Bounties

[msroboto]

I played in a small private tournament with bounties. I only won one bounty. The last one. I won the tournament.

Bottom line - yes bounties change how you play because at the very least it changes how some of your oppenents play. Poker is all about understanding what the dynamics of the current situation are and adjusting your play to best exploit those situations.

[babykahuna]

Originally Posted by PokerJon300

I look at bountiess as a nice way to supplement my buyin. Usually you make 2 or 3 of these and you're even with the cost of entering. I don't go nuts for them but I have to make certain adjustments to my own style to play them. Take for instance the fact that I love to raise steal preflop from the button vs multiple limpers. I do this with almost anything if the situation and stacks are right. Once of twice a tournament it works out great because I can pickup 5 or so big blinds without much of a fight usually in the middle stages when blinds are a little higher.

I CANNOT use this play in a bounty tournament as donkeys will shove it in with a range wider than the top 15% preflop. I've found preflop stealing to be profitable if your opponent doesnt hold the top 15% in normal tournaments. The range widens to almost the top 25% preflop in bounty tournaments. So that play absolutely cannot be made. Another thing I see a lot is more all in with the nuts plays on the river. For some reason bounties make people forget that extracting the maximum from any given hand is the goal of tournament poker (next to survival).

I find that its a lot harder for me to call an all in bet in this style of tournament than it is in a regular tournament. Me personally my all in call range goes down slightly in bounty tournaments as people seem less likely to bluff all in or to move in with just top pair. Normally I'll call with a good two pair vs most opponents. Granted each situation is different but two pair is where I start to strongly consider calling against an average opponent. In bounty tournaments I'm more apt to lay down two pair here I try to only call with a set or better.

Best of luck to you
Jon

Thanks Jon. It was a very informative response. I noticed your other posts and they were always well thought. Are you a Mod? I tried looking for other posts by you and was unable to.

I'm glad I was able to give you a little insight into what I've seen in bounty tournaments and how I approach them. I'm not a mod, I've only been on railbirds for about two months. I do play quite a bit everyday.

Goodluck at the tables
Jon

[babykahuna]

Thanks Jon. Can you send me an email. I was trying to send you a note to let you know about a Poker study group that I belong to. It is a little more intensive than a forum. I think your input would be positive. Its small just 7 of us. Its helped my playing a lot.

I couldnt email you, it says something about having to go through administrator. I adjusted my preferences to accept email from you. Also passed along a friend request if you'd like to go that route so you could private message me. I appreciate your offer it sounds interesting and I'm looking forward to it.

Best of luck at the tables
Jon

Originally Posted by CPOner

hmm... i guess it would depend on the prizepool in that case

i still dont think i would play much differently... i still would try and figure out who at my table is bounty hungry, and who is playing to win the tourney... it will certainly affect some people, and i think id just try and adjust my game to optimally play against my opponents

you have a lot less fold equity against the big stacks that are bounty hungry... but conversely.. you can shove your monster hands for value and dont have to slow play or be tricky much

so i think it all balances out... but id just play to win

Bounty hungry donkeys are the greatest things you could come across. When the bounty and you are behind the donkey, you can really exploit him with raises after the bounty folds.

depends on the buy in, 3$ I might loose up a litl... 10$+ the same...