I have just started playing online poker (on PS) and I was wondering if knockout games are a good idea for a begginer.
Do you play knockout tournaments or multi table knockout sit and go's often?

Originally Posted by lethycia10

I have just started playing online poker (on PS) and I was wondering if knockout games are a good idea for a begginer.
Do you play knockout tournaments or multi table knockout sit and go's often?

Knockouts are a very fun format of poker, but the math required to play them well is more advanced than normal tournaments

As a beginner I wouldn't recommend them because it's calculating the right odds to gamble based on the size of the bounty, and how many chips relative to starting stack you are risking to get it, just adds another variable and layer of complexity to the calculations.

PKOs may appear as lower variance because you win some of your money back some of the time even if you don't cash the tournament, but the reality is that because these bounty monies encourage people to gamble more and take more all ins, PKOs are actually a higher variance form of poker than normal MTTs.

For a beginner I think the best types of MTTs are small field tournaments with a good blind structure (8,10,12 mins) and short late registration (1-2 hours max). These formats will give you great practice and not take too much time to play.

That's also with sit n gos, be them 9 man, 27 man, 45 man, 90 man or 180 man are great places to get your feet wet and starting enjoying tournament poker!

I like to play SNG 18, 45, 180. Good practice for me.

Νο, i don't like knockout's for practice because the players there are usually more offensive and if you tend to play cash game it doesn't really help you to improve.

I think the degree which becomes practice is same as ordinary MTT.

Of course I play every day ... and it's fun !!!

I think any game of poker is good to practice and learn on but knockouts you need to remember is not normal poker. People will call you so much lighter that normal and big stacks can and will call with at time almost any 2 cards to win your bounty. In truth it can get very crazy.

Hello.
I think that the best option for beginners is freerolls. But in general, if a player is disciplined and adheres to bankroll management, he can safely play in any tournament that is available in the range of his bankroll management system.

In my opinion I don't. I believe regular tournament practice is the way to go.

Originally Posted by Evan Jarvis

Knockouts are a very fun format of poker, but the math required to play them well is more advanced than normal tournaments

As a beginner I wouldn't recommend them because it's calculating the right odds to gamble based on the size of the bounty, and how many chips relative to starting stack you are risking to get it, just adds another variable and layer of complexity to the calculations.

PKOs may appear as lower variance because you win some of your money back some of the time even if you don't cash the tournament, but the reality is that because these bounty monies encourage people to gamble more and take more all ins, PKOs are actually a higher variance form of poker than normal MTTs.

For a beginner I think the best types of MTTs are small field tournaments with a good blind structure (8,10,12 mins) and short late registration (1-2 hours max). These formats will give you great practice and not take too much time to play.

That's also with sit n gos, be them 9 man, 27 man, 45 man, 90 man or 180 man are great places to get your feet wet and starting enjoying tournament poker!

I completely agree with Evan Jarvis. On PokerStars in particular I think, PKOs tend to be softer than normal tournaments, but they are also higher variance, which is not always ideal for beginners. Judging from posts in this forum quite a few people tend to tilt, if they jam KK, get 3-4 callers, and then someone get lucky with some random hand, they should probably have folded. So you need to be prepared for that, and you dont always learn so much from watching people gamble like crazy, as you will often see in the first few blind levels of for instance the 3,3$ "on demand" turbo PKO.

Still speaking about PokerStars specifically finding those small field MTTs, which Evan talk about, can unfortunately be a bit challenging, since the player pool is so large. Its especially challenging or outright impossible, if you want to play in the european evening hours, where most MTTs on PokerStars see tousinds of entries especially in micro stakes, where beginners should start.

The best option is probably the player capped MTTs, or you can play outside peak hours, where most MTTs on Stars at least see less than 1.000 entries. They actually have some pretty good structures like for instance the "big", which have 10 min blind intervals and less than 2 hours late registration.

But even so there is no way around the fact, that the SnG lobby is, where beginners should spend most of their time on Stars. There is everything from 6-mans to 180-mans, which can all give great practice, and if you are really short on time or want to avoid shorthanded play, there is the Fifty/50, which is usually over in no more than 20-25 minutes. Some of the SnGs on Stars also have bounties, but when they are not progressive like in the 1,5$ 90 man KO, they only really matter in the beginning. Once you get near the money bubble, its essentially like playing a normal MTT for slightly less money.

If you are a beginner, or an experienced player, knockouts are their own sphere, in orbit, around the normal poker, and normal poker tourneys. It is an advanced level, specific. If you want to try it, please play for low stakes, to avoid any losses.
In conclusion, KO poker is not good practice for other, traditional poker, such as NLHO, Omaha, or Stud

It is not bad that if you like that style of play you can achieve great achievements in a long period of time, if the idea is to create your band at the expense of these tournaments I do not recommend it since the players are very aggressive and what They mainly seek to go all in to be able to eliminate you and charge for your elimination. To all this it leads that it could only serve you to play the premium monkeys before them, betting hard and risking more than expected. In short I think it would be more profitable to play limit hold'em tournaments.

It's a nice change of pace, but I have not had a lot of success. Lots of LAG players in this format. If blind structure is a turbo format, it gets crazy real fast.

I have not played enough knock out poker to give an educated opinion.

I do know I like Omaha hi/lo, but bounties would be my next variation for a break from regular NL Holdem.

Every game has something to learn from, something to take away from and apply the knowledge to other games and situations. Plus knockouts are enjoyable and a good distraction and change of pace from continually playing MTTS all the time.

For a beginner, regular tournaments are better than knock out. Play freerolls and as much MTT with low buy in as you can cover by earning on freerolls.