Progressive Knockout (PKO) (PKO)

Also known as: Progressive Knockout, progressive bounty, PKO tournament

A bounty format where half of every knockout bounty is paid to you in cash and half is added to your own head, growing through the tournament.

In a standard PKO, your buy-in splits between the regular prize pool and your starting bounty. When you eliminate a player, you collect half their current bounty as immediate cash and the other half is added to your own bounty, so your head grows as you knock people out.

This changes calling math. The cash half is realized Dollar EV ($EV) the moment you cover and eliminate the opponent, so you get extra equity for calling all-ins when you cover. The rule of thumb: covering a player loosens your calling range because the bounty acts like dead money already in the pot. The looser you can profitably call depends on stack sizes. You only win the bounty if you cover.

Big bounties on short stacks create strong incentives to isolate and call wide, but ICM still applies to the regular prize-pool portion, so deep-run pressure does not vanish.