GGPoker Sets Record for Largest Online Poker Tournament With 420,000 Entries

^{The $5 Ocean KO Opener Tournament on GGPoker}

GGPoker’s $5 Ocean KO Opener, which began on October 2, has become the largest online poker tournament in history. The event attracted 420,084 entries, including re-entries, according to an announcement from the poker operator on X.

However, the record-breaking figure does not mean that 420,000 individual players took part.

Online poker tournaments allow players to pay the buy-in multiple times for additional chances to compete. As a result, tournament records are based on the total number of entries rather than the number of unique participants.

The previous record was held by PokerStars, whose Common Cents tournament attracted 253,692 entries in October 2015.

GGPoker achieved the milestone through a combination of a low buy-in and an unconventional tournament format. Entry to the Ocean KO Opener cost just $5.

The massive field also drove the prize pool far beyond its original $1 million guarantee. The final prize pool exceeded $1.9 million.

The tournament winner is set to receive a top prize of $43,938, while more than $1.05 million will be awarded in additional knockout bounties*.

The bounty system helped attract players but also sparked debate within the poker community. Some argue that large, randomly determined payouts make these tournaments more like lotteries, reducing the importance of skill.

GGPoker is not the first operator to introduce such a format. Similar mechanics have appeared in other tournaments, including Winamax’s Space KO series, which also features random bounty multipliers.

* In Ocean KO, players earn a cash bounty for eliminating an opponent. The payout is determined by a random multiplier that can increase the reward by up to 400 times.