A PKO in poker — Progressive Knockout — is the format dominating online tournament lobbies, and for good reason: every opponent has a price on their head. Half your buy-in goes to the regular prize pool; the other half becomes your bounty. Knock someone out and you instantly collect half their bounty, while the other half is added to yours, which keeps growing all tournament. Great fun. Also the format where recreational players give away the most money, because they never adjust to the fact that the math changed.
How the split works
Take a 10-unit buy-in: 5 goes to the regular pool, 5 goes on your head. Eliminate a player carrying a 5 bounty and you pocket 2.50 immediately while your own bounty climbs to 7.50. As the tournament runs deep, players stacking eliminations carry huge rewards — and busting the chip leader can be worth more than laddering one pay jump. Unlike a mystery bounty, in a PKO you always know exactly what each head is worth: the information sits right on the table, and players who use it well hold a real edge.
The core adjustment: bounties buy equity
In a regular tournament, calling an all-in requires a certain equity — the percentage of the time your hand wins the pot. In a PKO, the bounty is extra money already in the pot, even if you can't see it. In practice: when you cover an opponent (your stack is bigger than theirs), you can call with weaker hands than usual, because the prize includes their bounty. With big bounties in play, hands that are clear folds in a classic MTT become correct calls.
The directional rule is simple: the bigger the opponent's bounty relative to the pot, the wider your calling range can go. The reverse matters too: if the opponent covers you, their bounty isn't available to you — you're playing a nearly normal tournament while they have every incentive to call you lighter. Surviving as a short stack in a PKO is harder: nobody lets you steal blinds when your head has a price on it.
The three mistakes that pay for everyone else's tournament
Chasing bounties with anything. Mistake number one. Calling all-ins with trash "because the bounty is big" torches entire stacks. A bounty widens your range; it doesn't delete it. With no chips, you hunt nothing.
Ignoring the tournament phase. Early on, bounties are large relative to the prize pool and justify aggressive adjustments. On the bubble and at the final table, the regular payouts weigh more and ICM — the math of what your stack is worth in real money — takes back control. PKO doesn't cancel ICM; it negotiates with it.
Forgetting coverage. You only win the bounty if you cover the opponent. Before committing to a big pot, check the stacks: the same hand can be a correct call against the short stack and a fold against the player who covers you.
How to train it
Start with small-field PKOs and move up from there — coverage dynamics are learned by playing, not just reading. If you come from classic MTTs, your first PKO will feel chaotic. That's normal: the format rewards well-calculated aggression. After each session, review your all-ins: did the bounty justify the call, or was it just adrenaline?
The lesson
PKOs reward players who understand that every all-in has two pots: the visible one and the one made of heads. Adjust your ranges by coverage, bounty size and tournament phase, and let impulsive hunters donate their stacks — bounty included. Variance still rules the short term, as it does everywhere in poker; the work is making sure every decision has the math on your side.
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