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.