Bounty Tournament Strategy

Bounty tournaments, also known as knockout tournaments feature a split prize pool.  Like your standard poker tournaments, the prize pool goes to the players who go deep enough to break the bubble.  Additionally, there is a knock out bonus (a bounty) paid to those players who eliminate their competition.

In some multi table bounty tournaments, such as those at FullTilt Poker, 20% of the prize pool is generally set aside as a bounty bonus payout, while 80% of the player’s buy-in goes to the prize pool. Other bounty tournaments, such as those featured at the most popular poker site for bounty tournaments, such as Cake Poker, maintain a 50-50 split on the buy-ins. Also, a new room on the Merge Poker Network that is making headlines and allows US players is Aced Poker. Aced Poker bounty tournaments also maintains a 50-50 split on the buy-in vs. the bounty payouts.  Considering the added value of eliminating a player, one should adjust their play to compensate for the additional reward of the knockout bonus without making the collection of bounty the primary focus.

Best Online Poker Sites With Bounty Tournaments

Most of the US facing poker sites offer KO and bounty tournaments for real money, although with varying structures and payouts. Some poker knockout tournaments pay out bigger bounties than others, but the value is always in winning a tournament anyways. We've done careful reviews and played each online poker bounty tournament in coming up with our reccomended list of poker sites with the best bounty tournaments below.

Early Round Adjustments in Bounty Poker Tournaments

Early in bounty tournament play, the action is a bit more on the wild side, almost like that experienced in your standard rebuy tournaments.  Focus for most KOMTT players tend to revolve around collecting the bounty or knockout bonus.  Players tend to play for their entire stacks earlier, and more often in the tournament than in your average multi-table tournament. Generally, there is a lot more raising and re-raising preflop, especially from position and from the short stacks.

To exploit this method of early round play, implement more of a loose-passive style from earlier position entering the pot with a wider variety of playable hands.  Doing so will provide the luxury of sneaking in with tricky hands such as 8-7 or 6-5 suited under the gun cheaply, planning to either call a standard raise (odds willing) or folding to a re-shove. Additionally, this will set up future opportunities to reraise your premium hands such as pocket aces, kings, or ace king suited from early position without revealing your hand strength prematurely.

Also early in the bounty tournament, players tend to make far more optimistic calls than normal with drawing hands or middle pair. Typically, one should increase the size of the value bet to take advantage of the wishful thinking of the masses. Players generally love to call the overbet in these bounty events, as their main focus is in on collecting bounty chips rather than winning the MTT. By focusing on both, you will maintain the edge.

Bounty Tournament Mid-Level Strategy

As the blinds increase and the chip stacks thin, many bounty tournament players will shove all-in with somewhat speculative hands from early position, trying to double up before entering the blinds. Players tend to relax their calling standards during this timeframe as well. Circumstances and table conditions willing, one is prudent implement a reraise or fold policy when playing against a shorter stack all-in.

Players are far less likely to check it down with an all-in player in the mix and bounty on the line. However, they are also less likely to call a reraise with a speculative hand, even if they believe with some certainty that you are doing nothing more than attempting to collect the knockout bonus yourself.

Additionally, action is a bit on the crazy side when the short stacks are in the blinds. You will observe that even the small pots often end up quite large by the flop or turn during these bounty tournaments.  Relaxing your terminating call standards, while upsizing your preflop raises when the shortstack is involved will result in an overall profitable expectation.  As the blinds increase, the limp/reraise from early position becomes less valuable a weapon. Varying your preflop raise size, as well as your starting hand range will prove far more beneficial.

Endgame Strategy in Bounty Tournaments

While I have endorsed adjusting play early and mid tournament for bounty tourneys, one should keep their eye on the prize during the endgame portion of the Knockout tournament. When the majority of the prize money is within reach, it makes little sense to focus on collection of knockout bonuses - so be mindful that the objective for endgame play is to get the winner's share of the prize pool.

Implied Odds In Bounty Tournaments

Be mindful of implied odds in poker bounty tournaments as implied odds are more important than normal. With the addition of the bounty bonus, you will be correct in making optimistic calls yourself at the right price. However, do not be too optimistic in your drawing.  Many of the players you encounter are not aware of implied odds, and they will bet or call accordingly.  Be a step ahead and plan every hand around commitment.

Finally, one is flawed in their thinking if they believe the knockout bounty is a prize. While eliminating a player holds a definite value, the knockout bounty is a bonus. Be certain you know how the buy-in is split - does 50% of the buy-in go to bounty or is it only 20%? Either way, the primary objective of a multi-table knockout tournament is to get all the chips. The payment for eliminating a player from the MTT is merely a bonus.

Don't forget to check out our other online poker strategy articles and our guide to the best real money poker tournaments before signing up or depositing at any poker site.