Every knockout you land grows your own bounty. Eliminate a loaded target late in the tournament, and their prize can outweigh first place.
Every knockout makes you worth more
Progressive Knockout (PKO) Tournaments take the bounty format and add a snowball effect. When you eliminate a player, you don't collect their whole bounty in cash — you only take a portion of it, usually 50%, and the remaining half is folded straight into your own bounty. Your value as a target keeps climbing with every player you knock out.
That compounding is what makes PKOs different from a classic or Mystery Bounty structure: the bounty isn't fixed and it isn't randomized — it's earned, transferred, and stacked. Take out a player who has already knocked out two or three others, and you can walk away with a far bigger bounty than a standard format would ever pay for a single elimination.
This dynamic rewards aggression in the middle stages, when stacks are deep enough to gamble but the bubble hasn't burst yet. It's what makes PKOs one of the most consistently popular formats in modern online poker — from small daily grinders all the way up to major series.
Split on every knockout
Eliminate a player and take roughly half their bounty in cash — the other half is added straight onto your own head.
Bounties snowball
A player who's already scored a few knockouts is carrying a much bigger bounty — and becomes a magnet for the rest of the field.
Can outpay first place
In deep stages, a chip leader's accumulated bounty can exceed the tournament's own first-place payout.
A modern must-have
Dynamic bounty tracking, leaderboard filters and final cash-out reporting keep PKOs simple to run and a staple of any tournament schedule.
Setting it up from the admin panel
Operators build a Progressive Bounty (PKO) Tournament the same way as any other bounty event, with a dedicated step for configuring how much of each bounty transfers on elimination and how the running totals are tracked.
Set the starting bounty portion
Define what % of the buy-in funds each player's initial bounty, separate from the standard prize pool.
Set the knockout split ratio
Choose how a bounty divides on elimination — typically 50% paid out in cash to the eliminator, 50% added on top of their own bounty — or a custom ratio.
Enable tracking and reporting
Turn on dynamic bounty tracking and leaderboard filters so players can see accumulated bounties live, plus final cash-out reporting once the event ends.
Standard 50/50 split
Half of every eliminated bounty pays out immediately, half stacks onto the winner's bounty — the classic PKO ratio.
Custom split ratio
Adjust the cash-out vs. stack-on ratio to make bounties grow faster or slower across the tournament.
Built to pay off on both sides of the table
Progressive Bounty (PKO) Tournaments reward aggression and momentum for players, while giving operators a format that keeps the middle stages of every event fast, loose and worth watching.
For players
- Every knockout pays instant cash and grows your own bounty at the same time.
- A real incentive to hunt loaded targets who've already scored a few eliminations.
- A shot at a bounty that can outpay first place in the late stages.
- Aggressive, momentum-driven play that keeps every stage of the tournament alive.
For operators
- Full control over the starting bounty share and the knockout split ratio.
- Faster, more aggressive mid-stage play that keeps tables active and engaging.
- Live leaderboard filters and dynamic tracking give players a reason to keep watching.
- One of the most consistently popular formats in modern online poker — a schedule staple.
