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The record for the world’s largest online poker tournament has finally fallen after 11 years. GGPoker’s $5 Ocean KO Opener, which boasted a $1 million guarantee, attracted 420,084 entries, smashing the previous record of 253,692 set by PokerStars in October 2015.
The previous record came during PokerStars’ $100,000-guaranteed “Common Cents” tournament, which cost just one cent to enter and generated an approximately 97.5% overlay. Simon “DaDumon” Grabenschweiger won the event, turning a penny into a $10,000 payday.
GGPoker‘s record-breaking event attracted 250,972 unique players and 169,112 re-entries, generating an estimated prize pool of $1,932,386.40.
The tournament featured dozens of Day 1 flights, with players permitted to qualify multiple times. Ultimately, 24,134 players advanced to Day 2.
Of the Day 2 players, just five had earned at least $1,000 in bounties and only 21 had earned $500 or more, highlighting the format’s extreme variance.
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Massive bounty payouts set up final table
As Day 2 progressed, the escalating bounties produced several substantial payouts. By the time the final table was set, three players had collected five-figure bounty winnings.
Mongolia’s “Djd@shaa,“ the final table chip leader, had already earned $13,356.55 in bounties. China’s “Magic_Cheng” collected an even larger $23,196.43, equivalent to more than 4,600 times the tournament’s $5 buy-in.
By the end of Day 2, 61 players had earned at least $1,000 in bounties, including six of the nine finalists. Each finalist was guaranteed at least $7,172.54 in regular prize money, plus bounty winnings. The champion was set to receive $43,512.81, plus bounties.
The final table will commence at 7:30 p.m. U.K. time (3:30 pm EST).
GGPoker’s Ocean KOs format sparks controversy
Ocean KO tournaments debuted on GGPoker last week, although the format was already popular on Winamax. These events combine progressive knockout (PKO) tournaments with randomized bounty multipliers, creating an insanely high-variance style of online poker.
Half of each player’s buy-in funds their starting bounty, while the remainder goes toward the regular prize pool and tournament fees.
Unlike traditional PKOs, which use predetermined bounty values, Ocean KOs apply randomized multipliers ranging from 0.4x to 400x when a player is eliminated.
As with standard PKOs, half of the bounty winnings are paid immediately, while the other half increases the winner’s own bounty. This means a player who wins a large bounty can become an especially valuable target for opponents.
The multiplier system introduces substantial variance, particularly because the highest payouts are extremely rare. A 400x multiplier has just a 0.002% probability of occurring, equivalent to one in 50,000.
According to the supplied multiplier distribution, the combined probability of receiving a multiplier greater than 1x is only 7.682%.
Ocean KO bounty multiplier odds
| Multiplier | Odds |
| 400x | 0.002% |
| 100x | 0.08% |
| 10x | 2.4% |
| 2x | 2.5% |
| 1.5x | 2.7% |
| 1x | 20% |
| 0.7x | 22% |
| 0.5x | 26.228% |
| 0.4x | 24.09% |
Win six figures with just one knockout
In theory, you could win a six-figure sum from an incredibly small buy-in.
An example involving a $10 Ocean KO tournament illustrates how consecutive 400x multipliers could generate a payout exceeding $200,000 from a single elimination.
- First knockout: Player A has a starting bounty of $5. Player B knocks them out and spins 400x for a $2,000 bounty.
- Bounty increases: Player B pockets $1,000 immediately, while the remaining $1,000 increases their own bounty from $5 to $1,005.
- Second knockout: Player C eliminates Player B and spins 400x. Applying it to Player B’s $1,005 bounty generates a $402,000 payout.
- Six-figure prize: Player C pockets $201,000, while the other $201,000 is added to the existing bounty on their head.
Although mathematically possible under the described rules, this outcome would require two exceptionally rare multipliers in succession.
Poker pros raise collusion and integrity concerns
Despite the huge popularity, there are plenty of big-name pros who have slammed the format, claiming it presents huge security and integrity risks and could also corrupt the entire poker ecosystem.
High-stakes pro Chris Brewer warned on X, formerly Twitter, that the structure presents opportunities for collusion, especially in small tournaments with substantial buy-ins.
“Need some major security on this,” Brewer wrote, warning that players working together within friendship groups or staking arrangements could potentially exploit large bounties.
Professional poker player Patrick Leonard questioned whether the format’s extreme variance would make it financially sustainable for independent tournament players.
“No MTT player in the world will be able to bankroll themselves in these. The variance is absolutely wild. Winamax, GG, and ACR all have them now and will be the end of the “self rolled” pro.
Leonard also compared Ocean KOs with Spin & Go tournaments, where staking arrangements can help players manage significant variance.
Many players have questioned the transparency of the bounty system, particularly because individual tournaments may distribute more or less than their advertised bounty allocations.
The randomized multipliers are designed to balance out over a large number of tournaments rather than within a single event. As a result, players have called for greater transparency and independent auditing of the system, including how GGPoker manages the funds supporting its randomized bounty payouts.
