Nightly MTT Schedule Update

One of the nice consequences for an mtt guy like me since the demise of partypoker for U.S. players earlier this year is that things have changed noticeably on the daily mtt schedules of the biggest online poker clients still accepting U.S. players. Although I don't know why these changes would coincide with the changes in the U.S. online gaming laws, but I for one am much happier with the changes.

Specifically, for starters I am getting really into playing the nightly HORSE mtt on full tilt at 10:15pm ET. This is a $26 token buyin tournament, and lately it's been averaging in the neighborhood of 200 or so players each night. And it's growing. Just like all of the other nightly guarantees on full tilt -- just look at the 25k which was 14k guaranteed when I started playing on full tilt, and then 17k, then 20k, and now 25k (and 35k on Sunday nights). So that's a really fun time that I've been having lately playing for some serious dollars and against a generally more skilled field than, say, the $5 and $10 1-table HORSE sng's out there on full tilt.

Full tilt is also taking advantage of the interest in non-holdem tournaments in other fun ways as well. In addition to the big HORSE guarantee at 10:15pm ET each night of the week (this carries a 4k guarantee currently, but is usually more like 5 or 6k by go time), ftp also runs a nightly pot-limit omaha mtt for a $26 token buyin, I believe at 9:45pm ET every night, and a nightly 11:15pm ET O8 tournament as well, also for a token buyin. Additionally, there is also a 7-stud or 7-stud hilo tournament every other night right around midnight ET, also carrying the $26 buyin. Each of these nightly poker tournaments has a guaranteed prize pool, usually ranging between 2k and 4k, but the point is, if you are like me and like getting your non-holdem poker game on at something more than the $5 and $10 buyin levels, these tournaments are always there, every night, and another one is always right around the corner if you are interested in expanding your horizons. I've got a bunch of bloggers and non-bloggers who I correspond with who are playing in some of these events many nights, and even a guy like cracknaces who has basically won every one of these things at some point over the past month or two.

I am happy to report that, after falling IMO well behind the curve over the past couple of months, pokerstars has finally just in the past couple of weeks responded to full tilt's tremendous non-holdem tournament availability with some similar nightly offerings of their own. The one I'm most into just lately, even though it starts a bit later than I wish it would, is the nightly 11:15pm ET $11 buyin PLO tournament, with one rebuy and one add-on, and in a 6-max short-handed format. The rebuy factor makes this badboy last past 2am ET on most nights, which is not good for me as I've been coming pretty close to the final table with some consistency of late, but the limitation to only 1 rebuy and 1 addon at the end of the first hour also keeps it from being an abject donkfest like the large Rebuy Madness tournaments on stars tend to be right from the get-go. Stars has also added a nightly 11pm ET $30 buyin limit holdem tournament, a game which I do not participate in as a rule, as well as a few other O8 and Stud mtt's that did not used to be on the nightly slate.

The end result of all these changes is a pure win for us, the users of the major online poker clients. If you're into the non-holdem games, just getting into them, or even just getting to know them, it is now easier than ever to participate in and learn the new games in an exciting tournament format where, if you survive long enough, there is some serious cash to be won (without the need for 2000 entrants to build the prize pools to respectable levels, thanks to full tilt's $26 buyin token structure). There are several options every single day of the week now for anyone to play in almost any of the HORSE games (or HORSE itself), plus pot-limit Omaha (high only) and various 6-max events as well, regardless of what time of night it is that you normally sit down to venture into the world of online poker. I usually find time to play at least one or two of these events almost every night I am able to play, and I've had some success, and a whole lot of fun and learning, along the way, so hopefully I'll see you there in one of these events one day soon.