Bounty Calculator

The average bounty

Nobody knows what the bounty they draw holds, so each one is priced at the average: the bounty money still to be drawn divided by the players still in. Every player left has one bounty on their head, and the winner draws the last one.

What a chip cost

The starting stack divided by the buy-in (entry plus bounty) says how many chips one dollar bought. In the example, 30,000 chips for $1,000 is 30 chips a dollar. The bounty share counts too, since a bigger stack also wins more bounties later.

The bounty in chips

The average bounty times the chips a dollar bought. A $2,000 bounty at 30 chips a dollar is 60,000 chips.

The bounty in big blinds

Divide by the big blind. 60,000 chips at 2,000/4,000 is 15 big blinds. That is the number to add to the pot when you have a player covered and all in.

The shortcut

At the start of the bounty phase, before a bounty is drawn, an average bounty is always the bounty share of the buy-in times the average stack. Half the buy-in in bounties means half an average stack, whatever the blinds.

The bounty only counts when you cover the other player. If they bust you, nobody draws. So the extra big blinds go into your pot odds when you are the bigger stack calling or shoving on a shorter one, and into nothing when you are the shorter one.

A 12 big blind shove into 2.5 already in the pot normally needs your hand to win about 45% of the time. With a 15 big blind bounty counted in, it needs about 29%. That is why covering stacks call so wide on the first levels of Day 2, and why arriving short is the worst way to arrive: you cannot win a bounty, and everyone is priced in to call you light.

Run it again after a big bounty is drawn. If the top prize goes with 25 players left, the average collapses and the wide calls stop being right. If it is still to be drawn with 12 left, one bounty can outweigh several pay jumps. Most rooms show the bounties drawn on a screen.

The same bounty shrinks in big blinds as the blinds rise. 60,000 chips is 15 big blinds at 4,000 and 6 at 10,000, so the bounty matters most at the start of the phase.

The bounty is paid in cash, not chips, so near the final table it is worth more than this simple conversion says, while chips are worth less than their face value in prize money. The calculator prices the chips at what they cost on Day 1; the real adjustment late is a little bigger than it shows.

The average hides a very uneven spread. Most bounties are about a buy-in, a few are many times that, and one is the headline prize. Pricing each draw at the average is right for the decision and wrong for almost every single draw, so expect long runs of small bounties.

The bounty phase in most events starts on Day 2 or in the money. Before it, a knockout is only chips, and this calculator does not apply.

What a chip cost

The starting stack divided by the buy-in (entry plus bounty) says how many chips one dollar bought. In the example, 20,000 chips for $200 is 100 chips a dollar. The bounty share counts too, since a bigger stack also wins more bounties later.

The bounty in chips

The bounty times the chips a dollar bought. A $50 bounty at 100 chips a dollar is 5,000 chips, and it stays 5,000 chips all event.

The bounty in big blinds

Divide by the big blind. 5,000 chips at 250/500 is 10 big blinds; at 1,000/2,000 it is 2.5. That is the number to add to the pot when you have a player covered and all in.

The shortcut

A knockout bounty is always the bounty share of the buy-in times a starting stack. A quarter of the buy-in in bounties means a quarter of a starting stack on every head, from the first hand to the last.

The bounty only counts when you cover the other player. If they bust you, they take yours. So the extra big blinds go into your pot odds when you are the bigger stack calling or shoving on a shorter one, and into nothing when you are the shorter one.

A 12 big blind shove into 2.5 already in the pot normally needs your hand to win about 45% of the time. With a 10 big blind bounty counted in, it needs about 33%. That is why the early levels of a knockout play so loose: everyone covers everyone, and every stack is short enough for the bounty to matter.

The bounty is fixed in chips, so it shrinks in big blinds every level. 5,000 chips is 10 big blinds at 500, 5 at 1,000 and 2.5 at 2,000. By the late levels it is a small extra in the pot and the prize pool decides the hand. Type the level you are at, not the one you started on.

In a progressive knockout the bounties grow and only half of one is paid in cash, the other half going onto your own head. Type half the player’s current bounty here for the cash; the half you carry is worth something too, but less, since you have to be knocked out for anyone to collect it.

The bounty is paid in cash, not chips, so late in the event it is worth more than this simple conversion says, while chips are worth less than their face value in prize money. The calculator prices the chips at what they cost at the start; the real adjustment late is a little bigger than it shows.

Measured against the stacks at the table, the bounty shrinks faster than the blinds alone say: a quarter of a starting stack is a tenth of an average stack once two players in five have gone. The big blind figure is the one to use in the pot; the share of a starting stack is only a feel for the format.