the time you read this. I don’t know if I can maintain this pace, with all of the poker that I’m about to be playing, but we’ll see. I’ve played only a few times up here in Montana, unfortunately. My only two invitations to private games resulted in wins of 200 big bets the first time and more than 150 the second. I hope that I get invited again next year.

Back in July, a bunch of us were leaving Vegas for the rest of the summer, so we agreed to restart our game at the Aria in October. From the tweets I’ve been reading, it seems that they’ve begun playing again, so I guess that it’s time to leave Montana.
Goodbye to nature, nice people, friendly poker, fun poker boot camps, and outdoor recreation. Hello to grueling hours, bad beats, bad weather, and stupid reporters; well, at least the bars stay open 24 hours. ♠

Todd Brunson has been a professional poker player for more than 20 years. While primarily a cash-game player, he still has managed to win 18 major tournaments, for more than $3.5 million. He has won one bracelet and cashed 25 times at the World Series of Poker. You can play with Todd online at DoylesRoom.com or live at his tournament, The Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge, in Bigfork, Montana. Check his website, ToddBrunson.com, for details.