Rachidao
Visionary
Platinum Level
Well PKO has half of its prize in bounty's so it's really important to knock players and to have a stack that covers players, but people tend to forget that you have to win the hand. I usually play way more aggressive at PKO and prefer regular MTT by far.
C
Cooking
Legend
Platinum Level
I try to be more aggressive when playing PKO tournaments, because all other players are also more aggressive. Most of the times I only play PKO tournaments when I win tickets through satellites, because it's not my favorite style of tournament. I think to win PKO tournaments you need a lot more luck than regular MTT's. The only PKO tournaments I like are the Mystery Bounty tournaments.
Newzooozooo
Legend
Loyaler
Hi
I just don't play in such tournaments. I don't like them, because in such tournaments, players do crazy things for the sake of the bounty, and the tournament as a whole turns out to be quite crazy. I prefer normal, calm, slow, classic MTT tournaments.
Good luck
Gallarado777
Legend
Loyaler
if you cover up for your opponent, being more aggressive in such tournaments still decides in such tournaments, but you also don't have to go all the way for small rewards if you have little chance of winning the later stages, of course, you can take risks when the rewards are higher than usual
F
fundiver199
Legend
Loyaler
You absolutely have to adjust to the PKO format from the very first hand. As others have said, bounties are usually half the price pool, so winning them is just as important as winning some of the price money. There is way less value in surviving with a small stack in a PKO, and therefore we should take more risks, especially when we can win a bounty. For the same reason the bubble is also not as important, as it is in a normal MTT. Of course adjusting does not mean overadjusting, as some players do in micro PKOs.
But lets look at an example instead of all this dry theory. For the sake of simplicity I will assume, we are playing a 9-man SnG. On pokerstars they have a variant of those with bounties, which are 25% of the price pool. So early on this is pretty much the same as a PKO MTT, where bounties are 50%, but you only win half the bounty.
This game has reached the third blind level with blinds of 50/25, and nobody have busted yet. However CO have lost half his chips to UTG, so CO has 15BB (sucks for him), UTG has 45 BB (good for him) and everyone else 30BB. We open to 2,5BB from HJ, CO jam on us, and everyone else folds. In a regular SnG we would be calling here with a range of 13% of hands against a GTO opponent, who is showing the Nash equilibrium. Our calling range would be 55+, AT+, KQ, A7s+, A5s, KTs+, QJs.
However if its a KO SnG, now we are calling with 25% of hands or almost twice as many hands. Our calling range is now 22+, A7+, A5, KT+, QT+, JT, A2s+, K6s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s. In fact the only hands, we are now raise-folding against CO, are A2o-A4o, A6o and K8o-K9o. And this is basically because, his bounty is worth 375 chips. So rather than putting in 625 more to win 1.625, we are putting in 625 more to win 2.000. And therefore we dont need as much equity to make a profitable call.
COs strategy has also changed, but not as much as ours. In the regular SnG he is jamming 15% of hands, because he has good fold equity. However with a juicy bounty on his head (compared to his stack), he have way less fold equity, and therefore he is now only jamming 12% of hands. So as the covering stack you should call wider and sometimes much wider. But as a short stack you need to play tighter and wait for a good hand. Which is a further reason, why it sucks to be a short stack in a PKO.
Different preflop push-fold ranges is probably the largest adjustment in PKOs. But there are also others. If you want to bet the river for value and are choosing between moving all-in and a non all-in sizing, then you should be more inclined to use the all-in sizing in a PKO. If the opponent cover you, he will be more inclined to call, if he can win your bounty. And if you cover him, you give yourself a chance to win his bounty, if he call. Its a disaster to leave the opponent a few blinds behind and let someone else take his bounty a few hands later.
But lets look at an example instead of all this dry theory. For the sake of simplicity I will assume, we are playing a 9-man SnG. On pokerstars they have a variant of those with bounties, which are 25% of the price pool. So early on this is pretty much the same as a PKO MTT, where bounties are 50%, but you only win half the bounty.
This game has reached the third blind level with blinds of 50/25, and nobody have busted yet. However CO have lost half his chips to UTG, so CO has 15BB (sucks for him), UTG has 45 BB (good for him) and everyone else 30BB. We open to 2,5BB from HJ, CO jam on us, and everyone else folds. In a regular SnG we would be calling here with a range of 13% of hands against a GTO opponent, who is showing the Nash equilibrium. Our calling range would be 55+, AT+, KQ, A7s+, A5s, KTs+, QJs.
However if its a KO SnG, now we are calling with 25% of hands or almost twice as many hands. Our calling range is now 22+, A7+, A5, KT+, QT+, JT, A2s+, K6s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s. In fact the only hands, we are now raise-folding against CO, are A2o-A4o, A6o and K8o-K9o. And this is basically because, his bounty is worth 375 chips. So rather than putting in 625 more to win 1.625, we are putting in 625 more to win 2.000. And therefore we dont need as much equity to make a profitable call.
COs strategy has also changed, but not as much as ours. In the regular SnG he is jamming 15% of hands, because he has good fold equity. However with a juicy bounty on his head (compared to his stack), he have way less fold equity, and therefore he is now only jamming 12% of hands. So as the covering stack you should call wider and sometimes much wider. But as a short stack you need to play tighter and wait for a good hand. Which is a further reason, why it sucks to be a short stack in a PKO.
Different preflop push-fold ranges is probably the largest adjustment in PKOs. But there are also others. If you want to bet the river for value and are choosing between moving all-in and a non all-in sizing, then you should be more inclined to use the all-in sizing in a PKO. If the opponent cover you, he will be more inclined to call, if he can win your bounty. And if you cover him, you give yourself a chance to win his bounty, if he call. Its a disaster to leave the opponent a few blinds behind and let someone else take his bounty a few hands later.
PsychoVas
What The Duck???
Platinum Level
In PKO you have to risk a little bit more. I'm usually a nit and in PKOs I get my feathery behind kicked a lot. Especially if it is a rebuy tourney, you will have to face some crazy action, people will call your rockets with 42o just to claim your bounty and a lot of the times, your 3rd Ace will complete their wheel...
mariale_1990
Legend
Platinum Level
Before I was not a big fan of PKO, KO or anything like that, because I have always thought that to win a bounty they go crazy playing, but for a while now I have played them more and I think that the only thing different I do regarding to a normal tournament is to be more careful with my way of playing, but I try not to make much difference between the two, despite the existence of the bounty and the fact that one of the objectives is to win the bounty, I try not to focus on it because it can make me lose control of my game, if I have the opportunity to win a bounty I will be welcome but if not that won't keep me up at night
German629
Legend
Platinum Level
If to say honestly, at the present time I try to play the different kinds of tournaments... By one simple cause: because I don't know exactly,
where Me is waiting the Lady Luck?!. But so I have more the opportunities to catch Her! That's it!
where Me is waiting the Lady Luck?!. But so I have more the opportunities to catch Her! That's it!
pancho_1954
Rock Star
Platinum Level
In PKO tournaments they will always play more aggressive from the beginning, in my case I try not to fall into that aggressiveness, I try to play like a normal tournament, although I have not played much PKO for me it is difficult to say how I adapt my game, but I think In general I try to play normally like any other tournament
kaynbergo
Rock Star
Platinum Level
At micro-limits, playing PKO looks very funny when almost the entire table comes in pursuit of a small stack, and the small stack folds, and half a table with a medium and large stack fails out of stupid greed to win anyone by knockout)
Dzill_230
Visionary
Platinum Level
Hello. I believe that some changes need to be made in the PKO game strategy, but... Aggressive play will be necessary to eliminate opponents from the pot in the battle for the short stack and the reward for it. The main thing is not to lose your head in pursuit of a knockout.