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Ocean KO Draws 420,084 Entries as GGPoker Sets Poker Record
- GGPoker’s $5 Ocean KO Opener attracted a record 420,084 entries, surpassing PokerStars’ previous best.
- The tournament generated a prize pool exceeding $1.9 million, with over $1.05 million in progressive knockout bounties.
- Its jackpot-style PKO format has sparked debate over the role of random multipliers in online poker tournaments.
GGPoker’s $5 Ocean KO Opener attracted 420,084 entries, surpassing PokerStars’ 2015 record. The event exceeded its $1-million guarantee, with more than $1.9 million in prizes and bounties. At least 24,134 players advanced to Day 2 amid debate over jackpot multipliers.
GGPoker’s $5 Ocean KO Opener has set a new participation record in poker, attracting 420,084 entries and surpassing the previous benchmark of 253,692 entries established by PokerStars in October 2015.
The tournament has also exceeded its initial $1 million guarantee, generating a prize pool of more than $1.9 million.
Played across dozens of starting flights, the event has at least 24,134 players advancing to Day 2, which was scheduled for Monday.
The tournament is a recent addition to GGPoker’s online schedule and combines a low buy-in with a Progressive Knockout (PKO) structure featuring jackpot multipliers.
Ocean KO Surpasses PokerStars’ 2015 Record
PokerStars previously held the record through its October 2015 Common Cents tournament, which attracted 253,692 participants. Austrian-based player Simon "DaDumon" Grabenschweiger won the event, converting a one-cent entry into $10,000.
GGPoker’s Ocean KO Opener has surpassed that figure with 420,084 entries, establishing a new benchmark for tournament participation. The difference between the two fields is 166,392 entries.
With at least 24,134 players progressing to Day 2, the record-setting tournament continues beyond its initial flights as competitors pursue the available prizes and knockout bounties.
More Than $1.9 Million in Prizes and Bounties
The Ocean KO Opener exceeded its original $1 million guaranteed prize pool, with more than $1.9 million now available. The first-place prize stands at $43,938, while total bounty payments exceed $1.050 million.
The tournament uses a Progressive Knockout format, in which players earn bounty rewards for eliminating opponents.
Ocean KO events add random jackpot multipliers of up to 400x, allowing individual bounty payouts to increase substantially.
In the current event, a 400x multiplier could produce a six-figure or even seven-figure bounty payout from a single elimination.
Jackpot Multipliers Prompt Debate Among Players
The format has also attracted criticism online. Some players have argued that random multipliers of up to 400x make online poker resemble a lottery rather than the traditional tournament formats they prefer.
Ocean KO tournaments are a recent addition to GGPoker’s schedule, but similar jackpot-style knockout formats are available elsewhere. Winamax, for example, offers Space KO tournaments that use a comparable approach.
Both formats combine elimination-based rewards with random multipliers that can significantly increase the value of individual bounties. The debate centres on how these features fit within established tournament structures.
The potential scale of jackpot-style payouts was demonstrated last month in a €100 Winamax Space KO tournament. A player using the screen name "oldepaso68" secured a record €838,000 bounty from a single knockout.
The player subsequently collected €922,104 in bounties and finished with total winnings of €927,783. By comparison, the tournament’s regular first-place prize was worth just over €5,000.
The result illustrates the potential difference between standard tournament prizes and the rewards available through jackpot-style bounty multipliers.
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