How Double Cover Changes Your Opening Ranges in PKO Tournaments

Progressive Knockout tournaments reward aggression, but not all aggression is created equal. The bounties on your opponents’ heads change the math on every decision. Most players know that in a general sense but do not know when those bounties give them the biggest edge. (New to PKOs? Start with our complete guide to PKO tournament strategy.)

The Principle of Double Cover is the most practically useful strategy concept in PKO tournaments. It requires no calculator, no complex math, and no solver at the table. You just need to look at the stacks. If you cover both remaining players, your range expands significantly. If both remaining players cover you, your range tightens. That single check, performed before every open, is the fastest way to gain an edge in knockout poker.

What is double cover?

Double cover is a simple concept: you cover both players still left to act behind you. On the button, that means your stack is larger than both the small blind and the big blind. When that condition is met, you can knock out either opponent and collect their bounty. That extra equity justifies opening hands that would be folds in a chipEV game.

When you do not cover either player, you cannot win their full bounty even if you win the hand. Your upside is capped.

The inverse matters just as much. When both blinds cover you, they can collect your bounty if you bust. You are the target, not the hunter. In that spot, you need to play tighter because your opponents are incentivized to play with you and will not fold to your opens as easily before the flop. This destroys the profitability of your weaker hands where the EV hinges on the potential of a successful preflop steal attempt.

The numbers: how much double cover actually matters

Theory is one thing, but the solver output tells the real story. Let us compare three button opening ranges at similar stack depths to see exactly how much double cover shifts your strategy.

Baseline: chipEV with equal stacks (25bb each)

In a standard chipEV environment with all three players holding 25bb, the button opens 44.6% of hands. This is your reference point. No bounties, no cover dynamics, just pure chipEV.

Double covered: button 25bb vs SB 30bb and BB 35bb

Now add bounties but put the button at a disadvantage. Give the button 25bb against a 30bb small blind and a 35bb big blind. Both opponents cover the button, which means both can collect the button’s bounty if it busts. The opening range drops to 37.3%, which is 7.3 percentage points tighter than the chipEV baseline.

Hands that were standard opens in chipEV are now clear folds. The button cannot win either opponent’s full bounty since it does not cover them, and both opponents have every incentive to play back aggressively. This is the worst possible cover configuration for the button, and the resulting range compression is immediate.

Double cover: button 40bb vs SB 25bb and BB 20bb

Now flip the dynamic entirely. Give the button 40bb against a 25bb small blind and a 20bb big blind. The button covers both opponents, meaning it can collect either bounty in full if it wins an all-in. The opening range jumps to 53.4%, which is 8.8 percentage points wider than chipEV and over 16 points wider than the double covered scenario above.

The button now opens hands like K5o, Q7o, J3s, J2s, T4s, and 95s that are nowhere near the chipEV range. The big blind is particularly vulnerable because their stack is the shortest at the table and their bounty is fully available to the button. That additional equity on every confrontation turns marginal opens into profitable ones.

A 16.1 percentage point swing in your opening range from a single variable. No other adjustment in PKO poker is this large, this frequent, and this easy to apply.

Why this matters more than any other PKO concept

PKO strategy is full of complex adjustments. Bounty coverage ratios, progressive multiplier calculations, calling ranges that shift based on the dollar value of an opponent’s bounty. All of it matters in theory. But most of it is impossible to compute at the table.

Double cover is different. It is one glance at the stack sizes. You either cover both players behind you or you do not. That binary check tells you whether to widen or tighten, and the magnitude of the shift is large enough that getting it wrong is a serious leak.

This is the first thing I check with my private students. Before bounty math, before calling ranges, before postflop work, I ask: are you adjusting your opens based on cover? Almost universally, the answer is no. They play the same ranges whether they cover both blinds or are covered by both, and that is where their missing EV lives.

Double cover extends to every position

The button is the clearest example because only two players remain to act. But the same logic extends across the table.

From the cutoff, check whether you cover the button, small blind, and big blind. If you cover all three, your range expands. If all three cover you, it tightens. The effect is smaller with more players, but the direction is identical.

From the hijack, lojack, and earlier positions, the principle still applies. If you are the covering stack, you can play wider because every confrontation carries extra bounty equity. If you are among the shortest stacks, you are a target and need to tighten.

The practical application stays simple: before you act, look at the stacks behind you. If you cover them, lean toward opening. If they cover you, lean toward folding. This habit, applied consistently across every hand you play, compounds into a meaningful edge.

How to study double cover

The best way to internalize these adjustments is to compare PKO ranges side by side with chipEV ranges at the same stack depths. BBZ Poker’s PKO preflop charts include solved ranges for different cover configurations, so you can see exactly how ranges shift based on who covers whom.

Start with the button. Pull up the chipEV range at 25bb, then compare it to the PKO range when you cover both blinds, and then when both blinds cover you. The difference will stick with you at the table.

Then extend the exercise to the cutoff and hijack. The pattern holds every time: covering stacks open wider, covered stacks open tighter.

The GTO Trainer lets you drill these PKO scenarios until the adjustments become automatic. Set up different stack configurations, quiz yourself on the correct open, and build the pattern recognition that makes double cover second nature.

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