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Stake Poker Unveils World KO Championship with $1,000,000 in Guarantees

3 hours ago

Mrinal Gujare 3 hours ago

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World KO Championship runs June 28-July 20, 2026, over $1M guaranteed.
Football-themed Bye Day Specials and $100K Mystery Bounty Main Event.
All knockout formats, events scheduled to avoid live football matches.

Stake Poker announced the World KO Championship from June 28 to July 20, 2026, featuring over $1,000,000 in guarantees. The knockout series includes a $100,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event and five Bye Day Specials tied to football goals.

Stake Poker has officially unveiled the World KO Championship poker series, timed alongside the knockout stages of the summer football tournament. Running from June 28 to July 20, 2026, the entire series exclusively features knockout formats, including regular Knockouts, Progressive Knockouts (PKOs), and Mystery Bounties.

The festival promises more than $1,000,000 in total guaranteed prize pools, distributed across multiple daily events throughout the 23 days of online action.

To accommodate sports fans, the series schedule ensures that no World KO Championship tournament will start while a football match is actively being played.

Players can locate the entire schedule within the dedicated World KO Championship section of the poker client lobby.

Every event throughout the series utilizes a knockout structure, meaning players claim a bounty each time they eliminate an opponent.

The daily lineup features diverse structures, including $10,000 PKOs and $10,000 Mystery Bounties. For players preferring faster structures, the schedule incorporates Speed Run PKOs, Deepstack Turbos, and Big Knockout Turbos.

Buy-ins for the series range from $5 to $50. Participants can enter any of the scheduled events using cash or an equivalent-value tournament ticket.

Re-entries are permitted across the series, with a strict limit of 10 re-entries per player. Registration for standard events opens 48 hours before the designated start time.

The festival features five major Bye Day Specials scheduled on football rest days: July 8, July 12, July 13, July 16, and July 17.

Each of these events carries a $30 buy-in and features a PKO format. The baseline prize pools are tied to the football tournament, with more than $700,000 combined across the five events and expected individual prize pools ranging from $135,000 to $145,000.

These Bye Day Specials feature a dynamic prize pool mechanic, increasing by $500 for every single goal scored across the football tournament.

Unlike the standard 48-hour registration window, registration for the Bye Day Specials opens 12 hours before the tournament starts and remains open for a full 12 hours.

Additional schedule highlights include the Mystery Bounty Special on July 18. This tournament features a $50 buy-in and comes with a $20,000 prize pool guarantee.

The premier event of this Stake Poker series is the $100,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event, which carries a $20 buy-in. Operating as a phased tournament, players can enter multiple Day 1 flights running throughout the duration of the series.

Each Day 1 flight concludes as soon as 15% of the starting field remains. The Main Event implements a Best Stack Forward Policy, dictates that players who qualify multiple times will only carry their single largest chip stack into the tournament finale.

The final day of the Main Event takes place on July 20, 2026, bringing the 23-day championship series to a close.

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