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How to Play Bounty Tournaments

April 30, 2024
MTT
by PokerStars Learn

Wondering about what are or how to play bounty tournaments? Then you are at the right place! In this episode, Spraggy goes over PKOs and Mystery Bounty tournaments, diving into how to find them and what strategy works best with this play style.

What’s a Bounty Poker Tournament?

Taking inspiration from the Wild West, Bounty Tournaments, see players having a “bounty” (prize money) placed on their heads.

As you (hopefully) progress, and you start to overcome players, you will claim their bounty. This extra bonus gives you even more of a reason to keep knocking out other players.

Here are the two types of Bounty Tournaments.

Progressive Knockouts (also known as PKOs)

  • Each player begins with a bounty on their heads (eg. $10).
  • You immediately get half another player’s bounty as soon as you knock them out.
  • Meanwhile, the other half is landed onto your own bounty amount.
  • So the bounties get bigger as fewer players are left.

Mystery Bounties

  • When you knock a player out, you get awarded a random amount.
  • Some players have small bounties on their head, but others have huge bounties.
  • It’s very exciting to see what prize you get.

How to Find Bounty Tournaments

If playing online, look for the little red target icon or search for “bounty” to find these special events.

You can hover over the info button to see exactly how the bounties work for that tournament.

Strategy for Bounty Tournaments

The bounty prize changes the math on deciding when to call an all-in bet. With a bounty to potentially win, you can call with slightly weaker hands than normal.

If a player with a big bounty goes all-in short-stacked, it can be correct to call and try to knock them out, even with a medium-strength hand.

The bigger the bounty, the wider range of hands you can play against the all-in bet.

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