Got into Las Vegas prior evening so I am jet lagged and on Tamsulosin which makes me loopy.

We start with 50,000 chips. There are 80 players pays 10. I am at the final table of 9 players when this happens. Not that it matters but I've won two $100 bounties so far which is unlike me (I usually win none).

My stack is ~290,000 which is 29 blinds blinds (at 5000/10000) Average stack is 445,000.

The way it works is that there is a $100 bounty chip which you win if you knock somebody out. But the bounty goes up to $500 once you are in the money. They take away the $100 bounty chips and bring over a $500 chip every time somebody gets eliminated. In the past apparently somebody (a tourist probably) stole their $500 bounty chip after they had been eliminated.

The irony is that 10th place pays basically $500. 1st place is $4,500, 2nd is like $2,700. It hits $1,000 in about 5th place. 9th place is like $530 and it goes up slowly until like 5th place.

I'm in the BB. The short stack is UTG+1 and shoves for like 150,000 chips. Maybe 140,000. Folds to LJ who shoves for about 300,000 chips. Folds to me and I look down at JJ. My first thought usually is that I should fold here with two pre-flop raisers. But in my head I am hoping that they both have AK. Normally I would fold here if I have less chips than the 2nd shover. But because of the size of the bounty I don't really think too much about it. Also if I don't beat the short stack but I do beat the 2nd shover my stack size will be roughly the same (or more).

I don't even ask for a count of the second shover's chips. I call.

All comments welcome.

This is at the Venetian in case it matters. I have found the fields here recently to be very varied. Some excellent players. Lots of pre-flop limping. Rebuy Stars Casino Luka in Prague fields were much tougher at much smaller stakes.

Were both bounties available for you to win or only the one?

Only the one.

I assume you are asking if I won the hand would I win two bounties or just one. After the river was dealt it was confirmed that I had exactly 9,000 chips less than the second jammer.

In terms of the $100 bounty, it went up to $500. The house removed all $100 chips from the table. If you knocked somebody out they would give you a $500 chip.

Ya $500 is pretty valuable here, is LJ shoving 30 bigs with TT or AQ? That will be player dependent but most decent players absolutely would so I think this is a pretty easy get in. If LJ is really nitty this becomes a lot tougher.

I hadn't played with LJ until the final table. So I had no idea whether he was nitty or not. He was a youngish guy (probably in his late twenties early thirties). My assumption was that he could be aggro trying to win the bounty. I absolutely thought he could have AQ or TT. But not AT. Maybe 99/88 as well.

Similarly I hadn't played with the young guy who went in EP with a short stack.

You absolutely should ask for a count of the second shover's chips, because it makes a major difference in terms of your equity as to whether or not A)you can win two bounties or just one and B)you will still be alive if you don't win the hand.

As it stands, I guess calling is fine since the bounties are so massive compared to the payout increases. The short stack has 14-15BB from UTG/8 so I'd expect their range to be pretty tight, but the LJ might be a little wider as an attempt to win the bounty, and that's pretty important since you need to beat them no matter what.

Never folding here. Seen lots of iso's with TT, 99, AJ, and even weaker, especially with a bounty. Might even call in a non bounty event against a UTG with 14 BBs and an iso from a young player. If LJ had AA or KK he might even call to induce another call or raise. So think we are ahead a lot.

Yeah the short stack would also induce with those hands. He can shove small pairs easily and LJ range can be 88+ AJ+ so there is a decent chance you dominate both of them.

I agree with this. I’m never folding here. People tend to spazz out in bounty tournaments. Sure you might have to hold against AK from the LJ- you are way ahead of the range of utg jamming 15bbs. Idk folding here is just a no. Sure you get eliminated running it against 2 or get big portion of your stack dented. Idk payout as described- we need ko’s if they are available to be had: this spot is too good to pass.

It’s high variance but payout as described sucks. Btw Rick- congrats I saw your picture posted on the Venetian Facebook poker site for a win. Well done!

Thanks. But...

The small stack had 99 and the other guy had AA. So 80% of the time I should have finished 8th.

The thing I didn't think about though was what would happen if I won the pot. By becoming the chip leader (or at least near the chip leader) it gave me a great opportunity.

On the next hand the guy with 9,000 chips went all in and was called by everybody. I was in the SB with 98o and called. The flop was 998. Lol. I checked and a guy bet, another guy went all in (with 96o) and I got two more bounties. In the end I got 7 out of the 8 remaining $500 bounties.

Not that I would have called if I had known the other guy had AA but the fact that all of the remaining $500 bounties were almost 1st place prize money was crazy.

Congrats Rick!

Thanks!

And I appreciate all of the comments as well. I've never been in a spot like this before so I wasn't sure if what I did was really dumb or not.

I agree with what Nath said about how important it is to know the stack size of the person who shoved so I know if the bounty can be won or not. Usually I take that into consideration. At this point it was worth 62,500 chips. So if I had more chips than both it would be a no brainer. Normally I do ask for an all in count. I think this time I had already wanted to win the $500 bounty and, for whatever reason, I had been able to add up all of his chips and I knew I was behind. Also I was a little tired so I think I cared a little less about continuing unless I had a shot at bounties. Surprisingly I got an adrenaline rush for the next few hours and wasn't really tired anymore.

I think it's a call regardless of if you cover the second guy, but definitely good info to know.

Congrats on the win!

I agree that its a call regardless of one or two bounties. But its still good practice to ask for counts. I think im calling something like TT+, AQs+,AKo maybe even AQo as well. And if it was two bounties probably 99+, AJs+, AQo+

Seems pretty obv that chasing bounties and playing for 1st is better in this structure than outlasting shorter stacks and laddering up. And this is a great spot to win a bounty and amass a stack to play for more bounties plus the top prize.