4 Tips Increase Your Bounty Tournament Success

Niko | February 12, 2009

In bounty tournaments, a portion of each player’s buy-in goes to the prize pool, with the remaining amount becoming a bounty on the player’s head. When a player goes broke, the player who eliminated them wins their bounty. For example, in a $10 bounty tournament where 50% of the buy-in becomes each player’s bounty, you would win $5 for each player you knock out.

The bounty structure varies slightly between online poker sites. Some sites allocate half of your buy-in as your bounty, while others allocate only a third. There are also more complex bounty tournaments where half of each player’s buy-in becomes their bounty, but you only win 80% of their bounty when you knock them out, with the remaining 20% added to your bounty amount. This variation makes bounties earned later in the tournament worth more than those won early on. Regardless of the bounty structure, there are a few adjustments you should make to your game to increase your success in bounty tournaments.

1: Isolate the super short stacks with monster hands

When you notice a player’s stack dwindling, be ready to pounce. Often, a player will double through a slightly larger stack, leaving someone with only a few chips. If you get dealt a monster hand when the super short stack player is putting in his last few chips, isolate him. Keep everyone else out of the pot. You don’t want other players to see the flop cheaply and steal the short stack’s bounty and possibly some of your chips.

2: Try to see the flop against super short stacks

If a player’s chip count is very low, see many flops with him. Chances are he will move in if he catches anything on the flop, or even if he doesn’t. If you can catch a piece of the flop, try to pick up a bounty cheaply. Include the player’s bounty when calculating pot odds in these situations. For example, if you make four to a flush on the flop with a player who has 800 chips, with the blinds at 50/100 and the pot at 350, consider the odds. The player moves in for 700 chips. You have about a 35% chance to win, which normally isn’t enough to justify a big call. However, in a bounty tournament, you have a 35% chance to win half of a buy-in, justifying a call.

3: Double through the big stacks

In bounty tournaments, players will look for your bounty, so you are more likely to get your all-in called. Push earlier than usual and restrict yourself to pushing with big hands. In the 8-15 big blinds range, only push with top quality hands. You can still afford to be patient and get your money in with a big edge. Once below 8 big blinds, increase your range and push with more moderate hands, even if it means trying to win coin flips to double up.

4: Don’t risk too much trying for a bounty

Earning money from bounties is great, but don’t forget about the prize pool. Bounty tournaments have the same structure as normal tournaments, so don’t change your strategy too much just to look for bounties. Follow the points outlined above, but don’t go bounty crazy and lose sight of the main prize.