how to handle the "grinders"

[davieb]

I was playing in a low limit SNG and I was really surprised at how long this one ground out. I've never seen anything like it (I haven't been playing this all that long, but I've been in more than a few so far). When the blinds were up to 100/200 (and about to go up to 200/400), there were still 9 players left. The money just seemed to move around the table and there was no clear leader in chips (this I also found very odd). To make matters worse, I kept getting great hands like J-4 offsuit or even better, 5-7 offsuit. With some calling stations, I did find it hard to try to pull the trigger on a standard raise given the crap that I kept getting dealt. I think my best hand was a Qc-9c (the hand I finally said, screw it! and went in with) and I just really gave up and found another table. At the time, I'd gone down a fair bit because of the blinds and was in not so great shape. The bad cards I can handle, I've been through that before, but the thing that bothered me was the grinder that the game was.

After talking to a friend who has gone through something similar and being through another one kind of like it, we came up with a theory that some of these people just like to sit down for a fixed amount and squeeze as much poker out of this as they can, hence the length. It seems reasonable that this might be the case, and given that all three of the games occurred on a Friday night, that kind of cements it.

Aside from avoiding games on Friday night, how do the more experienced players handle these grinders? This stuff is happening at the $5 & $10 level, does this happen at the higher levels? Is this really as odd as it seems? Like I said, I've only seen it a couple of times now (the second one didn't grind on as long and it did reach a break point, although it was long before the 200/400 blinds). At this level, it's easier just to get it over with, get out and find another tournament, but is there another way to go at this? Is there a way to handle these table/player situations when they occur?

Any thoughts appreciated.