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One of the newest wrinkles in online poker tournament action is the progressive knockout [PKO] tourney. The dynamic format, which is rapidly gaining in popularity on many global networks, is akin to a typical knockout or bounty tournament, but with a twist: In PKO tourneys, only a portion (most often 50%) of a bounty is awarded to the claiming player in cash, while the remaining share is instead added to the player’s own bounty.

In this way, the bounties themselves grow in size through the tournament, somewhat negating the traditional bounty reality that near the end of a normal bounty tourney, those bounties don’t matter too much in relation to the remaining payouts. But how does one find the proper strategies for this new format? That’s where Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter step in with PKO Poker Strategy.

A Wise Hitman Chooses His Targets Carefully If you aren’t playing knockout poker tournaments as a part of your schedule, you’re seriously missing out. They’re both the most fun and the biggest value format on the internet these days. What Are Knockout Tournaments All About? Want to learn how to crush bounties? Enroll in our new Bounty Hunter poker course and gain a huge edge over your opponents. Find out more here and get 25% of.

It’s the second poker-strat collaboration from the pair, following the release of their Poker Satellite Strategy a year and a half ago. This time, though, it’s a dive into an area few others have thoroughly explored; it’s the first printed book on PKO strategy and it joins just a small handful of online courses available on the topic. As with their earlier collaboration, O’Kearney serves as the primary analyst and statistician while Carter packages the end product. Here, that produces a book that’s esoteric is spots but is a must-read for players serious about upping their PKO games.

Perhaps the biggest surprise that O’Kearney and Carter reveal is how radically different optimal PKO tactics are when contrasted against other, more familiar tourney formats.

“We have a general assumption that you are a serious amateur player rather than a professional,” the pair write. “The advice in this book is aimed at both amateurs and professionals alike (in fact some of it we consider very advanced), but it is written mostly with amateurs in mind to make it accessible to both parties.”

It is indeed an advanced book, if aimed largely at amateurs, being very heavy on tables and ranges while examining the impact of such concepts as the Independent Chip Model (ICM), which used to calculate a player’s equity at any given time in an event. The truth, though, as the pair explain, is that ICM calculations still only offer a rough approximation of the reality in PKO play. The format is still so new that analysts are still optimizing their approach.

“We expect the strategy advice to evolve,” the authors admit.

Yet the math already available (and presented here) offers plenty of surprising insight. For instance, in a normal $100 sit-’n-go, for example, if two players were to go all in in the first hand; the winning player might have doubled his chips, but he hasn’t quite doubled his equity. Instead, all the other players at the table gain a little bit of equity simply by way of one player having already been eliminated. In PKOs, however, that equity situation has been reversed: Given the same first-hand, all-in collision, the winning player not only has doubled his chips, he has more than doubled his equity, including that portion of the bounty he’s already pocketed.

Such counterintuitive results are part of what make PKO Poker Strategy such a worthwhile read. (And, if you want to know the actual equity percentages, O’Kearney details how to calculate them.) The book’s 14 chapters and 180-plus pages tackle topic after topic, situation after situation. Most players can understand, intuitively, that a shorter-stacked player who’s already accumulated several bounties is an exceptionally juicy target, and extra risk -- expressed as widened calling range -- is appropriate. O’Kearney’s goal here is to teach players how not to just wing it, and instead be able to properly calculate how much risk to take.

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There’s a lot to digest here in what is a relatively thin strategy tome, yet the analysis is new and groundbreaking enough that it should bring a handsome reward to those who digest and apply the concepts. PKOs aren’t for everyone, but like any new format, there are plenty of soft spots available, plenty of players who haven’t quite figured it all out. O’Kearney and Carter have offered a solid tool for climbing that knowledge curve at a very reasonable price.

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It may be a new year, but it's the same old excitement over at Unibet Poker with two exciting festivals coming up in January. PokerNews spoke with Unibet Ambassador Ian Simpson to find out all the latest information about how you can take part, and scoop up some of the extra value!

The Unibet Poker Team have resourcefully strategized a Freeroll Festival just prior to our upcoming PKO Festival. We’re giving away €12,000 in the former, leading into the latter. Throughout January we’re giving away over €23,000 to players of all stakes, from the freeroll grinders to the higher stakes players.

First off we’re giving away €12,000 cumulatively in a series of freeroll tournaments that are taking place from the 17th-30th of January. From Sunday to Friday will see two €300 freerolls for you micro-stake grinders to sink your teeth into. Players will get 1 ticket a day and be able to pick which freeroll suits their schedule best.

These freerolls will award cash prizes and coupling that with our rake free nano tournaments, they are an ideal way to boost your bankroll or even start one at no financial risk to yourself. If you see some success in the freerolls, you’ve then got a plethora of rake free sub €1 tournaments on Unibet to continue your poker journey with.

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Not only that, but the top 50 in each daily freeroll will gain entry to a weekly final, which is a whopping €2,500 freeroll. This will be awarding tickets that can be used in the upcoming PKO series we are hosting. Our small stakes grinders get to take their shot in larger tournaments during the PKO series, whilst the higher stakes grinders see the prize pools boosted from these entries. Everyone benefits from Unibet injecting funds the poker economy at the lowest stakes.

The PKO series runs from 24th-31st of January. It opens and closes with a PKO version of our flagship Sunday Tournament, the Supernova, which will have a boosted guarantee of €25,000 for both Sundays of the festival. Throughout the two weeks there are buy ins ranging from €5 all the way to €200. We will also be running a leaderboard with €8,000 given away, where points will be awarded for every knockout you make. There will also be an invitational tournament with €3,000 in the prize pool for everyone who makes 30 or more eliminations across the series.

Thanks for reading, and good luck getting your share of the added value!

Discover Unibet Poker Missions This Month!

There's more excitement in store over at Unibet Poker so why not check out their poker challenges and missions.

And with the PokerNews guide you can learn all there is to know about the Poker Challenges and Missions only at Unibet Poker

You’re going to need a Unibet Poker account in order to start any Challenge or Missions. Those of you who have one, go right ahead! If you don’t have an account, download Unibet Poker via PokerNews for a welcome bonus worth €200.

Unibet rewards you with cold, hard cash each time you hit specific rake milestones. For example, you receive €1 when you rake €2 and an additional €4 once you’ve generated €10 in rake.

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The bonus expires 60-days after you create your account so get your grind on and see how much cash you can earn.