Are Knockout tournaments good for poker?

With the news that partypoker are hosting a PKO version of their Main Event, Barry Carter looks at how popular bounty MTTs have become.

Tonight partypoker’s flagship Sunday tournament, the Sunday Main Event, will be a Progressive Knockout. Almost without exception the ‘Main Event’ of a live or online festival, or just a weekly MTT schedule, is a straightforward MTT, so this is quite a bold move.

However, not entirely unexpected in hindsight. All the talk in tournament poker might be on things like shot clocks or guarantees or re-entries, but maybe the biggest difference between an online MTT lobby now and just a couple of years ago is the number of bounty tournaments on offer. It’s getting close to 50% of the regular tournaments on some sites.

Not only are partypoker leading the way with this Main Event (I have been informed it is a one off with a view to reviewing how popular it proves) they are also about to launch a dedicated KO Series between February 25 to March 4 (The first of three this year). This reminds me of the Turbo Series from PokerStars which is bringing to the fore a very popular format that previously would just be deemed a novelty.

More bang for a casual player's buck

I’m not surprised by the rise in popularity of bounty tournaments, because they largely present a win-win for a lot of different parties. For the operators they keep a lot more money in the poker ecosystem. Whereas 10-20% of a normal tournament field would win prizes usually (and a handful of those would win the lion’s share of them) a much bigger percentage of the players get at least something back in a knockout tournament. This means more players have funds to keep on playing on the site with after the tournament.

For recreational players this means they get more bang for their buck and won’t have to reload quite as often. They might be having a shot at a $55 tournament with their entire bankroll and most of the time that would be the end of it, but they can have a stab at maybe a $22 game if they managed to bust another player despite not making the official money.

I think knockouts are also enticing in the bigger buy-in events for those who have satellited into them. Taking the partypoker Main Event, for a typical $5.50 MTT player who satellites in to that $215 event the bounties alone could represent a good day at the office for them. Bust one player for $100 and you are freerolling the rest of the tournament. I’m a big fan of anything that respects the time of poker players, especially recreational players, and while a bounty tournament takes just as long as any other, getting to the money is not quite as laborious because you could already be in profit before the first five minute break.

Less emphasis on the 'business end' of MTTs

Plus they are just fun. Recreational players love going all-in and they also love ‘busting’ somebody. It’s a mark of honour if they bust somebody well known. So any tournament that provides an extra bonus for KO-ing other players is obviously hitting a sweet spot for casual players.

There is quite a bit of detraction in the serious player community about how ubiquitous knockout tournaments are becoming. Some think they are a cynical ploy to keep more money in the poker ecosystem. Some don’t like the fact that they significantly decrease the main prize pool and that the cash on the final table is a fraction of what it otherwise would be. If you are a skilled MTT player with lots of endgame experience then this is not your ideal format. Some don’t like the much more gambling ‘crapshooty’ way they play out and fans of late regging do not appreciate a significant portion of the prize pool having been awarded before they start playing.

All these criticisms are 100% valid, these games have much more gamble in them and take money away from the ‘business end’ of tournaments where the better players tend to thrive. But KO tournaments are also fun, they keep the recreational players on the site and you will see some very bad overcalls just to get a bounty. The concerns about bounty tournaments are valid but if the biggest complaints about them are they appeal to recreational players who make reckless calls, maybe they are actually not the worst choice for professionals either?

Are KO tournaments good for poker? Let us know in the comments: