PKO Bounty Calculator
Convert any progressive-knockout bounty into chips and big blinds, and see exactly how much wider you can call. Every step of the model is stated below.
Tournament
Starting bounty at this split: $5.00 per player.
The spot
You estimate 35% equity. You need 32.0% with the bounty counted (40.0% without). Below the normal pot-odds threshold, but the claimable half-bounty added to the pot makes it profitable.
Methodology — the exact model, honestly stated
- Chip conversion:chips = bounty $ ÷ (total prize money contributed per player ÷ starting stack). Every player's buy-in (regular pool + bounty pool, fee excluded) buys one starting stack, so that ratio is the start-of-tournament price of a chip. A $5 bounty in a $10 buy-in with a 10,000 stack is 5 ÷ (10 ÷ 10,000) = 5,000 chips.
- Half counted: in a progressive KO you receive half the bounty in cash and the other half is added to your own bounty. Only the cash half is added to the pot here. The deferred half has real but uncertain value, which makes this model slightly conservative.
- Adjusted equity: required equity = to-call ÷ (pot + to-call + claimable bounty chips). Without a bounty the last term is zero and the formula collapses to standard pot odds.
- Known limitations: chips are valued at the starting rate even though a fixed dollar bounty buys relatively more chips later (conservative), the model is pure chip-EV and ignores ICM pressure near the money (loose on bubbles), and it assumes you cover the all-in player. Near a bubble or final table, run the payout side through our ICM calculator and lean tighter than the number shown here.
How much is a bounty worth in chips?
This is the question every PKO decision comes down to, and the answer is a single division. At the start of a tournament, one starting stack costs one buy-in — that is the exchange rate between dollars and chips. Divide the bounty's dollar value by the dollars-per-chip rate (buy-in ÷ starting stack) and you have its face value in chips. In a $10 PKO with a 10,000 starting stack, each chip "costs" $0.001, so a $5 starting bounty is worth about 5,000 chips — half a starting stack sitting on every player's head before a single hand is dealt.
The PKO twist is that you only bank half of it. Knock a player out and half their bounty is paid to you in cash; the other half is bolted onto your own bounty, where it makes youa bigger target. So when you are deciding whether a bounty justifies a call, the number to add to the pot is the claimable half: about 2,500 chips in the example above. That is the entire model this calculator runs — no black box, no "proprietary algorithm".
Why bounties let you call wider
Pot odds do not care where the reward comes from. If a shove lays you 6,000 : 4,000, you need 40% equity — but if calling and winning also collects a bounty worth 2,500 chips of claimable value, the real pot is 8,500 and you only need about 32%. That 8-point discount turns marginal hands into clear calls: A9o facing a mid-stack jam, small pairs against wide shoving ranges, suited broadways getting shoved on. Players who treat a PKO like a normal tournament systematically fold hands that are printing money, and players who chase every bounty without doing the conversion overpay by even more. The math sits in a narrow band, and this tool computes exactly where.
Two conditions before you loosen up. First, you must cover the shover — a bounty you cannot win is worth zero to you. Second, the discount scales with the bounty size relative to the pot: a starting bounty in a huge pot barely moves the threshold, while a triple-stacked bounty against a short stack can nearly halve your required equity. When the shove is short enough that ranges go very wide, cross-check the baseline with our push/fold chart — Nash ranges plus a bounty discount is a solid practical recipe.
Where the model bends: late game and bubbles
Two forces pull in opposite directions late in a PKO. Bounties keep telling you to call wider — and because average stacks grow while bounty dollars stay fixed, a bounty is actually worth more chips late than the starting-rate conversion suggests. But ICM pushes the other way: near the bubble or a final-table pay jump, tournament chips you can lose are worth more than chips you can win, which raises your true required equity above raw pot odds. This calculator deliberately models only the bounty side and tells you so. For the payout side, use the ICM calculator; when both effects are live at once, the honest summary is that bounty pressure usually wins early and mid-game, and ICM pressure wins on tight bubbles.
One more format note: in a mystery bounty, you keep the entire envelope instead of half, and the amount is random — the conversion works the same way but with the full average envelope value. We built a separate mystery bounty calculator for that format.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a bounty worth in chips?
Divide the bounty's dollar value by the tournament's starting dollars-per-chip rate: chips = bounty $ ÷ (buy-in ÷ starting stack). Example: in a $10 PKO with a 10,000 starting stack, each chip 'costs' $0.001, so a $5 starting bounty has a face value of about 5,000 chips — half a starting stack. Because you only claim half a bounty immediately in a PKO, the part you can win right now is worth about 2,500 chips.
Why do I only count half the bounty in a PKO?
In a progressive knockout, eliminating a player pays you half of their bounty in cash; the other half is added to your own bounty, where someone else can win it by busting you. Only the cash half is immediately and certainly yours, so the standard model adds only that half (converted to chips) to the pot when computing calling equity. The half added to your head still has some deferred value, which makes this model slightly conservative.
How does a bounty change my required calling equity?
It works like extra money in the pot. Without a bounty you need to-call ÷ (pot + to-call). With a bounty, convert the claimable half to chips and add it to the pot: required equity = to-call ÷ (pot + to-call + bounty chips). A bounty worth 2,500 chips in a 5,000-chip pot situation can easily cut your required equity by 5-10 percentage points.
Should I call wider in PKO tournaments?
Yes — when you cover the all-in player. The bounty is only winnable if your stack is at least as big as theirs, and the shorter their stack relative to their bounty, the wider you can profitably call. When you do not cover the shover, no bounty is at stake for you and you should revert to normal tournament calling ranges.
Is this the same thing as ICM?
No. This calculator converts bounty dollars into chips at the tournament's starting rate — a chip-EV adjustment. ICM (the Independent Chip Model) handles how regular payout money changes chip value near the bubble and final table. In late-stage PKOs both effects apply at once: bounties push you to call wider while ICM pushes you to call tighter. Our free ICM calculator handles the payout side.
Does this model overvalue or undervalue bounties?
It is conservative in two ways and loose in one. Conservative: it ignores the deferred value of the half-bounty added to your own head, and it values chips at the start-of-tournament rate even though a fixed dollar bounty is worth more chips later, when average stacks are larger. Loose: it ignores ICM pressure near the money. Early and mid-tournament it is a solid approximation; on a tight bubble, lean tighter than it suggests.
What bounty split do most PKO tournaments use?
50/50 is the standard — half the buy-in funds the regular prize pool and half funds starting bounties (PokerStars Bounty Builders and most GGPoker Bounty Hunters events use this). Some formats put a bigger share into the bounty pool. Your tournament lobby lists the exact starting bounty, so enter the real split — the calculator's 50/50 preset is just the most common case.
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