In my last post I posted the details of the 2011 Bowler’s Journal Tournament as it is running concurrent to the 2011 USBC Open Championships. The BJ Tournament however is not the only side tournament in town. There are a few others but the other “big” side event on Nationals this year is the 2011 BTM event which is also being held at the Grand Sierra Hotel & Casino.
The BTM or Bowling This Month tournament has both handicapped and scratch events. The BTM Scratch event has both singles and doubles entries, reentries, and senior events for those over 50. The entry fee for singles is 85 scratch and $65 for scratch reentry and it’s $40 for doubles.
The BTM Handicap 123 option is open for singles, doubles and trios and is priced at $50 per entry and $40 per re-entry.
The top prize is $5,000 for open singles and $3,000 for Singles handicap at the 123.
The BTM bowling tournaments both have an array of sidepots and extra features like the Clean Block, Alibi (drop your worst game), and basic side pots so make sure to bring a little spare cash to enter the side events at the Bowling This Month (BTM) side event.
There is no preregistration required and if you need to pay with a card you can.
As a side note, this tournament runs from March 3 through July 3, 2011. This is concurrent to the 2011 USBC Nationals event plus a day before and after. As such the tournament pattern won’t be announced until early March.
You don’t have to bowl in the USBC Open to bowl this event however and in addition to using the Bowl.com travel site you can call directly to the PepperMill Reno Hotel which is sponsoring this tournament for discounted rates.
For 2011 use the code “LBTM11” on their website or when you call them over the phone for the BTM bowler rate. On my USBC Open Hotel Deals page I suggest going through Hotels.com because a lot of times the rates are cheaper but you won’t know unless you call. Every day is different.
For more info check out http://www.bowlingthismonth.com/, the main BTM 2011 tournament info page, or download the rules in pdf format for the BTM Scratch or the Handicap 1-2-3 here and here respectively.