Ignition Poker Progressive Knockout Series Underway

Aussie online poker players don’t have a lot of options anymore. They have had to seek many opportunities in live poker or by traveling outside of Australia to play online tournament series. However, many players have discovered that there is poker action online at Ignition Poker, though, and the tables are fuller than ever this month with the site’s first-ever Progressive Knockout Series.

What is a PKO?

For those players who don’t typically play a lot of tournaments – at least in recent series – the progressive knockout may not be a familiar format.

PKO stands for progressive knockout, a type of tournament that puts a bounty on every player. A player will buy in to the tournament for a price, half of which goes to the prize pool and half of which becomes the player’s bounty. When that player eliminates another, they receive half of that player’s bounty as a prize, while the other half becomes a part of that player’s bounty.

Players who knock out a lot of other players can accumulate a solid payout regardless of the money bubble or payout position. However, that player also accumulates a large bounty on his or her head, making them a target for other players.

As an example, Joey Aus is playing in a standard PKO tournament with a $50 + $5 buy-in.

• The $5 fee of the buy-in is a standard tournament fee for the poker site.
• Of the $50 buy-in, $25 goes into the prize pool and $25 is on Joey’s head.
• Joey immediately plays aggressively and knocks out a player at his table. He wins $12.50 that will be paid to him at the end of the tournament whether he finishes in the money or not. The other $12.50 is added to the $25 already on Joey’s head to make his bounty now $37.50.
• Joey knocks out another player, taking another $12.50 as prize money and making his own bounty now $50.
• Jane Aus (no relation) knocks Joey out of the tournament. She collects the $50 from Joey, though only $25 of that is her prize to keep, and the other $25 adds to the bounty on her own head.

Obviously, this adds an entirely different level of action to the game, requiring some creative strategies to pick up others’ bounties but also navigate the players gunning for that growing bounty.

Note that the Ignition Poker PKO Series often designates the amount of the buy-in to be allocated to bounties. For example, if the buy-in is $50 but the name of the tournament is the $10 PKO, that means $40 goes to the prize pool and $10 to each player’s bounty. If there is no designation, it will be a 50/50 split.

Inaugural PKO Series

For the first time, Ignition Poker is serving up an all-PKO series. It started on 1 June but runs all the way through 30 June. In total, the series consists of more than 100 tournaments that will guarantee more than $4.5M in prize money.

Buy-ins start as low as $7.70, though satellites offer numerous chances to qualify for even less.

For Sunday, 13 June, this list of events shows the type of variety of buy-ins available:

• Event 32: $25 buy-in NLHE PKO Unlimited Reentry ($4K GTD)
• Event 33: $20 buy-in NLHE $5 PKO ($12K GTD)
• Special: $150 buy-in NLHE $50 PKO ($150K GTD)
• Special: $300 buy-in NLHE High Roller $100 PKO ($100K GTD)
• Event 34: $100 buy-in NLHE Super PKO MS $30K GTD)
• Special: $75 buy-in NLHE $20 PKO ($10K GTD)
• Event 35: $250 buy-in NLHE $100 PKO ($30K GTD)

Looking ahead to the last weekend of 26-27 June, there will be even more options, including the Main Event. There will be two versions with differing buy-ins so more players can participate. Those Main Events are in bold below:

• Event 84: $25 buy-in NLHE $5 PKO ($3K GTD)
• Event 85: $50 buy-inn PLO Crazy 8s $8 PKO ($8,888 GTD)
• Event 86: $125 buy-in NLHE $25 PKO ($12K GTD)
• Event 87: $250 buy-in NLHE $100 PKO MS ($40K GTD)
• Special: $75 buy-in NLHE $20 PKO ($10K GTD)
• Event 88: $75 buy-in NLH Early Bird $25 PKO ($10K GTD)
• Event 89: $100 buy-in NLHE Mini Main Event $30 PKO ($100K GTD)
• Event 90: $425 buy-in NLHE Main Event $125 PKO ($250K GTD)
• Special: $150 buy-in NLHE $50 PKO ($150K GTD)
• Special: $300 buy-in NLHE $100 PKO High Roller ($100K GTD)
• Event 91: $125 buy-in NLHE 2^nd Chance $50 PKO ($30K GTD)
• Special: $75 buy-in NLHE $20 PKO ($10K GTD)
• Event 92: $200 buy-in NLHE Super PKO Turbo ($25K GTD)

For all Aussie players who want to join Ignition to play in this series, one account will serve for poker and online casino games. We offer a special bonus code for anyone signing up through the link in our review of Ignition Casino.