Failed to win the NLHE 1500$ shootout today. I got an extremely tough table draw given the tournament buyin level which kinda tilted me. There was a titanpoker pro from France and his friend (who both turned out to be a bit on the tight side but w/e), an asian kid who played very well (clearly an internet pro) directly to my left, a guy on my right who turned out to also be an internet pro and, to top it off, Dario Minieri. Thankfully, Dario busted early with AQ vs AK, doubling up the asian kid.
We started with 4500 chips and 25/50 blind levels, increasing to 50/100 and then 100/200 w/ 1 hour blind levels. This was a pretty fast increase. I don't think I played particularly well, misplaying at least 2 hands (maybe 3 hands).
Hand 1:
Raise QJdd to 150 preflop from MP3 w/ blinds 25/50, effective stacks 5000 get 1 caller from obvious fish on BU. Flop comes QJ8r (no diamond). I bet 275, he raises to 600, I call. I dislike this in retrospect as a small raise from this opponent type is almost certainly quite a weak hand, and it will be hard to extract extra value by just calling and giving up the initiative. I think 3betting big on the flop is worse as our fold equity is so high (I would 3bet here with total air always) but I think 3betting small is definitely a viable option to let us get it in on the turn river easier. Turn came an ace which went check/check (if we bet/call flop checking this turn is the only option IMO) and he check/folded to my river bet on a low blank river.
Hand 2:
I openraise KQo to 250 UTG 8-handed blinds 50/100 with a fairly loose image, get 3bet by Dario on the CO who is playing roughly 35bb deep (I cover) to 600. I fold. I think if I do decide to open this hand (and it's probably slightly better to openfold), 4bet shoving preflop is by far superior. Dario would rarely 3bet an UTG opener with a value hand, his range being much more weighted towards bluffs. And I has blockers against his value range.
Hand 3:
44bb deep I openraise A4o from MP3 position and get 3bet by the CO who is the asian internet player. Once again I think folding to the 3bet isn't great, and 4betshoving is slightly better. But this one is a lot closer.
Ended up sitting with roughly starting stack with blinds 100/200 and losing half my stack with AA < Q9o (can't win flips 
), then the rest with AJo vs 77. AA vs Q9o was kinda funny because I opened to 425 @ 100/200 from UTG and got jammed on for 2k chips. Obviously did not expect to see the hand I saw. LOL donkaments
