Double Shootout Fun

I played my second ever double shootout yesterday. A satellite to the Sunday Million nice and early with a small field. The only other one I have played I went out in 3rd and lost out on one of the two seats up for grabs.

The play is so bad in these it’s unreal. The one I played had 55 runners, paid two seats and $35 for 3-6. My first table started with 8 people and I honestly think some of the players thought it was a turbo. We were down to 4 by the end of the first level, and I had hardly played a hand. Heads-up my opponent had a massive chip lead. I think originally it was 10k/2k but the blinds were still so low. Cue a 45 min HU battle…

I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. I felt like I had a great read on my opponent and got myself up to about 8k. He the doubled through to take the lead after the following hand:

I raise in the SB with AQ, he called and the flop came AQx. I raised the flop in line with most of my hands played this way and he pushed. I called and he flips the mighty 84s for the flush draw.

He hits of course and now I’m back to grinding him down again. After a few ups and downs I finally took my first table with JJ Vs AA when a well timed J on the river relieved him of his last 2k.

Surprisingly the second table was worse that the first. MP pushed first hand and got TWO callers. MP has AA, the callers? AQ and KJ.

Oh my.

The player with AA in the hand above tripled and I doubled off him a few hands later. He eventually busted with AK. Three handed the blinds were getting quite high. I was able to steal with little reply and eventually ended up with about 8k Vs 4k Vs 1.2k or similar.

The 4k stack played this a bit strange I think. 2 places pay so he’s in a great position at this point. The blinds are high I’m raising every hand. I pick up QJ in the BB. He called and I raised. He calls to see a flop of Q75 rainbow. I bet out and he calls again. I’m a little confused as to why he’s getting so involved at this point when a J appears on the turn. I bet out again and he pushes. I think my curiosity got the better of me here and I called with top 2, he flips AA and gets no help and a whopping $35 for his efforts. I bet the short stack couldn’t believe his luck!

I have seen quite a bit of debate over the DS as a way to qualify, both for the WSOP and for the Sunday Million. I see them as a low cost way of playing a relatively poor field for seats you might otherwise pay 4-5 times more for in one of the rebuy satellites. I would encourage that anyone who has at least some knowledge of SNG’s to give them a go.