Brunsons and Bounties

I recently played in an online tournament and won nine times the first-place prize! I know that sounds unbelievable, but it really happened!

Doyle’s Room hosts a $27.50 bounty tournament every Wednesday night. There are three bounty players, often Doyle and his family, and sometimes famous players such as Mike Caro, Hoyt Corkins, or members of the hand-picked “Brunson 10.” Knocking out any bounty player is worth $1,000, which is pretty sweet, especially for a $27.50 tournament. But what’s even sweeter is that if you can knock out two of them, you collect $10,000. And if you take down all three, you get a cool $50,000. That overlay makes it one of the best current promotions I’m aware of.

We all started with 2,500 in chips. After about an hour and a half, I had run mine up to 6,000, when I got moved to a new table and was seated two spots to the left of Jeff Veach, Doyle’s grandson and a bounty player, who had about 5,000. Since first prize was about $1,200, and knocking Jeff out was worth $1,000, my focus was entirely on him. Since I had position on him in most hands, I enjoyed a huge advantage.

With blinds of 125-250, he played his first hand since my arrival, open-raising to 750 preflop. I called with Q-8 offsuit, a hand that I’d normally fold, but the chance to knock out Jeff made it a mandatory call. Two players behind me also called, probably hunting for the bounty, as well. The flop came Q♠ 3♦ 2♦. Jeff led out for 500, which seemed extremely weak, plus I certainly wasn’t going anywhere with top pair and a chance at $1,000. I shoved all in to isolate him, which succeeded. After my other opponents folded, it was back to Jeff, who let his clock tick down more than 30 seconds. By that time, I was certain that I had the best hand, and was really hoping he’d call. I didn’t think he would, but finally he called, and showed the A♣ K♣! The turn and river were both blanks, and just like that, I collected $1,000.

That hand also increased my stack to 15,000. I then went on a nice rush and knocked out a couple of other players, so suddenly I was up to 35,000 and in second place out of 50 players. Then, they moved me again, and to my delight, I saw that another bounty — Doyle’s nephew Ken Hale — was seated to my left. He had 17,000, so I had him easily covered, but the fact that he was on my left made it very difficult to target him. It also didn’t help that the chip leader was at our table, seated three seats to Ken’s left. With his position and chip stack, he had the much better chance of knocking Ken out.

Right away, I got involved in a rough hand. With blinds of 400-800, someone minimum-raised, the chip leader and small blind both called, and I called from the big blind with K-J. The flop came J-9-4 rainbow, and I led out. Only the chip leader called. The turn was a deuce. I bet two-thirds of the pot, and he called again. The river was an 8, for a final board of J-9-4-2-8. I led out for half the pot, and he shoved all in. I didn’t necessarily put him on Q-10, but there were plenty of other ways that he could have me beat. I also didn’t want to risk elimination when I had a chance (however small) of knocking Ken out for $10,000. So, I folded, leaving myself with 12,000.

Three hands later, the blinds were up to 500-1,000, and everyone folded to me in the cutoff. I open-shoved with 3-3, and Ken instantly reraised all in behind me with the A♦ K♦. The small blind folded, and the big blind overcalled with K-7 in a clear attempt to win the bounty. The flop came 9♦ 9♣ 8♦, making Ken the favorite, but the turn was the 3♠, giving me a full house. Maybe I should have been happy about winning the hand, but instead, I felt really sick. I couldn’t believe that I had blown two-thirds of my stack with that K-J. That kept me from having Ken covered with my 3-3, and in turn, it cost me $10,000. I was pretty sure that I had just blown a rare opportunity.

I couldn’t get distracted, though. With that hand, I was up to 40,000, while Ken was down to 5,000, so I still had a chance. Even though the blinds were getting high, I knew that my best chance of collecting the bounty was to limp every hand and hope that Ken would eventually take a stand behind me. I did that for two entire orbits. The problem was that he was staying out of every hand, I wasn’t winning any pots after limping, and the blinds had climbed to 600-1,200. In fact, I dropped from 40,000 all the way down to 9,000 without winning a chip. But Ken’s stack was dwindling, too, so I knew that I just had to stick with it, and eventually he would be forced to play a hand.

Finally, it happened. He was down to 1,100 and had 600 of it posted in the small blind. Only one player limped, which completely shocked me. I couldn’t understand how only one player would limp with the bounty so short-stacked. I was very lucky that so many players must have overlooked the situation. They probably looked at their cards, saw something like 10-4, and clicked “auto-fold” without giving it a second thought. But I wasn’t complaining! I picked up 8-8 on the button and shoved for my last 9,000. Ken made the call for his last 500, the big blind folded, and the limper called in another clear case of bounty-hunting.

Ken showed the A♦ Q♦, while the limper had Q-4 offsuit. It’s not too often that I get to flip a coin for $10,000! Plus, it was nice to see that one of his queens was gone; so, advantage Lessinger. The flop was a very safe J-5-4. The turn was a king, so now I had to sweat a 10, as well, but the river paired the jack, and just like that, I won $10,000. Cha-ching!

The funny thing is, that hand got me up to 30,000, and there was still a tournament to play. I kept running well, and in the end, I finished in second place for an additional $876. I made a total profit of $10,849 — not a bad return on a $27.50 investment! The next day, when I told a friend about it, the look on his face was priceless:

“I did pretty well in a tournament last night.”

“Oh yeah? Was it a big one?”

“Well, actually, the buy-in was only $27.50, and the top prize was only about $1,200.”

“Oh, that’s not such a big deal. So, did you win?”

“Well, I did a little better than win …” ♠

Matt Lessinger is the author of The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker, available everywhere. You can find other articles of his at www.CardPlayer.com.