What Is PKO Poker?

A PKO (Progressive Knockout) tournament splits your buy-in into two prize pools: a regular tournament prize pool paid out at the final tables, and a bounty pool distributed every time a player is eliminated. The progressive part is what makes it different from a classic knockout: half of any bounty you win is paid in cash, and the other half is added to your own bounty. Bust a well-stacked opponent and you become a walking target.

How the bounty math works

Say the buy-in is $22 — $11 goes to the regular prize pool and $11 becomes your starting bounty. When you knock a player out, half of their bounty is paid to you in cash right now, and half is added to yours. Chain-eliminate a couple of short stacks and your bounty balloons.

This changes every preflop decision. Calling all-in preflop isn't just a chip-EV question anymore — you're also paying to shoot at a cash bounty. Marginal hands that would be a fold in a chip-EV tournament become clear calls when the bounty on offer is large relative to the price.

Why PKO strategy is different

• Wider call-offs. A big villain bounty dramatically improves the price of a call. Off-the-shelf ICM ranges under-call.
• Wider covering shoves. If you cover the table, you're the only one who can win everyone's bounty. Isolating short stacks matters more than pot equity alone.
• Tighter shoves as a short stack. When you're the shortest, you carry a bounty and can't win anyone else's. Your fold equity drops because covering players will call wider.
• Big-bounty targets. A player whose bounty has snowballed past 3× the average is worth chasing off-the-chart hands to eliminate.

Where PKOs are played

GGPoker's Bounty Hunters, PokerStars' KO series, PartyPoker's Big Game Hunters, WPT Global, and most modern online tours all run daily PKO schedules from low buy-ins to $10k+ Sundays. GGPoker's Speed Racer PKO and hyper-turbo bounty formats are especially popular because the fast blind structure keeps effective stacks in shove-fold range, which is exactly where bounty EV dominates decisions.

Related concepts

• Mystery bounty tournaments — bounties are drawn at random from a range of prizes, with life-changing jackpots on top.
• PKO strategy fundamentals — how to actually apply bounty EV at the table.
• Bounty poker strategy — classic (non-progressive) knockout math.
• PKO preflop ranges — how shove and call-off ranges shift with bounty size.
• GG Speed Racer PKO strategy — the format that lives in the ≤25bb bounty zone.

Common questions

Is PKO just an extra prize pool?

No. It changes correct play. Ignoring bounty EV is a large leak — a well-priced call on a big-bounty villain can be worth more than the pot itself.

What's the difference between PKO and a regular knockout?

In a regular KO, each bounty is a fixed cash amount. In a PKO, half of every bounty you win is added to your own bounty, so bounties grow throughout the tournament.

Do I need to memorize ICM to play PKO?

Not at first. In the early stages bounty EV dominates. ICM matters near the bubble and at final tables, but even there, bounty EV modifies every push/fold decision.