A bounty is a feature in some
poker tournament
A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a "heads up poker, heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on th ...
s that rewards a player for eliminating another player. Depending on the tournament, a player might be rewarded for eliminating either a specific player, or any player. The reward is almost always a cash prize, and not tournament currency. Bounties are rare, but do occur occasionally in professional tournaments.
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{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203125443/http://www.bay101.com/maineventstructure.html , date=December 3, 2008 They are more commonly only implemented in smaller tournaments, or charitable
The practice of charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act, unmotivated by self-interest. There are a number of philosophies about charity, often associated with religion.
Etymology
The word ''charity'' or ...
tournaments.
In bounty tournaments that reward a player for every player they eliminate, the buy-in
Buying in may refer to:
*Buying in (poker), a tournament entrance fee
*Buying in (securities), a process in which a buyer whose seller fails to deliver the securities contracted for, can "buy in" the securities from a third party
*Management buy-i ...
structure of the tournament may require each player to pay an additional amount for their own bounty chip, or token. This bounty chip is carried by the player throughout the tournament. If the player is eliminated, the bounty chip is given to the player who eliminated them. The bounty chips are cashed in, usually for the amount each player paid for the bounty chip. The winner can usually cash in their own chip. Some online
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tournaments use a more complicated schedule, whereby a player's own bounty increases with every elimination he makes.
Some bounty tournaments assign a bounty to only a few players. This assignment is rarely random, and is usually pre-arranged with the players who have bounties on them, as such an assignment to a random entrant would significantly affect their game. Some tournaments may feature a celebrity
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
bounty, if the tournament hosts have arranged for a celebrity to play in the tournament. This type of bounty arrangement is usually only the celebrity bounty variety, or if the player with a bounty on them is promoting the tournament.
The aspect of having a bounty in a tournament can significantly affect the play of the tournament. For example, if a player with a lower amount of chips declares that they are all-in, other players may be more enticed to call
Call or Calls may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* Call, a type of betting in poker
* Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage
Music and dance
* Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...
the bet
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. Most professional poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
players would alter their normal playing style to adapt to this aspect if they were to enter a bounty tournament.
If there is at least one side pot, the situation becomes more complicated. The bounty is awarded to the player who wins the eliminated player's last chips. For example:
: Daniel ($300 in chips), Barry ($200) and Vicky ($500) are playing a hand in a no-limit tournament. Daniel moves all-in (bets all his chips), and Barry and Vicky call. The main pot consists of $600, $200 from each player; any of the three players can win this pot. A side pot of $200, $100 each from Daniel and Vicky, cannot be won by Barry, as he did not have enough chips. Barry has the best hand and wins the main pot, but does not eliminate Daniel. Vicky wins the side pot, and by taking Daniel's last chips, also gains the bounty.
Notes
Poker gameplay and terminology