Poker Knockout Tournament Strategy

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  1. Poker Knockout Tournament Strategy Tactics
  2. Poker Knockout Tournament Strategy Bracket
  3. Poker Knockout Tournament Strategy Odds

Aggression Theory and Knockout Factor. Tournament poker and no limit poker are widely known to reward the players that are most aggressive. This means that no limit poker tournaments are ripe for the aggressive player to do well, if they are able to maintain control. Poker tournament strategy - Low Limit MTT coaching - Duration: 6:33:31. MTT Coaching - 180 men SNG and Knockout tournaments - Aarnimetsa - Poker strategy - Duration: 4:19:14.

Your Guide To The Best Knockout Tournaments Online
+ Knockout Bounty Tournament Strategy Tips

Knockout bounty tournaments have proven to be a big hit – and can now be played at many of the leading poker sites. The key difference with these games is that you get a cash prize for each player you knock out – ranging between 20% and 50% of their buy-in. Additional prizes are distributed in for finishing in the last places like in normal poker tournaments.

Players make big mistakes in these games, often ‘over-compensating’ in an effort to win bounties. This article provides a dual role. First to give you a strategy primer for knockout tournaments and second to let you know where to find the very best / most profitable games.

  1. The main strategy decision for knockout bounty tournaments is whether to adjust your play to actively seek out bounties, or whether to play your standard tournament game and see the bounties as an extra bonus. For the best results I recommend downplaying the significance of the bounties themselves.
  2. In this article we will point out some of the best live and online poker tournament strategy tips you can use to improve your game as quickly as possible. Tip 1: Play The Right Starting Hands Whether it be lack of patience, or an unfamiliarity with opening ranges, many tournament poker players still open too wide.

Knockout Bounty Tournaments – Knockout Poker Strategy Tips

The main strategy decision for knockout bounty tournaments is whether to adjust your play to actively seek out bounties, or whether to play your standard tournament game and see the bounties as an extra bonus. For the best results I recommend downplaying the significance of the bounties themselves. Instead you should focus on how best to exploit the BIG errors your opponents will make when trying ‘too hard’ to win themselves bounty prizes. If you are a winning player your will go further in these games on average – winning more bounties naturally!

Planet Mark's Rec: Knockouts do not get any softer than those at 888 Poker. They have standard knockouts (a percentage of every buy-in) and super-knockouts, where the entire buy-in is for the knockout part. This site is full of recreational players, and 888 even offer new joiners up to $88 free bonus (in tokens / cash game buy-ins) to try their real money games with no deposit or credit card information needed. Check out 888poker.com for yourself and see those super-easy knockout tournaments for yourself! (T&Cs Apply.)

However hard you choose to pursue the bounty prizes, an awareness of what your opponents are doing will help you make the right adjustments at the right time. With this in mind here are my 5 key strategy tips for online knockout poker tournaments:

Expect And Adjust For Looser Play: Knockouts are fun games, and so attract recreational players with a lower level of poker math / strategy knowledge. Expect to see some ‘crazy’ bets and all in showdowns between surprising hands, particularly in the early stages. Adjustments include a better chance of getting value from your made hands (value betting opportunities) and a lower success rate for bluffs / continuation bets in general.

No ‘Cooperation Plays’: In a normal tournament, particularly when you are close to the bubble, players will ‘check-down’ a hand when a smaller stacked player is all-in. This maximizes the chances of eliminating them, to everyone’s benefit. In KO tournaments the bounty completely kills this move (well, maybe with a couple of exceptions very late in the game). In general you will find players betting dry side-pot regardless of their hand, do not call with junk with the expectation of getting to showdown – it will not happen very often!

When Small Stacks Enter The Pot: Small stacks entering a pot can cause a cascade of calls and raises from players trying to win bounties with a huge variety of hands. This will often give you opportunities to ‘squeeze’ forcing the bigger stacks to fold and getting heads-up with the small stacks. If you see a big stack shoving all in a lot with weak hands to catch smaller stacks bounties, then you can look for spots to get all in with them with a card advantage.

Stay A Little Above Average In Chips: There is nothing more frustrating in a knockout tournament than winning a big hand, only to miss out on the bounty just because your opponent had you covered by a few chips. Staying aggressive enough to be at least a little ahead of the majority of your opponents for when those big stacks occur will ensure you get paid those bounties as well as winning the chips!

The Prize Pool Really Matters: The structure of most knockout bounty tournaments means that 80% of the prize pool is used for ‘standard’ payouts based on finishing position. The big money is still at the final table, so make sure you are not side-tracked from this by the ‘knockout’ battles early in the game.

Knockout Poker Tournaments – Best US Friendly Knockout Tournaments

While 888 have the softest games, they are not available for US players at the moment. One US site is way ahead when it comes to tournaments, including Knockouts. America's Cardroom on the Winning Poker Network is the site where you will find the big $1M Guaranteed events. There are a nice selection of knockouts throughout their regular schedule.

You can claim a huge 200% bonus, and enjoy qualifiers to those $1mm guaranteed specials . Check out the cool software and soft knockout games at Americas Cardroom Poker now!

Knockout Poker Tournaments – Best All-Round Knockouts (By A Long, Long Way!)

While there are a number of sites running these games, none even come close to 888 in terms of how easy the games are to beat for players with even a small amount of poker strategy knowledge. There are normal knockouts, and some where the entire buy-in is given as a bounty. These focus on the lower to middle stakes buy-ins.

If you have not yet found the sweet spot of soft games and amazing software at 888, then you can take advantage of up to $88 free bonus to try out the real money games - this starts with $8 (in tournament tokens + cash buy-ins) and then adds $8 more up to 10 times as you collect points. No credit card info or deposit is needed, though you can claim your 100% welcome bonus at any point down the line. Check out the knockouts and the latest cool promotions at www.888poker.com for yourself now! (T&Cs Apply.)


Further Reading For Poker Tournament Fans

The first thing that you want to do before playing in a video poker tournament is figure out the rules and other details.

This is important because you must decide what kind of strategy is needed to reach the prize money. You must also figure out what tourneys best suit you.

Here are the standard types of video poker tournaments:

  • Buy-In Without a Fee – These events see 100% of players’ buy-ins go directly into the prize pool.
  • Buy-in with a Fee – The casino that’s hosting the tournament takes a small fee from each buy-in. In most cases, the fee includes an extra 5%-10% on top of the buy-in (e.g.,$100 + $10).
  • Open Freeroll – A freeroll is aptly named, since you don’t have to pay anything to enter. The “open” aspect refers to how anybody at the casino can enter because there aren’tany requirements.
  • VIP Freeroll – These tournaments also don’t require players to pay an entry fee. The catch is that you have to be a certain VIP status to be invited.
Knockout

You should use your specific situation to decide what type of events you’re willing to play.

A well-funded video poker player who wants to compete for big prize money will find open freerolls to be a waste of time.

Poker Knockout Tournament Strategy Tactics

This is because open freerolls can draw hundreds or thousands of players. And the prize pools are generally small, meaning a tiny percentage of the field will cash.

On the other hand, any gambler with a small bankroll should consider open freerolls because these offer a chance to win real money.

Another consideration comes in with VIP freerolls. Specifically, you want to decide whether the freeroll prize pools make it worth attaining a specific loyalty status.

You should also look at the other rewards being offered in the program to see if it’s worth meeting the VIP status requirements.

When it comes to buy-in tournaments, you obviously want to play in events where you don’t have to pay extra fees. But keep in mind that tourneys with house fees can be the most lucrative in termsof prize pools.

As for the rules, you need to know if a tourney has a time limit, credit limit, hand limit, or a combination of these. Here are different formats featured in video poker tournaments:

Poker Knockout Tournament StrategyPoker knockout tournament strategy tactics
  • Timed – These tournaments last for a specific number of minutes (e.g., 20 minutes). The winner is the player with the highest score when the time is up.
  • Credit Limit – Entrants continue playing until their credits run out. The winner is determined by who has the most credits when everybody is finished playing their round.
  • Credit and Time Limit – Ends when the time limit is reached. But players can also run out of credits before the time limit.
  • Hand Limit – The tournament runs for a specific number of hands (e.g., 300 hands). The winner is the player who has the highest bankroll when the hands are finished.

Timed tournaments are the most common in video poker. These see you play as quickly as possible in hopes of winning the most credits.

For example, you may be given 30 minutes to rack up as many credits as possible. When the half hour is up, players’ scores are tallied, and a winner is determined.

You want to play as quickly as possible in any timed video poker tourney. This ensures that you give yourself the best possible chance to win lots of credits.

Hand limit events are also fairly common. An example would be a tournament that lasts for 500 hands.

Poker Knockout Tournament Strategy Bracket

Poker Knockout Tournament Strategy

Poker Knockout Tournament Strategy Odds

You should take your time with these tourneys because there’s no pressure and you want to make the best decisions.