Explainer: What is a Cuatro Knockout tournament?
The European Poker Tour is always evolving and experimenting with new tournament formats. It means players get the chance to sample all kinds of games at all levels of buy-in, in addition to all the established favourites.
This time last year, another new format arrived on the schedule: the PokerStars Cuatro Knockout. It was an immediate hit and has featured at every festival ever since. It is, in short, now established itself.
But what is a Cuatro Knockout poker tournament? And how does it differ from other similar events?
A SEPARATE BOUNTY PRIZE POOL
In knockout/bounty events, a certain portion of a player’s buy-in goes into the main prize pool and the remainder into the bounty pool. The main prize pool pays out like any other tournament, but it’s what happens with the bounty pool that can vary slightly across various knockout tournaments.
In the Cuatro Knockout, one quarter of the total prize pool goes into the bounty pool. (“Cuatro” is Spanish for “four”.) And this bounty element only comes into play when one-quarter (i.e., 25 percent) of the field remains.
At that point, each player gets a personal bounty that matches the full buy-in cost. When a player is knocked out from this moment on, they give their bounty to the player who eliminated them.
In short, when 25 percent of the field is left, every knockout gets you a bounty worth the same as your buy-in. The tournament’s ultimate winner gets to keep their own bounty token, and will likely amass a significant number of other bounties, all bolstering their payout.
AN EXAMPLE
Let’s say a Cuatro Bounty tournament had a €10,000 buy-in and attracted 100 players.
In this instance, the TOTAL prize pool would be €1,000,000 of which €750,000 would go into the main prize pool and €250,000 would go into the bounty pool.
When only 25 players remained, each player would now have a €10,000 bounty on their heads. Let’s say the winner knocks out eight opponents en route to victory, they get €90,000 from the bounty pool (eight knockouts, plus their own bounty) alongside whatever the published first prize is.
Of course, real tournaments are rarely this rounded (and there are re-entries and tournament fees to consider), but that’s the gist.
One of the additional wrinkles in a Cuatro Knockout is that it adds a kind of second bubble. As soon as registration closes, organisers can calculate at which point the bounties will come into play. That means a certain number of players (three-quarters of the field) will never have the chance to win a bounty. But when a specific player is knocked out, the remainder of the field now have a chance of picking up additional money with every elimination.
The closest peer to the Cuatro Knockout is the Mystery Bounty event, a tournament format now familiar to most. The difference is that there’s no “mystery”; it’s clear from the start what the bounty will be.
It’s a similarly fun though, so look out for the Cuatro on upcoming EPT schedules.
See all photos from the EPT Barcelona Cuatro Knockout tournament
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