Do you have the skills, patience and killer instinct to KO opponents for additional poker stakes? If you do, you have the makings of a bounty hunter. That said, bounty tournaments aren’t ordinary events. They require different tactics and aggressive play even when you are the short stack!
Find Bounty Tournaments in Low, Medium and High Poker Stakes
Bounty tournaments have exploded in popularity online. On any given day at Juicy Stakes Poker, you can find bounties available in a range of different poker stakes. What that of course means is everyone has a shot at elimination poker – whether you are a ‘low baller’ or high roller!
In essence, bounty tournaments are exactly what they sound like. A bounty or cash reward is placed on the head of one or more players – or the whole bang shoot of participants in that particular event. Your objective is to knock out players and get awarded the corresponding cash prize for your efforts.
In this tournament format, bounties are over and above the tournament tokens in the prize pool. They are also paid out in crisp hard currency. Depending on which type of bounty you play, you can earn a wadge of extra poker stakes at the time of elimination. In another scenario, you get your share of the largesse if and when you reach the money positions.
At Juicy Stakes, there are standard bounty tournaments and progressive bounty tournaments. In the former format, the buy-in is divided in half. Fifty percent juices the prize pool and the other fifty percent is the bounty on each player’s head.
Here is an example. Say, for instance, you register for a bounty event played at low poker stakes. The buy-in is $4, of which $2 is added to the prize pool and $2 to the bounty pool. In this instance, you win $2 for every opponent you eliminate but only if you prevail to the business end of the event.
Progressive Bounty Tournaments
With the progressive bounty tournament format, the buy-in is also split fifty-fifty. Half goes into the prize pool and half onto the head of each opponent. Here is where the difference lies.
When you knock out an opponent, you immediately get half of the bounty. The other half goes onto your head. That, of course, incentivises all the remaining players to gun for you with even more vigour!
Using the same low stakes example, $2 goes into the prize pool and bounty pool respectively. When you bust an opponent, you get $1 at the time of the KO. The remaining $1 is added to the $2 on your head to give you a bounty of $3.
The longer you remain in the game, the richer the bounty becomes. The good news is, unless you play bounties at the highest available pokers stakes, the so-called nosebleeds, the reward on your head won’t get out of hand.
This is contrary to what happened to Ned Kelly, the Aussie bushranger who was wanted dead or alive three centuries ago. At that time, the bounty on his head was £8,000, a sum that is equivalent to just over £1 million today!
How to Play Bounty Tournaments at Juicy Stakes
If you want to maximise your time at the tables, it is important to fix your poker stakes according to your skill level. That applies to tournament play as well. When you are new to playing poker online, the first rule is to focus on events played at micro or low stakes.
Once you have settled on the poker stakes you are comfortable with, resist the urge to register belatedly for a bounty event. Why? You will find a fair percentage of players have already been eliminated.
What that obviously means is a significant slice of the bounty prize pool is no longer up for grabs. And that kind of defeats the whole object of playing bounty tournaments online in the first place!
Another important tip to take onboard is to avoid chasing bounties right from the start. At the beginning of the tournament, the value of the bounties is mediocre at best.
A more astute strategy is to wait for the tail end of the tournament before going in for the kill. It is far better to play a solid game of poker and wait for the right opportunities to arise. Rushing in with the figurative ‘guns blazing’ can have the opposite effect.
Lastly, if you happen to be the short stack, do not panic. The best tactic is to breathe deeply and play the smart game. Although the probability of a KO is low and you are likely to get called every time you put your chips in, there is always a way to build your stack!
One way is to persuade the other players to raise and re-raise when you have a strong hand. When that happens, there will be fewer players gunning for the pot – and that is the best-case scenario. What you ideally want is to be in the heads-up and ultimately win the pot.
When you participate in bounty tournaments at Juicy Stakes Poker, play aggressively and be sure to keep above the chip average. That way you can maximise your chances of cashing in on a bounty. At the end of the day, any win is a win, poker stakes notwithstanding!
Sign Up at Juicy Stakes Poker and Become a Bounty Hunter
Now that you know a little bit more about bounty tournaments, why not sign up at Juicy Stakes? Along with a tight tournament schedule, there are plenty of cash games in no limit and pot limit Texas Hold Em, Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo.
