This content was AI generated based on the original article published on https://www.pokernews.com/news/2026/10/ggpoker-ocean-ko-largest-poker-tournament-record-52589.htm. All credits for the original reporting belong to them.
GGPoker has set a new all-time record for tournament entries, as its $5 Ocean KO Opener drew an astonishing 420,084 entries. The figure comfortably surpasses the previous mark of 253,692 participants, set by PokerStars’ famous “Common Cents” tournament back in October 2015.
That 2015 event, played for a one-cent buy-in, was won by Austria’s Simon “DaDumon” Grabenschweiger, who parlayed the tiny stake into a $10,000 first prize.
The new Ocean KO tournament far exceeded its original $1 million guarantee, with a prize pool now standing at more than $1.9 million. A minimum of 24,134 players will return for Day 2 on Monday, competing for a top prize of $43,938 and a bounty pool exceeding $1.05 million under the Progressive Knockout (PKO) format.
Part of the tournament’s buzz stems from its “Jackpot PKO” structure, which introduces random multipliers of up to 400x on knockout bounties. While the format has driven huge participation, some players online have criticized it for adding a heavy luck element that resembles a lottery more than traditional tournament poker.
Similar jackpot-style knockout tournaments, such as Winamax’s Space KO series, have already proven highly popular elsewhere. Last month, a Winamax player known as “oldepaso68” hit a record €838,000 bounty in a €100 Space KO event, finishing with total winnings of €927,783.
With GGPoker now embracing the format and its vast player base behind it, Jackpot PKOs appear poised to become a major trend in online poker, potentially producing more life-changing scores from modest buy-ins.
