The Sunday Million to become a PKO permanently

A major shift in the poker zeitgeist as the flagship Sunday Major will now forever be a Progressive Knockout tournament.

The rise in popularity of PKOs has become so meteoric in recent years that we even have a nickname for non-PKOs now - 'vanilla tournaments', indicating they are bland by comparison. 

PKOs are so popular that they have become the dominant format with many operators and are heading that way for most of of the others. 

The most iconic online tournament in poker is the Sunday Million and from this weekend it will be a PKO forevermore. The 16-year -old tournament will still have the $109 entry fee but it will also switch from 9-max to 8-max, with a new blind structure. 

PKOs are popular with recreational players because they reward early action. They should also be popular with grinders because, while there is more luck in them, they are near impossible to fully solve. They are only going to become more popular, unless perhaps if they get usurped by online Mystery Bounties. 

This marks a major shift in the landscape of online poker tournaments. Is it now fair to say that PKOs are the 'standard' online format and vanilla tournaments are 'niche' by comparison?

Do you prefer vanillas or PKOs? Let us know in the comments: