partypoker managing director Tom Waters explains the decision to remove the rake from the bounty element of all PKO tournaments.

Since PKO tournaments (MTTs) were launched, there has been much debate in the online poker world as to whether it is fair on players for online poker sites to apply additional rake to the bounty element of buy-ins in PKO MTTs, instead of just applying rake to the portion of the buy-in that goes directly into the main prize pool. For example, should the rake for a $22 PKO MTT be $1 or $2?

After reviewing feedback from the poker community and lobbying from Patrick Leonard, we will remove rake on the bounty element on all our PKO MTTs with effect from Sunday 6th May, in time for our Powerfest PKO events. We will hold this policy for six months with the intention to make this a permanent reduction to our pricing structure. We have over 350 PKO MTTs per week with guarantees of over $4 million, so clearly, we will need players continued support to remain competitive revenue wise with other online poker sites.

Players will now be paying less rake and their bounties will be bigger, whilst the total buy-in will remain the same so that players can still use their existing MTT tickets that they have won in satellites for PKO MTTs.