Now 22 of 35 with just 26BB after I woke up with AK in the SB, 2.5x-ed and the bounty-leader-limper called from BB. Flopped a Axx. Lots of betting, he even raised the turn. He got there on the river with 42s (wheel).

I am now 12 or 25 with 33BB

Well I no longer cover super limper after this amazing performance. For your entertainment:

Final two tables!

4 of 18 with 40BB after a couple of tricky hands against the chip leader. He is running 65/53 with a 29% 3-bet over the 17 hands I have seen. 

9/12 with just 9BB

Made a horrific play in blinds war. The guy seemed weak and I was open-ended on the turn so I put him all in. He called with a set and I didn’t get there. 

2 have to go out for next pay jump so I’m not going to lock it up and try for it. I’d rather see if I can double up and get back in it. 9BB isn’t the end. I’ve been in worse shape before. Let’s do this.

FT!!!!!!!!!

Last in chips but still 17BB!

I should say that the table was pretty active so I didn’t have any reason to think my KQ was going to be such a dog. I didn’t expect V to shove a hand this strong anyway. V would have been better off min-raising IMO, hoping to induce my all-in, but I guess he got the result either way. I suppose V might have been iso/protected himself from bounty chasers, but if I were in his shoes that is exactly what I’d want to see happen with AK, QQ+. Let the chasers make their mistakes.

I have to admit that if I could have avoided my two big mistake hands while nearing the FT bubble that I could have coasted in and tightened up for a couple of busts and removed all signs of my recent down-swing. Something for me to look at. I always feel like I need to be active when it gets down to 5 or 6 handed to keep my stack healthy. I could easily have afforded to let a few orbits go by on this one when I was 30-40BB deep.

I think I’m becoming a bit of a progressive-bounty specialist. Most of my success has been in these (inc the $5 turbo 90-seat SnG, though I’m not loving turbos in general). They reduce variance and cause people to make mistakes. The strategy is also new enough that I’m not sure many people are taking advantage of many spots. For example, noticing if someone is playing wider when a bounty is on the line and limping to let them iso a bounty. I even found a rare spot once to flat with AA against a particularly LAG chaser because I knew he would stay loose post flop rather than give up the bounty (it removed some of his folds). Flipping this around, there are spots where it can be profitable to call off some percentage of a stack with any decent hand. Mostly though, I’m playing the hunters, not the hunted. When I’m the hunter, I’m thinking about how I would play me, and trying to pick my spots.

The biggest downside is that you lose fold equity faster as stacks get shorter (depending on table, position and stack-size dynamics). This also means it is more profitable to shove a nutty hand with a larger stack though.

In the early stages people just get stupid with greed trying to get that min-bounty-cash to make their tourney cheaper. Others force the action because, “hey, if you don’t cover people you can’t knock them out”. I find playing in TAG-mode with fewer bluffs and larger bet sizing seems pretty good to take advantage of this.