I'm new to this site so please bare with me. I played in the 500k bellagio tourney and made it to the semifinal hand before losing =(. Final table was 500k pool for 6 players. I'll scan a copy of the rules on Monday, but here were the main points. 10k bankroll, unlimited bets, dice to figure out position, 2 decks. Round 1. Final hand, I was last in chips but not by much, but first to act Player 1 (me): 11k Player 2: 13k Player 3: 12.5k Player 3: 15k I bet half my stack 5.5k, and everyone bets 6k behind me. I get a 13, double down and get an 8. So 21, and advanced. Round 2. A lot easier, everyone was aggressive and on the 19th hand I was the only one left. Round 3 (semis) 6 players, and by the 17th hand only 2 players left. I will run through my bets for the 17-20th hands. 17th- divide my stack in 3 and bet 1/3, and lose. Other player bets min (500). 18th- all in i get bj, but dealer gets bj so push. 19th- all in (4200) and win dealers do a count and announce chip count. 20th hand- I have 8400 and he has 16000, so I have a slight chance. I go all in, and he bets 6k, and can only advance if I win and he loses. A push, we both win or we both lose and he advances. I get a 9, he has 13, and i'm first to act. Dealer shows a face card. I hit and increase to 19. He hits and busts. Here is the sad part, I start celebrating w/ my friend behind me only to turn around and see the dealer had picked up all my chips. Dealer turned a 20, and I lost.... Just wanted to see if I played the 17th-20th hand correctly. I felt I did.
You don't say how far ahead your opponent is but based on the later information I assume it's big. If you're behind by more than a portion of a max bet (or of your entire bankroll), betting 1/3 of your stack here can't accomplish much, but it can damage your bank substantially. Unless this bet was enough to take the lead under some outcomes, I would prefer to be all-in here. Good thing you weren't! That had to be a frustrating push! I like it. Yes, you did fine here. The only thing to be careful of is to realize that if you had drawn a different card and ended up with a hard 17, you needed to hit it. You had to give the dealer a total to get in between the two of you. If you had ended up with 17 and stood, he could stand and be a lock. Your opponent actually misplayed this hand. With a dealer face card up and you with 19, he should have stood with his 13 instead of risking busting. If he plays basic strategy and hits to 17 or better, he's a 72% favorite to advance. If he stands with 13, he's close to 76%. (That's the dealer bust, dealer 19, dealer 20, and dealer 21 outcomes.) Sorry your tournament ended one round short!
