DECISION POINT: You are the chip leader with 46BBs in a large field $100 buy-in Mystery Bounty tournament with 40 players left (ranging from 10BBs-20BBs) and $3,000 going to the winner. The larger bounties, which include one $3K bounty and two $2K bounties, have not been pulled. The blinds are 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante and you have K♠T♠ in the Big Blind. Three players go all-in (Middle Position, Hijack, and the Button), and the Small Blind folds.

Action is on you, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are one of the final 40 players left in a large field $100 Mystery Bounty tournament. The blinds are 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante and we are the chip leader by a significant amount with 46 big blinds. Most of the players have 10-20 big blinds left.

None of the large bounties have been pulled at this point. Initially half the prize pool was put into the bounties and only smaller bounties and a few medium sized bounties (2x buy-in) have been pulled so far. The average bounty payout has ballooned to $200, including one $3,000 and two $2,000 bounties still remaining, with winning first place in the tournament paying $3,000.

The action folds to the MP2 player who moves in for their last 6,600. The Hijack then moves all-in for 8,000. The Cutoff folds and the Button moves all-in for their last 12,000. The Small Blind folds and action is on us in the Big Blind with K♠T♠.

Mystery Bounty tournaments are very unique in that we must constantly be paying attention to the average potential bounty payout when making decisions.

Many Mystery Bounty tournaments have top bounty prizes equal to (and sometimes greater than) taking first place, so positioning ourselves to collect bounties is very important. We’ve done an excellent job to this point accumulating chips so that we cover everyone at the table and maximize our chances to collect bounties.

When the largest bounties are collected early, the average bounty amount decreases significantly and we should have the same approach as a traditional tournament with a scaled payout structure. With larger bounties still available the value of knocking out a single player can be greater than the amount awarded for 1st place, meaning we should prioritize eliminating opponents rather than trying to win the entire tournament.

Analyzing this spot with a poker solver and assigning an average bounty value of $200, we are supposed to call with 61% of hands in this spot and our specific hand KTs is fairly high up in that range. In addition, the stack sizes of the all-ins are relatively shallow compared to our stack, so we still have the table covered if we lose and can potentially collect a bounty or two even in worst case scenarios.

Calling is the correct play.