Every Friday at 21:00 ET Full Tilt Poker holds a $75,000 guaranteed, $500 + $35 buy-in Knockout Tournament. $400 of each players buy-in goes towards the overall prize pool, while the remaining $100 becomes the bounty on each players head. Satellite tournaments for the $500 Bounty Tournament start at $1 or 50 Full Tilt Points.
Players who collect a few bounties and make the money in this tournament can take home a nice profit. Plus, playing for bounties is always fun and requires some different strategy while you play.
Knockout Tournament Strategy Tips
First, unless you don’t care about your $500 buy-in, it’s not very smart to go all-in against players that have you covered unless you’re sure you hold the best hand. Of course it’s always risky to commit your entire stack on a draw, but in a bounty tournament it’s even more dangerous. Players are looking for opportunities to knock out opponents, so they’re more likely to call you when you shove your chips in. In a non-bounty tournament, shoving your chips in with a big draw might be enough to scare your opponent away, giving you two ways to potentially win the pot (scare them away or hit your hand). In a bounty tournament when your opponent has you covered, you will get called a lot more often, forcing you to make your hand.
Also, if you get short stacked, everyone and their brother is going to call you when you shove your chips in. For example, you have $2000 chips in front of you and you hold a marginal hand like A, 8. The blinds are $100/200, you’re on the button and everyone in front of you has folded. You shove your stack in and pray. The big blind, with 13,000 chips is going to call you with almost any two cards, putting your tournament at risk. In a non-knockout tournament he’s much more likely to fold in that situation, but since there’s $100 on your head, he’s going to call most of the time.
So, in a knockout tournament it’s even more important to make the most out of your winning hands and get a big stack as early as possible. The big stack will mean that fewer players at your table will be able to knock you out of the tournament, while you’ll have more chances at collecting their bounties. When you hold big hands, ones that you feel strongly are the winners, don’t be afraid to make bigger value bets. You need to maximize your winnings when you hold the best hand and if you only make small bets, you can only win small pots.
If you find yourself getting short-stacked, make your moves before your stack is too small to scare anyone out of a pot. Get more aggressive in late position when you have nobody else or just a limper in the pot in front of you.
While knockout tournaments can be more stressful at times, they can also be much more exciting when you’re hitting hands and busting players. We’ve all had those nights where we could do no wrong. Have one of those nights in this huge bounty tournament at Full Tilt Poker and you’ll make a boatload of money. Have fun!
Note: When you sign up to play, be sure to use Full Tilt bonus code IPOKERORG when you make your first deposit. If you sign up now and make your initial deposit, this bonus code will get you an extra 100% up to $600 in cash!