Played the $1500 shootout today. Starts 10 handed if you win your table you go on to the next round (and in the money).

In shootouts (and in 1-table SNGs in general) it is best to avoid risk and play generally tight early as people that gamble give you equity by risking going broke. In short, a 5000 chip stack 10-handed has less value than a 5000 chip stack 6 handed, even though the latter stack is shorter than the average stack at that point. With 4-8 people the play got wilder as there were a lot of 20bb stacks so there was a lot of restealing. I did a little bit of that although not a lot because the structure was slow enough that if I could get HU I would still have a good chance and don't mind playing HU with 20bb.

My wish came true and I got HU after one guy ran super hot to bust everyone else. Unfortunately I entered the HU down 40,000 to my 5,000 roughly. I still had like 17bbs though (150/300 level) and won a few small pots early and suddenly had some room. We were both playing a low variance style (some limping/minraising from the button, not much 3betting) which was great for me as I had a huge edge against him HU.

I ran decently and played great against him and eventually got 21,000 chips to his 24k. The structure was great with hour long levels and we played 150/300 and 200/400 so we played a ton of hands and I had all the momentum obviously since he was expecting a quick victory given his stack as we started HU. We played a huge pot where I crai the turn on a AJTs 8s and he had A9ss and I had Q9 and held.

That pot gave me like 42,000 to his 3,000 and by then it was 200/400. It was my button and he was short so I jammed JTo and he got KJ and held which sucked. Then next hand he limps button with 15bbs and I jammed A7s which was standard and he had A9o and held. Really sucked having him down to the ropes, getting 2 good hands in spots where I jamming ATC, somehow being dominated both times, and losing both hands. So now I'm up just 2-1, a little tilted, but still happy given the structure and my edge.

I run a bluff where he backdoored a straight but a flush came out too and I cr'd the river knowing his flop/turn line meant he couldnt have a flush and he almost wanted to fold a backdoor straight but called me. I think my line was good there since it was hard for him to have much that could call (a straight was possible but even that might fold).

So now I'm down a little to him and I turn 2pr with 96o on a Q9x 6 board and he crai the turn I snapcall he has KT with a turned flushdraw. He hits the flush on the river and that's the ballgame. If I won that pot I would have a major chiplead again and would be a huge favorite to win.

I played sick good that tourney, especially HU being down so much. I'm sure he knows how lucky he was to walk away with a win there given how it was going. Once I got a little room against him (like 10k chips to his 35k chips) I knew I had a really nice edge and a good shot to win.

It was also disappointing to see Jay and Clayton get 9th and 6th respectively. They got decent money but were really close to something major. Especially stinks for me because I had swapped 5% with Jay and would've loved to see him win 550k.

Oh well. Tomorrow is a 1500nl event and there is one Saturday as well. Those get huge fields and are pretty soft. I've had some nice runs in events so far but haven't been able to close. I have a good amount of confidence though and it's only a matter of time before it all comes together.

Craig

www.twitter.com/craigthedeac