I think they are very different compared to a regular freezeout tournament. In a KO you can't utilize survival strategies successfully, because a small stack here means two very important things:
- You'll be the favorite target for everyone on the table. The smaller your stack, the juicier it looks. More people will try to get involved in a hand with you, so multi-way pots will be more common when you put chips in the pot voluntarily.
- You can't benefit from KOs yourself, because you can't eliminate a bigger stack. It's not uncommon to see an all-in player just crippling another, quickly followed by a 3rd player finishing the crippled player in a subsequent hand, thus "stealing" the bounty with less risk involved.
Definitely changing !!! For example, when I play in a regular tournament, then a player is considered to be short (at the beginning and middle of the tournament) about 10bb and in a tournament with knockouts this value increases to 20bb !!!That is, you have to play more aggressively !!!
My new favorites
I just started playing in Knockout tournaments the last couple of weeks and they are my new favorites, especially the SKOs. At first the idea of bounties intimidated me but once I played my first one I got over that real quick and realized how much fun they are. I am finding that the KO tournaments are the games I look forward to the most.
As for my style of play, I don't really alter it too much. I might just be a little more aggressive than normal to get the bounties but my range of cards to play definitely gets smaller.
I just started playing in Knockout tournaments the last couple of weeks and they are my new favorites, especially the SKOs. At first the idea of bounties intimidated me but once I played my first one I got over that real quick and realized how much fun they are. I am finding that the KO tournaments are the games I look forward to the most.
As for my style of play, I don't really alter it too much. I might just be a little more aggressive than normal to get the bounties but my range of cards to play definitely gets smaller.
of course changing! Settlements with Chip EV in PKO tournaments make no sense, as individual rewards for players can radically change the decision in a tournamentKnockout tournaments have an interesting feature. It as a whole is the main and main difference between these tournaments from many others. When one or several players has a very short stack left on the table, everyone starts hunting for him. This is due to the fact described above - it is very profitable to play against it. In case of loss - you lose a little, win - you get the rest of his chips and, more pleasantly, a bounty for him. KOs are the only tournaments where money directly “clashes” with chips. They need to learn how to convert.From here some thoughts begin. If you have a short stack, then your potential to double, or even triple, is much higher than in a regular tournament. Since in a knockout tournament people will strive to go all-in with you even on a weak hand, trying to get a reward for you. Left with a short stack, do not worry, the chance to return to the game in such tournaments is the highest among any others.digdug0037 said:
Having a large stack, you have much more opportunities than your opponents. Do not forget about this even when you are one of the "middle peasants" on the table - mathematically correct pressure can put on you. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to endure and not to meddle in the struggle for knocking out a shorty
I really like knockout tournaments, I love turbo and regular tournaments. I choose a tight-aggressive strategy game, very rarely bluffing. This is a very good variety of tournaments for stable money making. The main thing is to have patience and in spite of unsuccessful hands, do not make mistakes.
KOs are my FAVORITE
I completely agree! My playing style definitely changes up in a KO tournament, I have to be more aggressive than I normally would otherwise I will just get chipped away at.
I personally LOVE KO tourney's because you don't necessarily have to make it ITM to make money. In many tournaments, I have made more in bounties than if I had placed in most of the paid positions😀.
skaniol said:
I completely agree! My playing style definitely changes up in a KO tournament, I have to be more aggressive than I normally would otherwise I will just get chipped away at.
I personally LOVE KO tourney's because you don't necessarily have to make it ITM to make money. In many tournaments, I have made more in bounties than if I had placed in most of the paid positions😀.
skaniol said:
Really good explanation from Skaniol! Of course you need to adjust to bounties. If you dont, you are much better off sticking to regular tournaments. You also dont want to late register or rebuy except in the very few first blind levels, because some of the bounty price pool has already been distributed, so you are not even contending for that money!
And finally bounties twist the math off all-in pots. You should be more inclined to get it in, if you can score a big bounty by risking a small amount of chips but less inclined to get it in, if the other player has you covered, or his bounty is insignificant relative to his stack.
The only time, bounties tend to not matter, is in the traditional format, where they stay constant, and most of the field has already been eliminated. At that point it become more or less like a normal tournament. This is not the case with bounty builders though, because the bounties get larger and larger, as more players are knocked out.
If the bounties as a total represent half the total money at stake then playing to win some bounties is just as important as trying to reach the final table. I try to play a wider opening range from the beginning with aggressive betting pre-flop. I'm looking to build a stack that I can use mid-tournament and later to make isolation bets on the short stacks to grab their bounties.