Last night's tournament is a good place to start because it's fresh on my mind. Also, since I only played three hands and lost all three, it's easy to remember.
This was a $75 buy-in bounty tournament. Each player has a $25 bounty, so you get paid $25 for each player you knock out. I wanted to play in this tournament for 2 reasons: 1) I thought I had a good chance at collecting some bounties, as I've knocked out several players in the other tournaments I've played in; 2) there was no "early-bird bonus" for registering early like their other nightly tournaments. Everyone starts with 10,000 in chips. Blinds start at 100-200 and go up every 20 minutes, with no antes.
My goals for the tournament were to practice studying my opponents, putting them on hand ranges, thinking specifically about what they do right and wrong and how best to play against them, and to practice counting the pot every hand. I also wanted to try to play a little more loose and aggressive than I had previously been playing. Since I only played for about 45 minutes, I didn't do a lot of this, but I tried.
The first hand, I was under the gun and folded. There were several limpers. The flop was jack-high. The guy 2 seats to my left bet 400 and a lady across the table called. Everybody else folded. Turn was another low card. He bet 400 and she called. River was unremarkable. He checked, she bet 1000 and he called. She didn't want to show her cards. She said she had one pair lower than jacks and acted like she was going to muck. He turned over A7o for a pair of 7s and she mucked without showing.
The next hand, I was in the BB. Again no pre-flop raise. I had garbage and folded along with everyone else to the first bet.
Next hand, I am SB and I am dealt KJo. The guy 2 to my left limps, cutoff limps, I limp, BB checks. Flop is 6-K-T rainbow. I bet out 400. BB folds, and the other 2 guys call. Turn is a Q. I bet 800 and they both call. River is a 3 (no flush). Since no one has shown any strength, I bet 1100. They both call (wtf). I turn my hand over, the guy 2 to my left turns over QTo for 2 pair, and the other guy mucks. Oddly, both of them apparently thought that my KJ made a straight (it didn't).
Almost forgot about this, but the next hand I was on the button with 55 and it folded around to me. I raised to 600 and both blinds folded. So I guess I can't say I won nothing.
I didn't play a hand again until my next BB. By this time, the lady who tried to bluff the first hand was down to about 3000 in chips and went all in pre-flop. Everyone folded around to me and I called with pocket 10s. She turned over ATs. "Yay!" I thought, until the ace came up on the flop.
I didn't play a hand through the entire next level (200-400). I was down to 3400 in chips when the blinds went up to 300-600. A guy 3 seats to my right had lost a pot to an all-in bet that left him with just 400 in chips. This was interesting because of the bounties. The guy who won the big hand didn't get the bounty because he didn't have enough chips. Now this guy is forced to go all in with any 2 cards, so his bounty was basically up for grabs. I vowed to go all in on the next hand with any reasonable hand, so of course I was dealt 24o. *sigh* Fortunately he ended up winning a 4-way main pot on the next hand, so he was up to 1600 and the next hand was his BB. Again I planned to go all-in with anything reasonable and this time I got JTs (spades). Unfortunately, the UTG player raised to 2000. The next guy folded. I did think about it. I was probably more influenced by the bounty than I should have been, but I reasoned that the UTG player could be raising with a very wide range here also trying to get heads up with the bounty. So I went all in for 3400. Everyone else folded. BB went all in for his 1600 and the raiser called my bet. The BB turned over AQo (red) and the raiser turned over AKs (spades). The flop was A-T-6 clubs, turn & river were blanks. AK got 2 bounties.
I'm not sure if I believe that final all-in move was a mistake or not. The player who raised UTG had been playing tight, and I'm really not sure if he was thinking about the bounty situation or not. If I would have folded there, the blinds would have eaten almost a third of my remaining stack if I didn't get a better hand to double up. But... if the bounty wasn't in play there, I probably would have folded. I guess I should have been thinking about the big picture and trying to survive in the tournament. But considering how short stacked I was, I would have needed an incredible run to get back into contention. So does that make going after a $25 bounty a better play at that point?
Consulted Harrington, hoping to find a recommendation to push with the JTs after a raise and the BB all in. But no. He doesn't address that exact situation, but I'm pretty sure he would say to fold.
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