Bounty Tournament Strategy

Poker Strategy / Matthew Pitt / 23 August 2011 / Leave a Comment

Betfair recently announced the schedule for the eagerly anticipated Betfair Poker LIVE! Tour and along with the great destinations it was also revealed that the Man Event's on this season's tour are going to be played as a bounty tournament. Bounty tournaments have a slightly different dynamic to a standard poker tournament so I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some of the differences here.

The bounty element adds a touch of fun and increases a player's chance of walking away with something to show for their money but try not to get distracted by the fact there are bounties on the heads of your opponents. With the bounties only being $100 they are not worth deviating from optimal strategy from than say if the bounties were $500 each. Although $100 would be welcomed by the majority of players, going out of your way to pick up a bounty by making plays that could jeopardise the chance of winning the entire tournament is ridiculous! You will find that some players will go all out in order to win a bounty but you should try to stick to your usual game and treat the bounties as a potential bonus and nothing more.

Being the short stack in bounty tournaments is an even tougher ride than a standard tournament due to the fact people are financially rewarded by your demise. As a result you should try to keep above the average stack size so that your opponents do not target you and try to take your bounty. Normal tournament strategy dictates a player should start to move all in or fold when they have 10-15 big blinds in their stack but in a bounty tournament these size bets will be called so it pays to tighten up and wait for more premium hands, so dropping down to 6-8 big blinds is not horrendously bad if it gives you chance to pick up a premium hand rather than shoving any two cards. On the flip side of the coin, having a short stack on your table can lead to some profitable re-steal plays once the short stack has entered the pot. Due to them being worth $100 to anyone who eliminates them you will see people trying to frequently trying to isolate the short stacks, which means there will be plenty of opportunity to re-isolate these players and pick up valuable chips.

The bounty element of the Betfair Poker LIVE! Main Events should attract some weaker players who will see them as a fun day out rather than a serious poker tournament and, as mentioned, players who see the bounties as being the be all and end all. Take advantage of these weak players but remember at all times that out of the $600 that goes into the prizepool only a sixth of it is awarded in bounties, which means there is a lot of money to play for that is awarded in actual prizes.

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